Personal Blogs

Thank you to everyone who commented on my moany/ quitting/ why bother post from March....

I have not bothered to blog since then, such was the depth of my disenchantment.

Just stuck to the study planner, kept my head down and got the course materials completed.

Completed they are now, all TMA's submitted and marked, just the exam to do....

Made a decision for next year, after being so frustrated/ bored/ wound up/ pissed off by the last two years, I decided I may as well plough on, after all,

 I am in for a penny, so why not be in for a pound?

Although my student loan balance statement came through this week, so it is more like...

In for £11,000, so why not be in for £18,000.....

Heart stopping isn't it... £ 18,000.....

I have decide to do DD316 for my next module, it is a brand new course, came out this year, and it's set book is George Orwell's 1984.

I thought that after hating philosophy and economics so much, I would do Politics next year as I have enjoyed all my politics modules.

That leaves me with Hobson's choice for my final year, Philosophy or Economics?

At the moment I think I would find a final year of Philosophy tolerable, Economics not so.

That decision is still ongoing, T+C's apply, actual decision may not match promotional material, may not be available in you area, model shown is a May 2018 model.

We will see,

Tma 5 was done and sent.

One more block 'political philosophy' and the exam to do and thats #bloodya222 done and dusted.

By that point i will be exactly half way through my degree, by moving into the economics module and waiting to see how the new vice-vice-chancallor deals with the challenges facing the OU.

But most important of all..  i will not have to go near another philosophy module..happy days. 

TMA 4 submitted, and off we go onto block 5. The philosophy of the mind. Out of the four modules so far, i found block one, personal identity the most interesting. Block 5 is about the mind, so lots more issues around souls, mental states and what makes us have a 'mind'. so i might enjoy this block more than others. The only salvation is block six is political philosophy, and i have studied that to some degree in my last two modules, so i should be okay with block 6.

Getting nearer the exit door of this module now, i am ready to get my coat and leave.

I am not saying that studying Philosophy is Hell, however....

if JP Satre was right, then Hell is other people, i would suggest that purgatory is people talking about philosophy. 

Or if Dante was right and there are several levels of hell then i might suggest,

Over the doorway to Hell- a sign saying 'JP Satre welcomes you--and other people to hell.'

Hell Level one- the philosophy of religion... 'Surprise, your in Hell !'

Hell Level two- Ethics- did you take some satisfaction about being good... 'Surprise! your in Hell, Mr Kant will not see you now'

Level two has a sub level, level B, a train track with a trolley that is going up a 1:3 gradient and is pushed by philosophy undergraduates for all eternity, if they stop pushing the trolley rolls backward and crushes them, and a sign saying 'push the trolley, it's for Hells greater good'

Hell level Three- the philosophy of science. a big sign declaring 'all science to be false, with the exception of hell which cannot be falsified, hence Hell=science'.

Hell level Four- Philosophy of the mind, a big sign declaring, 'its not your soul stuck here, its your mental state- so welcome to hell, it's a state of mind!'

Hell level 5- Political philosophy- a sign saying 'all suffering is theft, your suffering belongs to hell'

Hell level 5 has a sub level, Level R, where Rousseau sits behind a desk telling all those in hell that they can never be free of the suffering of hell,unless they fully surrender themselves to Hell, then he makes everyone sign a contract.

Hell level 6- The very centre of Hell, a tele porter booth with a sign saying 'Exit Hell Here'...and a big red button. If you press the button Derek Parfit appears and tells you not to worry about being in Hell, it is not physiologically continuous with your future self anyway... there is a door at the side of the tele porter room, which leads too...

Hell level 6, sub level H, A prison cell in which sits David Hume, who regardless of what you ask him, just answers ' i am very sceptical about all this'

I wonder if this posts counts as a revision flash card?

Simon Reed was right, of course.

Kant is much easier to process, as Simon put it, ' you are better off with a maxim. Gives clarity and something concrete to discuss, shame Kant is not part of this TMA.

That's all the reading for block 2 'the philosophy of religion done' 

now I have to turn the 500 words already written for tma 2 into 2000 words by 7th of December and that block is behind me, and 33% of a222 will be behind me and I will be closer to getting what I have come to know a ' bloody A222' done.

oh and the three hour exam, don't forget the exam....

So this block 2 is slightly odd, there are 4 weeks of study around the philosophy of religion. However the TMA question is very specific, it is concretely locked into weeks 2's study. So I have finished week 3 and have week 4 to do, however I have done the week that is very specifically linked to the TMA, nothing from week 3 or 4 will get into it. 

so I made a start on writing the TMA today, I have done the introduction and the unpack. so I have written the first 400 words of the 2000 word TMA with 2 weeks to spare.

That is a bit of an odd structure, previously TMA's had a focus on a particular week, however following weeks would influence what you wrote in the TMA.

With block 2 TMA that is not the case, Chapter two is king and it would harm the TMA to mention anything from week 3 or 4. Very odd. I have never had that situation before.

I had a stab at a flashcard which is a reminder of Hume's problems with concept of 'from design'

So i had a look at my feedback. There was alot of it!

Not entirely sure now if the 68 mark was just a kindness because it was the first essay of the module.

68 might be the peak for this module, unless i really get a grip on philosophy tma's.

We will see.

I thought I might do the flash cards as I go along this year:

Here's book 1 A222, personal identity

As all the accusations fly around Kevin Spacey, which of course, if true, are awful.

I noticed in his statement to the press, he doubled down with his John Locke defence.

1. From Locke- you cannot be held account if there is no continuity of memory.

'From Spacey- it was 30 years ago, i have no memory of the incident'

2. From Locke- you cannot be resposible if you are ' beside yourself', there is no pyscological continuity.

From Spacey-' as well as not remembering it, i was probably drunk at the time'

So Spacey has doubled down his Locke defence of his alleged crimes.

I am not sure an 18th century philosophical defence counts in 21st courts though...

Well i have witten the first half of the TMA.

1000 words so far.

I have no idea if the words are any good.

This module has been very frustrating so far.

Well all the reading and activities are done,

all I have to do now, and have 4 days in which to do it, is write the TMA....

Pity I do not have a single clue what I am going to write....

HELP....

I am still clueless about what to write for the TMA.

I will just have to go over the relevant chapters again to see if anything pops into my head.

This philosophy module is very hard.

This year is going to be a struggle.

Whatever mark i get will have to be ground out.