Social Media

Use the Internet and social networking to help you in your studies. Follow Haigwilliams on Twitter where I tweet a number of Philosophy and Sociology tweets from the news or other tweeters. Also, use Edmodo to comment on questions and debate/ discuss with other students. Finally use Socrative to review learning with tailor made quizzes. Speak to me to get the "room number" to access my quizzes.

Welcome back!

Welcome back to the Philosophy blog for Abbeyfield school. New for 2013 I will be including links for Sociology AS and A2.

Students from Abbeyfield can send me ideas, news items, pictures and blog posts for inclusion. Also welcome any ideas for how to improve the blog.

Exam Dates Summer 2012

GCSE Religion and Life - 15th May 2012 at 1.15pm
GCSE Religion and Society - 17th May at 1.15pm
AS Philosophy and Ethics - 16th May at 9am
A2 Ethics - 31st May 9am

Good luck to all Abbeyfield students in your exams!

Abbeyfield Humanities now on Twitter and Facebook

You can now get notifications of the posts on the Abbeyfield Humanities website in two new ways.

On Facebook - Abbeyfield Humanities 
Or click the image below:

On Twitter - AbbHumanities
Or click on the image below:

Balir vs. Hitchens Debate

Here is a small clip from a debate between ex PM Tony Blair (a converted Catholic) and the renowned Atheist Christopher Hitchens.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11852811

An interesting argument from a political view and a humanistic view compelled by their promenade e and Christopher's current battle with cancer.

Worth a look at the whole debate on YouTube.

Grill a Bishop!

On the 16th November the Bishop of Sherbourne has arranged to talk to Abbeyfield Post 16 students via a web link. The session is called Grill a Bishop and is an opportunity to ask those tricky questions you always wanted to ask but never had the chance. What do Christians think about embryo research? Designer Babies? Saviour siblings? Is it possible to believe in God in a scientific age? Does evil prove there is no God? How did the universe begin? Does evolution disprove God .....

 

The web chat will be particularly useful for students studying A levels in Philosophy and Ethics, Psychology, Biology and Physics but is open to anyone who has a good searching question to ask.

 

If you are an Abbeyfield student and would like to be involved, please email me a copy of the question you would like to ask. If you are free between 11 and 11.30 on Wednesday 16th November, then come to IT5 and log in and ask the question yourself. If you are in lessons, I will make sure the question is asked for you.

 

Please try and get involved as I think it is an excellent opportunity to Grill a Bishop!

 

Stem Cell Research Patents

On 18 October 2011, the European Court of Justice handed down a ruling in a case about German patents relating to isolated neural precursor cells, their production from embryonic stem cells, and their therapeutic use. The court’s judgment has received much discussion, a fair bit of it unfavourable. It raises important questions about bioethical principles, the regulation of biotechnology, and the role of the state in these controversial areas.


Follow the link below to read the rest of the article.
http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=3545

Richard Dawkins - Why I won't debate with William Lane Craig

http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/20/richard-dawkins-william-lane-craig?cat=commentisfree&type=article

Science and Religion

It appears the Science and Religion debate is as active as ever. Two articles in the Guardian this week examine the issue from various  points of view. Read the articles at the links below and then consider some of the big questions:

• Can science and religion ever co-exist?
• Does evolution disprove religion once and for all?
• What can sociology and Psychology add to the debate?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/oct/20/science-religious?CMP=twt_fd
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/oct/19/evolutionary-theorists-religion?CMP=twt_fd

Can you make people be Good Samaritans?

On the 13th October a two tear old girl was run down in China by a hit and run driver. These things happen you might say but what happens next is hard to believe. Over the next minutes, 18 people walked past the small child and did not help; another van ran over the child's legs and did not stop. What kind of society do we live in when people do not stop to help an injured baby?
The story has led many people in China to question their morality. There had been occasions lately where people had helped those in distress and then been held accountable for their actions. Is this why no one helped? Should China now introduce a Good Samaritan law making it a legal requirement to help those in need?
What ever the outcome of this event, it is too late for the little girl. She was taken to hospital in a coma and has now died of her injuries.
Read the full story using the links below to the BBC and consider your own views. What would you have done in the situation? What was the morally right thing to do?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15398332?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15386700?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect

Can we sacrifice one person to save the life of another? Is the intention to kill or to save life?

