DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
BA in Philosophy - University Of London, International
Programmes
HTML https://philosophyuol.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Introduce Yourself
*****************************************************
#Post#: 5--------------------------------------------------
Just an introduction
DIR By: waveletter
Date: March 26, 2012, 10:44 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Hello everyone:
I'm just trying this out, so apologies in advance if it's
bungled.
My name is Ron Allen, and I'm in my third year of work in the
Philosophy BA at UoL International. The units I've completed so
far (I'm doing fairly well, with an average in the mid-60s) are
Logic, Epistemology, Greek Philosophy, and Modern Philosophy.
I'm taking two Intermediate courses now: Aristotle and
Metaphysics. I skipped Historical Ethics, because, well, I was
keen on doing Aristotle, and it seemed like the Metaphysics
course was more apropos to Aristotle than was Ethics. It was an
odd, unplanned step in any case. Oh well.
I have some previous background in philosophy, although I was a
mathematics major at the university (Berkeley). I've also been
taking some courses at the local state university here in
northern California (San Jose State), which I thought might
supplement my independent work on the UoL distance learning
program. At SJSU, I've done Modern Philosophy (an undergraduate
course) and two graduate seminars, one on early analytic
philosophy (Frege, Moore, Russell, Wittgenstein's Tractatus) and
one on ordinary language philosophy (Wittgenstein
Investigations, commentary thereto, Austin, Strawson, and
Grice).
Languages I speak are Russian, Spanish, (read) ancient Greek,
and some French, German, Japanese, and Italian. I'm a translator
for the Suda Online Project: www.stoa.org/sol/. What happened to
me was that I got absolutely sick of my high-tech, Silicon
Valley job at one point and on a whim enrolled in a course
through UC Berkeley Extension in Homeric Greek. Well, the
instructor, a fresh-out Classics Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, was
great, and I just kept going. I didn't know what to do with my
approximately 8 semesters of Attic and Homeric Greek--it's not
the most effective thing to put on your resume around these
parts--until I found the SOL Online project, and signed up. So
I've been translating small- to medium-sized Greek passages from
this 10th century CE dictionary-encyclopedia called the Suda for
several years.
I have a variety of short essays on UoL exam topics as well as
items from my work at San Jose State, so I'll try posting them
into the course work categories here on Alejandra's forum-site.
They might prove useful to others. We're kind of small right
now, but I'll also take a minute or two to ask some questions
I've had about my current stuff. Thanks! --Ron
#Post#: 12--------------------------------------------------
Re: Just an introduction
DIR By: Analytical
Date: April 6, 2012, 11:03 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
I thought I'd try this out as well. I'm Manuel from the official
UoL forums, and I'm in my second year of the philosophy course.
I'mg going for Epistemology, Ethics: Historical Perspectives,
and Modern Philosophy: Spinoza & Kant. I got my Diploma in
Philosophy last year by completing the three compulsory units
plus the Introduction module. Got fairly decent grades, but I
hope to do better this year, though the gods know that I've had
my ups and downs this school year and haven't been able to
concentrate in my studies all that well at times.
I got interested in Philosophy in my early teens thanks to
Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy. At first it was just
a general interest (my main passion was in theoretical physics,
you know General Relativity and so forth), and did not consider
it as a career choice until my sophomore year in High School.
Back then I was very attracted to the so-called "perennial"
philosophy of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas (I was a devout
traditional catholic). I tried taking Philosophy in my local
University, but was quite literally disgusted at the low level
of the education system and the Marxist tendencies among the
professorate. I left after just one semester. 7 years later, I
enrolled with the University of London, abandoned catholicism
for agnostic atheism, and am much more impressed now with the
precision of thought in the analytical tradition than the (what
I consider) stagnant school of neo-scholasticism.
As Ron Allen, I'm also trying to learn several languages.
Besides Spanish (my native tongue) and English (my second
language), I've studied German, Latin, Ancient Greek (though
I've become very rusty with the latter two, since they are dead
languages and cannot practice them), and plan on picking up some
French and Italian. What for? To open up my horizons, of course!
