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#Post#: 58--------------------------------------------------
New Philosophy Student Needs Advice!
DIR By: LouFederer
Date: July 9, 2012, 7:10 am
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Hi all :)
I'm going to be starting my Philosophy BA this Autumn and I am
yet to receive any study information or material, and since I am
too impatient to wait until August, I was wondering if any of
you guys could answer my questions.
1.) When studying for the degree, do you study the year's
modules simultaneously or do you study them one after the other?
If there is no prescriptive method, which is more advantageous,
would you suggest?
2.) Do any of the students here use the Pathways Philosophy
Programme which offers paid-for tuition? I am thinking of using
the service as the prospect of studying untutored is extremely
daunting. Note I have never studied Philosophy beyond the
International Baccalaureate (pre-university exams). Would I be
taking a huge risk 'trying' to get a Philosophy degree
unsupervised?
3.) How many hours per week should I be studying? I work three
days a week and I want to get the degree finished in four years.
Those are all my questions for now. I would be really thankful
for any advice you guys have to offer. Thank you.
LouFederer
#Post#: 62--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Philosophy Student Needs Advice!
DIR By: waveletter
Date: July 10, 2012, 3:06 pm
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Hi LouFederer:
First of all, welcome to the UoL International Programme!
You'll get a couple of books, Philosophy 1, and Philosophy 2,
edited by A.C. Grayling when your study materials arrive, along
with a couple of student guides that explain the courses you'll
be taking. Generally, you have to do substantial reading outside
these two texts for each of the modules. There are sample exam
questions in the student guidebook, and those are things to keep
in mind while starting your reading for a module, but it's best
to focus on questions and topics from past exams, which you can
find on the UoL website.
1. I have only been taking 2 modules per year. You'll have to do
3 in order to finish in 4 years, and that's quite a bit. But, if
you get started early and work methodically on all three topics,
you should do just fine. What I do is I do background reading
during the summer on modules that I plan to register for in the
fall. Last year, for example, I did the Aristotle module, and I
was reading the Metaphysics last summer. I alternate
week-to-week: One week is Aristotle, the next week is
Metaphysics. That way, I don't forget too much. When the fall
arrives, I gather up the old exams for the UoL site and sort
through the questions, picking out topics I like, such as
Aristotle's conception of substance in the Metaphysics. Then, I
group the questions topic-by-topic, and start trying to read the
material with an eye toward answering the old exam questions. In
the spring before the exams come up in May, I start writing out
sample answers to the questions. Some of the forum participants
have submitted sample answers; you can find them in the course
topics. Well, we need to add some more, too.
2. I haven't used the Pathways thing and don't know of anyone
who has. I have taken courses at my local state university (I'm
in northern California), and that has helped and hurt, I think.
It's a little more fun to have live discussion in a class and
see what other people say, but the material is often different
from what UoL asks for in the exams, and you can get distracted.
Or, I was, at least. The main thing is discipline and regularity
in your study. If you drop it and go too long without working,
you'll have a hard time when the crunch comes in March and
April. If you go to the VLE Cafe page on the UoL site, you'll
see how some of us were getting pretty panicky around exam times
this past spring. But, again, if you practice writing out actual
exam questions, you'll be much more relaxed and able to think
when you sit your first exam. Things get easier the second year.
A lot easier.
3. Hard to say how much time to spend. I try to do a few hours
in the library on the weekends. Mostly just reading at first,
with more notes as the weeks pass by, and then with more
practice writing as May begins to loom. In March and April, you
should do a few practice 2 hour or 3 hour exams, where you grab
a past exam, pick 2 or 3 questions, and write out the answers to
them, just as if it was a live exam. Read over your answer later
and critique it. Post your answer here and get some feedback.
Have you decided in what order you're going to take the modules?
Well, that's all I can think of right now. Good luck with the
programme, stay in touch with the rest of us would-be
philosophers, and let us know how it works out! Thanks! --Ron
#Post#: 63--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Philosophy Student Needs Advice!
