Preparing for Philosophy 3/4

[cute]

I am just curious as to how you guys prepared for Philosophy 3/4. My philosophy teacher for 1/2 has said that the 1/2 and 3/4 are really different and I'm aiming for a 50 in Philosophy so I was just hoping that I could get some tips on how to incorporate some 3/4-related study in my Year 11 work load Thanks, sorry if this question sounds a little ambiguous. I'm a little sleepy

[slothpomba]

We do have an ATARNotes philosophy thread if you want to try that out (yes, i'll never stop shamelessly plugging it). Many of the posters (including myself)  have taken philosophy up to university level so there's a lot to learn by participating. It's a fairly fun way of picking up some key philosophical concepts! You won't only learn concepts but you'll learn argumentation as well (assuming it doesn't totally die off).

I suppose you could try read some of your texts ahead of time but i'd be very wary of preparing so much that it pushes your other subjects to the sidelines. Ask your teacher and they should be able to give you some other tips.

[HossRyams]

YES, questions about VCE Philosophy!! Hi again memely haha. I did Philosophy at Nossal

I'll give you a warning now: our Humanities department isn't the best... So you'll have to do a bit of solo research and reading outside what is given in class because we weren't given much (I would meet up with my friend from another school and she'd have a booklet of information for each text they studied... jealous much )

Anyway, Philosophy 3&4 was incredibly different in that you get actual, horrifyingly translated texts by famous philosophers. These are difficult to read (and have commas in the most ridiculous places) and will take time to get used to, whereas in 1/2 you may have a textbook that summarises the popular theories in simple and concise terms. I am aware that there have been study design changes for 2014/2015, but for my year, I had 4 texts for Unit 3, and 5 texts for Unit 4.

The main elements of VCE Philosophy 3/4 are to:

• Be able to outline the argument of a philosopher
• Be able to evaluate the argument of a philosopher critically (super important)
• Be able to contrast the views of one philosopher with another
• Be able to relate the views of a philosopher to contemporary debates

Many of your SACs will be essays, but generally Philosophy = shorts answers + essays. In Units 1&2, the essays were more like arguing for a particular theory. In Units 3&4, the essays were more exposition then evaluation of arguments in regards to the question given.

So coming back to your question... If you could read actual extracts before Units 3&4, you'll be comfortable with them come Year 12. Also practice reading theories and looking for loopholes in their arguments, and ensuring you can articulate a critical evaluation of their argument will be a golden skill for Units 3&4.

Hope that helps somewhat