Phillipa Foot writes an interesting chapter on this topic in her book Virtues, vices and other issues in Moral Philosophy. This can be found online or is available to buy from Amazon.

Peter Singer on Project Nim

Project Nim reminds us of our responsibility to the great apes

How the chimpanzee Nim Chimpsky was treated was wrong, and such invasive research should be consigned to history.

In this article for the New York Times review of books blog, Peter Singer discusses his views on using chimps in research.

Read the article in full at: 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/27/project-nim-chimpsky

French Burka Ban

An interesting twist in the French burka ban was reported in the Telegraph this weekend. Two ladies were being taken to court for wearing their headcoverings but were refused admission to the court whilst wearing them. One of the ladies who attended the court refused to remove hers, and as police have no right to remove them, she was sent home and the trial could not go ahead!

Read the full story at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8581980/French-burka-ban-descends-into-farce.html

For all A Level Students

If you haven't visited rsrevision.com recently follow the link below to view all the new resources. These include new ethics revision cards and students essays to read and mark.

http://www.rsrevision.com/Alevel/ethics/contents/help.htm

Also very useful for ethics revision both at AS and A2 is philosophicalinvestigations. Check out the revision whizz throughs for a quick reminder of the topics.

http://philosophicalinvestigations.co.uk/

Year 11 Revision Sites

A reminder of a few good revision pages you can use ahead of next weeks exam:

http://www.rsrevision.com/GCSE/christian_perspectives/peace/index.htm

http://www.rsrevision.com/GCSE/christian_perspectives/carefortheplanet/index.htm

http://www.rsrevision.com/GCSE/christian_perspectives/genetics/index.htm

Can Mill's Utilitarianism be saved?

Talking Philosophy offers a fresh look at one of the favourite ethical theories amongst Abbeyfield students - Utilitarianism. The linked article takes a good look at Mill's utilitarianism but concludes perhaps that Mill's utilitarianism is still tarred with the same brush as Bentham's and therefore falls to the same weaknesses. Again useful food for thought ahead of A level exams.

http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=2751

Is targeted killing ethical?

Further to our discussions today about the greater good, I urge Y13 A2 students to read this article from Talking Philosophy. It poses the question whether targeted killing of an individual is ethical in the light of Bin Laden's death. Y12 students can also link this discussion to the war topic and is it ever right to fight.
http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=2810&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CombinedTpmBloggingFeed+%28Combined+TPM+Blogging+Feed%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

'Suicide tourism' set to continue in Switzerland

Voters in Zurich, Switzerland, have rejected proposed bans on assisted suicide and "suicide tourism".

Some 85% of the 278,000 votes cast opposed the ban on assisted suicide and 78% opposed outlawing it for foreigners, Zurich authorities said.

About 200 people commit assisted suicide each year in Zurich, including many foreign visitors.

Read the full story via the Guardian website here or on the BBC News website here

Virtue Ethics Revision Video - o2 Learn

Virtue ethics revision video:

https://www.o2learn.co.uk/o2_video.php?vid=1141

Thinking about A Levels?

The Russell Group - a group of 20 of the top universities has published advice on A Level combinations for different degree courses. The good news is that Philosophy and Religious Studies are both considered "hard" subjects which means a highly respected qualification. The group suggests these subjects could be particularly useful for: Computing (!), Education, English, History, Philosophy, Politics, Religious Studies, Theology and History of Art. They are also considered useful as an essay based subject. Subjects such as Law and Music often require essay based subjects.

For further information see the Russell group website http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/School/