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Picking up unit 3/4 Philosophy
Aurelian:
To be fair, your tactic of reply seems to revolve around excessive name-dropping and responding at extreme length in order to demonstrate your admittedly impressive knowledge of other philosophers and thereby appear to others to "win" the argument by brute force.
I also don't think I'm especially jumping to conclusions about much at all, unless you are interpreting me to be attributing to you things which I myself did not intend to attribute (apologies if so for not being clearer).
I will reply a little later though =)
Mech:
--- Quote from: Aurelian on December 05, 2012, 03:07:40 pm ---To be fair, your tactic of reply seems to revolve around excessive name-dropping and responding at extreme length in order to demonstrate your admittedly impressive knowledge of other philosophers and thereby appear to others to "win" the argument by brute force.
--- End quote ---
I think I am just trying to show you how philosophers read one another and with great diligence (i.e. not just excerpts). Hume and Kant was an example, Nietzsche was an example of passion. Critchley actually talks about the nature of philosophy and is therefore relevant (at least for me and my views)... They all served as examples, even Aurelius and Seneca. I am actually trying to get through Parfit at the moment. ;D
I would not say I have a good knowledge of any philosopher, really. I actually need to keep reading ;) I am passionate hence my length.
--- Quote ---unless you are interpreting me to be attributing to you things which I myself did not intend to attribute (apologies if so for not being clearer).
--- End quote ---
I feel this is the case. I took it to be I am not a "good philosopher" because my views of the importance of reading whole texts. I wanted to challenge that.
InsideJoke:
Well that escalated quickly!
My opinion is that no, you don't have to stress about any excessive disadvantage, going straight into 3/4. 1/2 is pretty much an overview, and while an enjoyable and useful one, definitely not an essential one.
You could read the texts over the summer holidays, but there's a lot to read and it's a big ask. You could get bored and you're unlikely to get the big ideas.
I found that most of the work I did was within the term. It's not like some subjects where you can demolish the course over the holidays. Instead, you should try to work consistently throughout the year. An average of 30 mins a day (and up to 40/50) is the general direction of what you'd aim for.
Right now, you'd probably find it useful to just do some basic philosophy. It doesn't even have to be relevant really! Just get to know it. Look up YouTube videos and articles, maybe find a 1/2 or equivalent text book. And tonnes of universities (iTunes u and the Oxford intro series) do introductory courses. A couple of videos and you'll start to get the gist. Podcasts can also be helpful. The partially examined life is a goodish one.
Note, for all of that, you don't have to comprehend every single word and idea. It's mainly about a bit of immersion.
During the year: summaries are a great idea, as well as 2 types of questions - exam type, and basic ones which are direct and without any fancy language. Discuss, discuss, discuss - not sure how this works for distance Ed, but do whatever you can. Finally - research. Don't get stuck to the course and ideas from people around you. Google search your questions, read far and wide, university theses, blog posts. You don't have to understand it all (especially the uni stuff, I didn't most of the time) but it will give your ideas breadth and will seriously enhance your understanding of the deeper ideas behind the texts.
Overall, philosophy is awesome! It's fun and very useful, and you can definitely succeed, if you give it the time it deserves!
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