DIR By: CaseyEnos
Date: July 10, 2012, 6:06 pm
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Hey, I just finished my first year in the program as well. I did
three units last year on top of working full time and it was a
heavy load; it basically killed my social life.Literally all I
did was work and study, I tried to divide the time in the day
between the different subjects so as not to neglect one. I also
think I wasted a lot of time though; for instance for the Plato
and the Pre-Socratics I read through the entire body of Plato's
work three times as well as more than a dozen commentaries. If I
had bothered to start by reading the exam questions, the UofL
program focuses on just a few key works that I should of studied
in depth. I think Ron is giving good advice about reading the
questions in the fall, that is my plan exactly, I'm doing
general background reading through the summer and around
September I will start concentrating on the questions I will
answer for the exams. Last year I didn't start to focus on until
just before the exams and I was in a mass panic for that last
month. Even so I finished over 70 in all three subjects so I am
planning on typing out my notes and putting them up, starting in
a couple weeks when I finish a little on-line stats class I am
taking over the summer.
I had to study completely on my own and it was kind of scary-I
wasn't really sure if I had grasped the material or not right up
until the end. I don't know anything about the online tutoring
but if I had the time I would of at least sat in some classes
locally. The best I could do was circulate some of the practice
essays I wrote among the officers in my unit who had taken
philosophy classes in college, and they were as helpful as they
could be but hardly experts.
Well, that's about the best advice I can give-don't do what I
did last year! Start to focus early on the exam topics and stay
focused. About the class load, three was a lot under the old
regs, but it seems like with the new one's the classes are
supposed to take up less time since they only require answering
two questions on the exam, so I am planning on taking four this
year if I don't end up going to Afghanistan instead. Good luck!
#Post#: 65--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Philosophy Student Needs Advice!
DIR By: LouFederer
Date: July 12, 2012, 6:00 pm
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Thank you both so much for your advice! You've helped a lot. I
feel really lucky talking to people who've already been and done
(some of) the course. I am already studying and attempting exam
questions from the Ethics: Historical Perspectives module at the
moment. When I say 'already studying' I basically mean reading
the key works of historical ethics and writing notes alongside
them - I haven't received any of the official study materials
yet! In terms of my approach going forward, my idea is look at
the 'example' exam questions and see what the recurrent themes
are, and which topics are frequently examined. I'm actually
really relieved that for level four and five courses, the exams
are only two hours in length...! I am really hoping that I can
perhaps even take four exams next May if I have studied hard
enough. I think three for certain - I will only be working
part-time and I am planning to maximise the time spent outside
of work to study study study... It's daunting though. I am going
to try the Pathways Program as I noted several of the students
on their websites achieved Firsts (not necessarily by using
Pathways, but it can't be a bad sign, right?) If the experience
is good, I will subsequently review it on this forum. I am
hoping I will cope untutored throughout the subsequent years of
the course - each module costs £240 for tuition which, when you
total it up for twelve modules, is not cheap - especially when
you have no savings and a pretty meagre income! Thumbs down
hehe.
I am currently tackling a harder-than-it-looked exam question
from the Ethics: Historical Perspectives module. I was wondering
if anybody on this forum (maybe just you two, Casey and Ron!!)
could share with me their ideas or suggest a general method for
answering the question? I have already made pages of notes on
the topic and think I have roughly decided what to say, but I
would love any expansion you guys have to offer on the question:
"How well does Justice fit Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean?"
Interesting question, I know.
Casey, it sounds as though you have worked your butt off!
Achieving 70+ scores is amazing, so congratulations, I hope I
can emulate your performance in my exams. If you have any pearls
of wisdom you'd like to share I would lap them up. I am
astounded you managed to work full time, read so voraciously and
achieve so highly. That's extremely inspiring - and encouraging!
I should really not complain about having to work part-time
after all.
I would love to find a way to be economical with my time when
studying. I am not usually one for cutting corners, but I wonder
if it is possible (nay, wise?) to study with the recurrent exam
questions at the front of my mind, or study more traditionally:
learning as much of everything as possible, satisfied that I
have covered all bases, but stressed and fit to burst? It would
be pretty nifty if there was a more expedient way of studying
that allowed you to focus more on the difficult topics, and
allowed you to 'superficially master' some of the others? Don't
get me wrong, I want to do well - really well - but if I could
get through it a less-stressed person? Yeah, I'd go for that.
Thanks for reading, guys.
#Post#: 66--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Philosophy Student Needs Advice!
