Tuesday, 31 August 2010
A Level Results
Well done to all Abbeyfield Philosophy and Ethics students on the fantastic grades you achieved in the summer exams. Time for A2 students to focus now for January and Philosophy A2!
Monday, 23 August 2010
Channel 4 must watch on Wednesday!
As part of Channel 4's 'Richard Dawkins: Age of reason' season, you can watch loads of his rantings on C4 and 4OD :-)
A really good one is a summary of his hit book the God Delusion, which will first be broadcast on Wednesday 25th Aug at 9pm.
Synopsis:
"In this controversial two-part series, Dawkins describes God as the most unpleasant fictional character of all and launches a wholehearted attack on religion as the cause for much of the pain and suffering in the world."
Or watch the whole Age of Reason series on 4OD (LINK)
Saturday, 14 August 2010
Teaching philosophy with Spider-Man By Katie Connolly
Article from BBC website
Spider-Man's alter-ego Peter Parker struggles with his superhero status (Image courtesy Marvel Entertainment)
For years, fans of the Batman comics have puzzled over a mystery at the heart of the series: why doesn't Batman just kill his arch-nemesis, the murderous Joker?
The two have engaged in a prolonged game of cat-and-mouse. The Joker commits a crime, Batman catches him, the Joker is locked up, and then invariably escapes.
Wouldn't all this be much simpler if Batman just killed the Joker? What's stopping him?
Enter philosopher Immanuel Kant and the deontological theory of ethics.
Is the new Superman meant to be Jesus?
At least, that's how the discussion progresses in a growing number of philosophy classes in the US.
Cultural and media studies have paved the way for universities to incorporate pop culture into their curriculum. These days it is not uncommon to find a television studies class alongside 17th-Century literature in the course listings of an English department.
Now, philosophy professors are finding superheroes and comic books to be exceptionally useful tools in helping students think about the complex moral and ethical debates that have occupied philosophers for centuries.
Moreover, superheroes are attracting students to a discipline often perceived as overrun by musty books, suede elbow patches and bow ties.
Socratic tradition
William Irwin, a philosophy professor at King's College in Pennsylvania, edits the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series, which includes titles such as Batman and Philosophy, and X-Men and Philosophy.
He says there's nothing unusual about using popular references to illustrate complex theories.
Is Peter Parker morally obliged to be a superhero? (Image courtesy Marvel) "This is what philosophy has tried to do from the very beginning," he says. "Philosophy starts with Socrates in the streets of Athens taking his message to the people and speaking in their language - agricultural analogies and common mythology."
Through the centuries, though, philosophers retreated into academia, creating a convoluted vocabulary that can appear inaccessible to the average first-year university student - those "deontological" ethics for example.
Christopher Bartel, an assistant professor of philosophy at Appalachian State University, asks students to read the graphic novel Watchmen in order to explore questions about metaphysics and epistemology.
In one class, he uses the character of Dr Manhattan, who claims that everything - including people's psychology - is predetermined through all the causal laws of physics.
Mr Bartel uses this to teach theories of determinism and free will, and the moral responsibilities entailed in those world views.
Mr Bartel says his course - Philosophy, Literature, Film and Comics - is a "fantastic recruiting tool", and that more of its students go on to specialise in philosophy than students in any of his other courses.
"I usually have students read Plato, Aristotle and Hume in introduction to philosophy courses. They often find it interesting, but get scared away by just how hard it is to read the stuff," Mr Bartel told the BBC.
"Comic books can provide really good illustrations of these philosophical ideas without scaring them off."
He says there are always students who think the course will just be an easy A grade, but they soon realise that despite the fun nature of the material, the work is deeply serious.
Great power, great responsibility?
For Christopher Robichaud, who teaches ethics and political philosophy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Tufts University, superhero-based thought experiments can help people grapple with ethical dilemmas in an unsentimental fashion.
Peter Parker's Uncle Ben told him that with great power comes great responsibility, an axiom that thematically recurs through the series (Image courtesy Marvel Entertainment)
Imagine for example, that you are Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) and you have just discovered that you have superpowers. Do you have a moral obligation to use your new-found powers to help others?
