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Michael Gumbrell

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17,500 views, thank you everyone.

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Michael Gumbrell

New low score!!!!!

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#bloody A222.

Just got the mark back for tma 5. Which was about Descartes Dualism.

I set my own personal record for a low score.

I got 40%. So i passed, by the lowest possible mark.

One more tma to go and the exam and then i am done with bloody A222.

I cannot wait.

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Michael Gumbrell

Worthy procrastination.

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Well we are at the business end of the module...

And HBO start showing the new season of Westworld at the same time.  

I have recorded it and will carve out one hour tonight to watch it, considering the subject matter of Westworld, i might be able to justify it as philosophy revision....

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Michael Gumbrell

Views

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Well my view counter is about to hit 17,000.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to visit this blog.

So it grows by around 300 views a week. So by the time this term ends in June 2018, it will have got to 18500. So unless it continues at that pace across the summer then i will start the new term with more than 20,000 views, which i find exciting.

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Michael Gumbrell

Finishing line....

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So close...stay in attack formation....eyes on the prize..

Just political philosophy to go, the tma is on consent to political obligation as John Locke saw it. 2000 words will be hard, it is a quite thin topic to be writing the essay about. All idea's of consent, both actual and implied struggle if choice is not part of the process.. 

Then just the exam....and boom, #bloodyA222 will be behind me and i will never really have to return to Philosophical study again, which suits me, i have hated this module with contempt and will never return to the study of Philosophy again.  

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Michael Gumbrell

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I missed the 16,500 views milestone and my counter is now growing towards 17,000. 

Thank you all for taking the time to visit my blog.

I wonder if i will get to 20,000 views before the end of this module?

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Michael Gumbrell

Tma 5

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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. 

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Michael Gumbrell

Next...

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I am reminded of the lyrics by the Who..

'Meet the new boss...same as the old boss'.

I must admit of being friends with a couple of people who worked for Peter Horricks when he was in charge of the BBC world service, they had said he displayed poor leadership skills there and they expected him to do the same with the OU.

So Mr Horricks jumped the day before he was getting sacked.... so a new vice-vice-chancellor needs to be found...

And now the Daily Mail is running a 'Save the open university' campaign.

Perhaps we have dark days ahead... 

Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Sunday, 15 Apr 2018, 22:01)
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Michael Gumbrell

views

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Despite my slowing down with this blog, my view counter is reaching 16,000 views.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my blog.

It is much appreciated, i must show that appreciation by increasing my blog entry pace...

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Michael Gumbrell

Dualism

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So lurching onto tMA 5 we go, Rene Descartes and the idea of dualism.

Is our mind a 'different' thing to our body.

Dualism, are they two distinctly separate things?

My response to the idea that we are two separate things, our bodies and mind is NO.

But that is too simple an answer for the TMA, so we need to have a deeper explanation of the NO.

So here we go, TMA 5 , so near the end and i will be so happy to be shot of this module...

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Michael Gumbrell

philosophy is hell

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following on form my previous blog post about studying philosophy being akin to Dante's seven circles of Hell,

i did start to make a few, what i thought were funny flash cards about that concept.

Here are the first three, i am not sure how funny they are, or relevant, but i made them anyway,


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Michael Gumbrell

slowing down with blogs

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i have really slowed down with my blogs lately.

Partly because A222 is nearing it's completion, and i have to just knuckle down and get it finished (never to be seen again)

Plus i don't feel like i have much to say at the moment, i think it is better not to just post rubbish for the sake of it.

My view counter passed 15,000 some time in the last three weeks, so thank you to everyone who has taken the time to view my blog.

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Michael Gumbrell

Exam revision plan

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So six blocks, 2 exam questions per block.

So i can revise 3 books for the exam. I fancy block one, five and six.

The philosophy of the self, 

The philosophy of the mind

And

Political philosophy

And if pushed the philosophy of religion if i have time to revise it.

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Michael Gumbrell

New philosophical lows...

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So my tma 4 scored 53. Lowest mark i have had throughout this module and the lowest of all my modules so far....


But the question is... do i double down?