DIR By: LouFederer
Date: July 12, 2012, 6:15 pm
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P.S. As for which order I am going to take my modules.... In the
first year, I probably want to get Introduction to Philosophy,
Ethics: Historical Perspectives and Logic done. I can't decide
which of Logic and Epistemology is harder, but I think I want
Logic out of the way for the second year.
In the second year, I will either avoid Metaphysics or
Methodology - currently I can't decide as I have fairly limited
experience of them!
I really can't wait to get onto studying the third(/fourth) year
modules; I imagine I will choose: Greek philosophy: Aristotle;
Political philosophy and Aesthetics. The dissertation sounds
amazing and I have no idea what I will do that on - no doubt
this will become clear to me in a few years! But I adore Plato,
Hume, Mill and most Political Philosophy.
#Post#: 67--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Philosophy Student Needs Advice!
DIR By: CaseyEnos
Date: July 12, 2012, 8:30 pm
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Hey,
I'm not sure about that question in any detail, having not taken
Aristotle yet and just getting into ethics this year, but I
believe it is a reference to the Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle
held that everything in moderation was the key to ethics; for
example in temper you should strike the "mean" or average
between allowing yourself to be victimized and being a violent
person. So I believe what is being asked is how to define
justice in Aristotle's terms, that is of finding balance in all
aspects of one's life. I believe Aristotle used the terms good
man and just man interchangeably, as did Plato. Since I'm taking
ethics as well this year we can work together on this stuff.
About the study materials, I believe most of it is online this
year. Check the VLE and your e-mail, they sent me a link but I
haven't checked it yet. I prefer the books in my hand to staring
at a screen.
A great place to start researching a subject is a series from
Icon books
HTML http://www.introducingbooks.com/
You can get these books used on Amazon.com for two or three
bucks, and I absolutely cannot recommend them enough. I would
start with those, even before reading the discussion guides.
Their is one for ethics, as well as Plato, Aristotle and most
other major philosophers.
As far as researching questions: I think the best way to do it
is to hammer out some general background reading, maybe one book
in each major field of the subject, then start to specialize in
the questions you want to answer. Research those questions
thoroughly, write a practice essay and then memorize it as best
you can. I tries to have four essays more or less memorized in
their broad outline for each subject-the questions are pretty
much the same every year, from what I've seen, that way you are
sure to get something you can answer.
Finally, in doing your research for your essays, make good use
of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Those where lifesavers for me last
year.
#Post#: 70--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Philosophy Student Needs Advice!
DIR By: LouFederer
Date: July 13, 2012, 3:00 pm
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Hi again guys
I had a swell of motivation today and, after some extra hours of
reading, I finally formulated a response to the exam question
"How well does Justice fit Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean?" I
have posted my essay on this forum (scary times...!) and I would
love for Casey or Ron to have a read, and tell me what you
think. This is my first ever Philosophy essay and I would
appreciate any feedback at all.
Thanks for the book recommendations, Casey! I looked up the
'Introducing' series and they look really awesome.
The link to my essay on the site:
HTML http://philosophyuol.createaforum.com/ethics-contemporary-perspectives/ethics-historical-perspectives-practice-question-response!/new/#new
Thanks y'all!
#Post#: 73--------------------------------------------------
Re: New Philosophy Student Needs Advice!
DIR By: waveletter
Date: July 16, 2012, 10:42 pm
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Hi LouFederer:
I'll have some comments for your sample essay on Justice as a
Mean in Aristotle a little later. (Excellent start, by the way!
First ever? Wow.) I've been overwhelmed by work and non-work
duties lately.
You asked above about which module is easier: Logic or
Epistemology. I think that Epistemology is definitely easier. It
is a lot more intuitive and accessible. Epistemology goes well
with Modern Philosophy, too. Logic is rather tricky, at least
philosophical logic. But, yeah, I hear your idea that you might
to just want to get it out of the way and clear the slate for
the second year. If you do take logic, there is a nice
introduction to the Logic module topics on Sense and Reference,
Descriptions, and Frege-Russell-Strawson-Donellan in Wm. Lycan's
book on Introduction to Philosophy of Language. The later
chapters in Lycan's book are pertinent only to the Phil of
Language UoL module, but you'll get some good coverage of Logic
topics in his early chapters. Thanks & stay tuned to this
channel, because I will comment on Mean Justice ASAP! --Ron
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