In one published essay, Mr Robichaud uses that question to explore consequentialism, an approach to morality which, as the name suggests, judges the rightness or wrongness of an action based solely on its outcomes.
A consequentialist would be likely to argue that Peter Parker has a moral responsibility to be Spider-Man because that decision would bring about the greatest good.
But Peter Parker was also a talented scientist, so a non-consequentialist could argue that fulfilling his scientific vocation could be an equally valid choice for him. Perhaps being Spider-Man is above and beyond the call of duty - the answer is murky.
The conversation does not end with superheroes, of course. Mr Robichaud encourages students to take the framework they have learned and apply it to decisions in their own personal and professional lives.
But he says it is a neutral way to start talking about ethical issues that people often find provocative or confronting.
"Ethics is one of those hard things to teach because for a lot of people the answers are very personal," Mr Robichaud told the BBC. "If you make it about artificial examples at first, then it allows people to think a little bit more safely and clearly about ethical issues."
Sniggers
The incorporation of superheroes into a philosophy curriculum is not without critics.
"We are not saying that the canon of Superman comic books is equivalent to Homer and Dante and you can study them for their own sake... The goal is always to get people interested in philosophy by speaking first in terms that people are familiar with”
Professor William Irwin
Editor, Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series
When academics struggle to fill seats in their medieval poetry classes while their colleagues are turning students away from packed courses on the mythic rhetoric of the superheroes, sniping in common rooms is to be expected.
Professor Mark White of the City University of New York says he is sure his work on Batman and philosophy "arouses some chuckles in the corridors", but he is careful to point out that he is not teaching the philosophy of comic books, he is using comic books to teach philosophy.
Mr Irwin agrees, drawing a distinction between his work and that of cultural theorists.
"Cultural studies coming out of the UK took popular culture very seriously as an object of study," Mr Irwin told the BBC.
"We are not saying that the canon of Superman comic books is equivalent to Homer and Dante and you can study them for their own sake. We're not suggesting that comic books replace Plato and Descartes - not at all. The goal is always to get people interested in philosophy by speaking first in terms that people are familiar with."
Mr Robichaud has little patience for critics who say that this work cheapens the traditional study of philosophy.
"The sort of philosophy I do - analytical philosophy - uses thought experiments all the time," he says. "If the examples we are drawing from are fictional examples from popular culture, as long as that's in the service of good philosophy, who cares? Who cares if the example is from Middlemarch or Watchmen?"
Shaun Treat, who teaches at the University of North Texas, is not bothered by "highbrow" critics either. For him, the proof is in the pudding: the students lap it up.
After years of teaching traditional debates like Hobbes versus Locke, he says, "it's amazing how much more the students are interested and engaged when you them put in cape and tights and have them slug it out".
Spider-Man's alter-ego Peter Parker struggles with his superhero status (Image courtesy Marvel Entertainment)
For years, fans of the Batman comics have puzzled over a mystery at the heart of the series: why doesn't Batman just kill his arch-nemesis, the murderous Joker?
The two have engaged in a prolonged game of cat-and-mouse. The Joker commits a crime, Batman catches him, the Joker is locked up, and then invariably escapes.
Wouldn't all this be much simpler if Batman just killed the Joker? What's stopping him?
Enter philosopher Immanuel Kant and the deontological theory of ethics.
Is the new Superman meant to be Jesus?
At least, that's how the discussion progresses in a growing number of philosophy classes in the US.
Cultural and media studies have paved the way for universities to incorporate pop culture into their curriculum. These days it is not uncommon to find a television studies class alongside 17th-Century literature in the course listings of an English department.
Now, philosophy professors are finding superheroes and comic books to be exceptionally useful tools in helping students think about the complex moral and ethical debates that have occupied philosophers for centuries.
Moreover, superheroes are attracting students to a discipline often perceived as overrun by musty books, suede elbow patches and bow ties.
Socratic tradition
William Irwin, a philosophy professor at King's College in Pennsylvania, edits the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series, which includes titles such as Batman and Philosophy, and X-Men and Philosophy.
He says there's nothing unusual about using popular references to illustrate complex theories.