My OCAS so far is s grade three pass. I can turn in two more tma's that hover around 50 and get a grade three pass.

I could not bother to do the last two tms's and drop to a grade 4 pass...

Then it all rides on the exam. Anything exam score over 40% for a grade 4 pass or over 55% for a grade three. I cannot see any possible way i could hit 70% or higher in the exam to jail a grade 2 pass.

This is all disappointing, the two modules before this one i have been in the 80-85% range...


So i wonder if i should play ball and submit the final 2 tma's, or should i not bother with them? Or even better, mis represent the next tma question into a sarcastic rant about how awful i have found this module and philosophy in general. 

I would love to hear what Simon thinks about my situation. Without his wise words i might have lost my rag with this module much sooner

So i cannot thank Simon Reed enough for his support and his wise perspective.

#bloodyA222 .


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Michael Gumbrell

Philosophy of HELL....

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Edited by Michael Gumbrell, Friday, 2 Mar 2018, 15:43

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?

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Michael Gumbrell

updated the website

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My blog looks different !! 

i imagine everyone's student home got updated, so everyone's blog looks different.

It's just change Michael, it is not good, it is not bad, it is just different....

Do we all like the change????


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Michael Gumbrell

Blog slowing down

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I have been a bit light with blog posts lately 

I think i have slowed down abit because i have decided it is better to only post when i hsve something relevant to  blog about, rather than just doing it for the sake of it.

Despite my slow down, my hit counter is clocking 14,000 views.

So thanks again to everyone who has visited my blog.

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Michael Gumbrell

tma 4

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Well i wrote 700 words for my TMa 4 last week, now i hate those 700 words, and so need to sit down and write anew.

#bloodya222.

Round and round it goes , this module is so frustrating....

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Michael Gumbrell

Hits.

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The views counter keeps on rolling, 13500 coming up.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to visit my blog.

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Michael Gumbrell

Blade runner 2

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I have watched blade runner 2 three times now, i still cannot make my mind up.

It is either stunning or somewhat bollocks, and three viewings later, i still cannot work out which one it is...

What do you all think of it?

Permalink 3 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Monday, 12 Feb 2018, 09:56)
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Michael Gumbrell

Online support group

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Having spoken to Simon, i am tempted to start an online support group for former philosophy module students.

It will focus on keeping a calm pragmatic mind set to what philosophy has shown us, i use the word 'shown' rather than 'taught' so that we can keep a light inductive air to the group.

There must be a section called ' my essay, my rules'

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Michael Gumbrell

super bowl

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Well, my word.

That was any amazing super bowl. I already mentioned i could not bet against the patriots, and then the eagles pulled an amazing performance out of the bag. That was the most attacking super bowl of all time, massive yard figures.

And that Philly special play at the end of the first half! unbelievable.

So i enjoyed it greatly and well done to the Eagles...

So that's it for NFL for another year, now the long six week wait for the formula 1 season to start.

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Michael Gumbrell

book 4

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so i have worked through book 4, knowledge, Kuhn is much more interesting than Popper, however Popper is the tma theme.

so i have three weeks to write the tma 4, i seem stuck with 63-69% scores, my advice was i need to change my writing style to score higher, however this is only one module of six, and my ocas up to this point was 82%, so i might well just grind out more 68% tmas for this module, and keep my eye on the bigger prize, after all #bloddya222 is the only philosophy module i will be doing on my degree pathway.

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Michael Gumbrell

all about the hits

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Once again I would like to thank everyone who takes the time to visit my blog.

The view counter has just clocked 13,000 views!

Thank you everyone.

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Michael Gumbrell

tma 3

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I do seem to be in a rut/grove for the a222 tma's.

tma 1 - 68%, tma 2-63% and I just got the score for tma3, which was 68%.

so nothing stellar, but I have ground it out so far.

Since I am hating the a222 course, I should be happy with my 65% OCAS so far.

I have started my exam revision much earlier this year, it might be needed to try and keep up my overall score.

#bloodya222

Permalink 6 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Sunday, 11 Feb 2018, 10:24)
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