What is Philosophy and how do we do it?

A little contest was run at Philosophy Now. Have a look at the winners answers to the question here.

Lost in the clouds?

What is Philosophy? What is it good for?

From the Opinionator at The New York Times.

For your reading pleasure.

QACDE

• Question, Query, inQuiry
• Answer, Argument
• Concept
• Definition
• Examples, non-Examples

What do you think is the relationship between these in the domain of Philosophy? How do they relate to each other? What role do they play in Philosophy?

Questioning the question

To start us off, let us consider the notion of Question in philosophy.

What makes a question/problem/inquiry philosophical? (as opposed to being a scientific, mathematical, practical, etc. one)

Post your thoughts using the Comment feature below. Please use a recognizable nick in your posts. And include your class as well. We have many Rachels.

Do remember also to save a copy of all the posts you make. You might want to submit them as your final assignment for the year. When saving posts, it is often useful to capture the context as well, since you might be engaged in a discussion with other commenters. An isolated comment might not make sense when taken out of context.

Citations etc.

Since we are into the writing of papers and such, I thought I’d remind everyone of the importance of proper practice when it comes to citing sources. There are many styles you can choose from, but remember to use one consistent style throughout your work.

• MLA
• Chicago/Turabian
• plus many others you can look up yourself

For various types of online sources, see how to cite them at this site.

Also, remember proper practice for quoting and when to use block quotes.

Conversations on Philosophy

Philosopher John Searle talks about how one does Philosophy with Harry Kreisler on Conversations with History at UCTV.

The talk is almost an hour long. The discussion of philosophy takes up the first half hour, right up to 31:30.

UCTV also has a Philosophy section.

John Searle is most well-known for his work on Philosophy of Mind.

Searle also gave a talk at Google on philo of mind.

Year-end Assignment

Remember that you need to clear your

• topic area
• specific question
• nature of assignment (see previous post)

with me BEFORE you begin your assignment.

Deadlines are as follows:

• Sec 3: 2 weeks after last day of EYA
• Sec 4: Tue of Term 4 Week 7

Questions? Just email me.

Next meeting and PEP assignment for the year

I am proposing our next meeting be on Tue Sep 16 or Tue Sep 23. As usual, please vote via email.

Attendance at our meeting on Tue Aug 12 was poor, but we went ahead anyway. I know the Sec 4s are at the end of the tether in terms of preparing for exams. Hang in there. It will all end soon.

Now as for the assignment, I am going to offer some suggestions. Please consider which of these you’d like to do to cap off your year in PEP. If you don’t like any of these, I’m open to your suggestions.

• a long essay on a topic of your choice (1000-1500 words) with full references etc.
• a portfolio of 3 shorter pieces (400-600 words) centered on one problem/question
• a PowerPoint slide show with accompanying script (10-15 slides) focusing on one problem/question
• a Socratic dialogue aimed at trying to define a philosophically interesting concept (1000-1500 words)

The assignment should reach me before the end of Options [i.e. T4W6]

It is now necessary because I am no longer hopeful that we can complete the planned series of topical presentations that we set out to do at the start of the year in our youthful naivete.

Next meeting?

Please check your email. Let me know which dates you prefer. Choose from:

• Tue 29 Jul
• Tue 5 Aug
• Tue 12 Aug
• or an even later date?

Please send me a 1st and 2nd choice. I will announce the confirmed
date after all your replies come in.

Update: OK, results are in. The next meeting will be on Tue 12 Aug

Some useful resources online

1. The Galilean Library (named after Galileo) has a Philosophy section which has some ongoing philosophical discussions as well as a collection of essays on various aspects of Philosophy. Some examples are:
• What is Philosophy?
• Doing Philosophy
• Logic
• Philosophy of Science
2. The Philosopher’s Magazine (which you can find in our library) is online and their blog is active and interesting. They also have a whole database of  philosophy quotes and some fascinating games (which we used at open house.)
3. Philosophy Now is another magazine of interest (also in our library).
4. And finally, we learn Why Philosophy is Everybody’s Business.