There's nothing quite like reading the classics from the major
world cultures in their own language. Plus I think I can improve
on the analytical tradition in philosophy by detaching it a
little from the English language, which I believe sometimes
exerts an undue influence.
Anyway, that's all I have to say in my introduction.
Good luck to all on the upcoming exams!
#Post#: 32--------------------------------------------------
Re: Just an introduction
DIR By: CaseyEnos
Date: May 8, 2012, 3:35 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Hello Everybody,
My name is Casey Enos. I've always had a very keen interest in
philosophy; well, in about all fields of knowledge, really, but
I was just slow to get started on a formal education. Previous
to this I got a associates in liberal arts on-line, and decided
it was time to head in deeper. Its something I plan to keep at
and hopefully make a career of one day.
Philosophy aside, I'm a professional soldier at Ft Stewart,
Georgia. I currently instruct hand-to-hand combat (combatives,
in army talk) and fight for the unit in martial arts
competitions. Previously I spent a lot of time overseas, where
philosophy kept me sane...
The only other language I know is French, which got hammered
into me in the Legion Etrangere, although linguistics in general
is fascinating to me.
Good luck everyone!
#Post#: 56--------------------------------------------------
Re: Just an introduction
DIR By: LouFederer
Date: July 4, 2012, 7:32 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Hi everybody. I am really glad to have found a forum where UoL
Philsophy students can convene and discuss aspects of the
course. I have enrolled to begin this Autumn, and am awaiting my
study materials/syllabus.
My name is Lou and I live twenty minutes outside of London. I am
22 and am a true lover of the Arts.
I only discovered Philosophy two years back during my 'Theory of
Knowledge' studies as a student on the International
Baccalaureate. I aced the IB, decided I wanted to study English
Literature at Oxford and then, as fate would have it, I met the
man of my dreams and took an un-preempted gap year. During my
year off, working part-time (and reading full-time), I began to
realise that despite always wanting to pursue Literature,
Philosophy was my truest passion; the pursuit of knowledge and
the truth interests and titillates me more than analysing
Literature. I still read voraciously, but owing to my knew
'Philosophy Student' status, I've had to shun fiction and poetry
for the meantime to engulf centuries of philosophical texts. I
am hoping that the skills which allowed me to flourish as a
Literature student will come in handy in my philosophical
undetakings!
My main interests in Philosophy are Ethics, Political
Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy and Epistemology; my favourites
philosophers are Plato, Hume and Mill. I am so excited at the
prospect of becoming a true Philosopher. I hope that this UoL BA
will be the first degree of many towards, I imagine, a PhD. I
will then recycle myself back into education, sharing my passion
with students of the future, and hopefully changing the world a
little bit too.
I would be very interested in talking to other students, taking
advice re exams and how to study along the way... I am not going
to lie, I am feeling quite daunted at the prospect of learning
without any tuition; I hope that I can engineer a method of
autonomous study that will allow me to achieve my full
potential.
If you want to have personal correspondence with me, you can
e-mail me at Loublouchapman@hotmail.com
I look forward to hearing from you all!
#Post#: 76--------------------------------------------------
Re: Just an introduction
DIR By: Neil
Date: July 17, 2012, 3:16 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Hi everyone,
I’m Neil: 59, retired from a career in computing and management,
live near Worcester (England), just starting the degree course.
I took a physics degree in my youth, then turned to other
things. But questions about the nature of the universe stayed
with me, and after I retired I had time to get back to them
properly. I started reading science books again - physics,
cosmology, evolution, neuroscience. In some of them, specially
the popular ones, there seemed to be a lot of philosophical
confusion and for me the most interesting scientific questions
are also philosophical ones. I decided I’d better try and do
philosophy properly, so here I am. I have some trepidation about
the idea of writing exam essays, but am enjoying the
introductory books. I don’t know how long I will take over the
degree. I’ve registered for all the level 4 ones (new syllabus)
so I can have a good look at them, but will just start with
Introduction to Philosophy and see how long it takes.
I’m happy to study by myself, and always preferred books to
lectures, but am going to get some online tutorial help as well,
to give me feedback on essays. And online forums seem a good
idea too. Good luck to us all! :)
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 1