Is Peter Parker morally obliged to be a superhero? (Image courtesy Marvel) "This is what philosophy has tried to do from the very beginning," he says. "Philosophy starts with Socrates in the streets of Athens taking his message to the people and speaking in their language - agricultural analogies and common mythology."
Through the centuries, though, philosophers retreated into academia, creating a convoluted vocabulary that can appear inaccessible to the average first-year university student - those "deontological" ethics for example.
Christopher Bartel, an assistant professor of philosophy at Appalachian State University, asks students to read the graphic novel Watchmen in order to explore questions about metaphysics and epistemology.
In one class, he uses the character of Dr Manhattan, who claims that everything - including people's psychology - is predetermined through all the causal laws of physics.
Mr Bartel uses this to teach theories of determinism and free will, and the moral responsibilities entailed in those world views.
Mr Bartel says his course - Philosophy, Literature, Film and Comics - is a "fantastic recruiting tool", and that more of its students go on to specialise in philosophy than students in any of his other courses.
"I usually have students read Plato, Aristotle and Hume in introduction to philosophy courses. They often find it interesting, but get scared away by just how hard it is to read the stuff," Mr Bartel told the BBC.
"Comic books can provide really good illustrations of these philosophical ideas without scaring them off."
He says there are always students who think the course will just be an easy A grade, but they soon realise that despite the fun nature of the material, the work is deeply serious.
Great power, great responsibility?
For Christopher Robichaud, who teaches ethics and political philosophy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Tufts University, superhero-based thought experiments can help people grapple with ethical dilemmas in an unsentimental fashion.
Peter Parker's Uncle Ben told him that with great power comes great responsibility, an axiom that thematically recurs through the series (Image courtesy Marvel Entertainment)
Imagine for example, that you are Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) and you have just discovered that you have superpowers. Do you have a moral obligation to use your new-found powers to help others?
In one published essay, Mr Robichaud uses that question to explore consequentialism, an approach to morality which, as the name suggests, judges the rightness or wrongness of an action based solely on its outcomes.
A consequentialist would be likely to argue that Peter Parker has a moral responsibility to be Spider-Man because that decision would bring about the greatest good.
But Peter Parker was also a talented scientist, so a non-consequentialist could argue that fulfilling his scientific vocation could be an equally valid choice for him. Perhaps being Spider-Man is above and beyond the call of duty - the answer is murky.
The conversation does not end with superheroes, of course. Mr Robichaud encourages students to take the framework they have learned and apply it to decisions in their own personal and professional lives.
But he says it is a neutral way to start talking about ethical issues that people often find provocative or confronting.
"Ethics is one of those hard things to teach because for a lot of people the answers are very personal," Mr Robichaud told the BBC. "If you make it about artificial examples at first, then it allows people to think a little bit more safely and clearly about ethical issues."
Sniggers
The incorporation of superheroes into a philosophy curriculum is not without critics.
"We are not saying that the canon of Superman comic books is equivalent to Homer and Dante and you can study them for their own sake... The goal is always to get people interested in philosophy by speaking first in terms that people are familiar with”
Professor William Irwin
Editor, Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series
When academics struggle to fill seats in their medieval poetry classes while their colleagues are turning students away from packed courses on the mythic rhetoric of the superheroes, sniping in common rooms is to be expected.
Professor Mark White of the City University of New York says he is sure his work on Batman and philosophy "arouses some chuckles in the corridors", but he is careful to point out that he is not teaching the philosophy of comic books, he is using comic books to teach philosophy.
Mr Irwin agrees, drawing a distinction between his work and that of cultural theorists.
"Cultural studies coming out of the UK took popular culture very seriously as an object of study," Mr Irwin told the BBC.
"We are not saying that the canon of Superman comic books is equivalent to Homer and Dante and you can study them for their own sake. We're not suggesting that comic books replace Plato and Descartes - not at all. The goal is always to get people interested in philosophy by speaking first in terms that people are familiar with."
Mr Robichaud has little patience for critics who say that this work cheapens the traditional study of philosophy.
"The sort of philosophy I do - analytical philosophy - uses thought experiments all the time," he says. "If the examples we are drawing from are fictional examples from popular culture, as long as that's in the service of good philosophy, who cares? Who cares if the example is from Middlemarch or Watchmen?"
Shaun Treat, who teaches at the University of North Texas, is not bothered by "highbrow" critics either. For him, the proof is in the pudding: the students lap it up.
After years of teaching traditional debates like Hobbes versus Locke, he says, "it's amazing how much more the students are interested and engaged when you them put in cape and tights and have them slug it out".
Saturday, 7 August 2010
NYC Mosque & Collective Responsibility
NYC Mosque & Collective Responsibility
Should a mosque be built close to Ground Zero in New York? Is it a recipe for racial hatred or should equality mean a mosque can be built anywhere, even if it might cause upset? Follow the above link and comment below.
Should a mosque be built close to Ground Zero in New York? Is it a recipe for racial hatred or should equality mean a mosque can be built anywhere, even if it might cause upset? Follow the above link and comment below.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Holocaust Eductation Trust - A Trip to Auschwitz
Two Abbeyfield Year 12 students recently had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz with the Holocaust Education Trust. The experience had a profound effect on both students and they have shared their experiences with students at school through assemblies and lessons. To see Simone's review of her experiences, please follow the link below.
http://www.slideshare.net/haigwilliams/simone-partner-review
http://www.slideshare.net/haigwilliams/simone-partner-review
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
French MPs set to vote for ban on Islamic full veil
A French Muslim woman was recently fined 22 euros for driving while wearing a full-face veil. A French ban on the public wearing of the Islamic full veil is expected to have an easy passage in parliament's lower house when it votes shortly.
See full story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10611398.stm
Monday, 12 July 2010
A2 Reading List
Summer and course reading for all A2 philosophy students. If Abbeyfield students wish to borrow a book for the summer please see Mrs Haig and sign it out in the red book.
http://www.slideshare.net/haigwilliams/a2-philosophy-reading-list
http://www.slideshare.net/haigwilliams/a2-philosophy-reading-list
AS Philosophy Reading List
http://www.slideshare.net/haigwilliams/as-philosophy-reading-list
Summer and course reading for all would be philosophy students at Abbeyfield.
Summer and course reading for all would be philosophy students at Abbeyfield.
Friday, 9 July 2010
The death of a Holocaust survivor - Sonia Weitz
Come take this giant leap with me
Into the other world..the other place
And trace the eclipse of humanity.
Where children burned while mankind stood by,
And the universe has yet to learn why
...Has yet to learn why.
- Sonia Weitz, from her poem, "For Yom Ha'Shoah"
It is impossible for us to understand how those who survived the Holocaust can really feel. Holocaust survivors relive their experiences so the world can try to understand and learn from events of the past. The poetry of Sonia Weitz has helped many to begin to understand the Holocaust. If you would like to find out more about this amazing woman, please follow the link below.
http://www.facinghistory.org/about/who/profiles/sonia-weitz
Into the other world..the other place
And trace the eclipse of humanity.
Where children burned while mankind stood by,
And the universe has yet to learn why
...Has yet to learn why.
- Sonia Weitz, from her poem, "For Yom Ha'Shoah"
It is impossible for us to understand how those who survived the Holocaust can really feel. Holocaust survivors relive their experiences so the world can try to understand and learn from events of the past. The poetry of Sonia Weitz has helped many to begin to understand the Holocaust. If you would like to find out more about this amazing woman, please follow the link below.
http://www.facinghistory.org/about/who/profiles/sonia-weitz
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
GCSE Edexcel Unit 8: Religion and Society
This is the course students will take in Y11 either to compliment the short course they have already taken or for our new Y10 students, as the second year of the GCSE. It is 4 units long and covers the following topics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjY-foU8Ipw
- Religion, Rights and Responsibilities: The role of authority when making moral decisions, human rights, the electoral process in the UK, Christian teaching on moral responsibility, genetic engineering and cloning.
- Religion, The Environment and Medical Issues: Global warming, stewardship, medical treatment for infertility, transplant surgery, the attitudes of Christians and Muslims to these issues.
- Religion, Peace and Conflict: The UN and world peace, how religious organisations promote world peace, why wars occur, Just War theory, bullying, conflict in families, forgiveness and reconciliation, the attitude of Christians and Muslims to these issues.
- Religion, Crime and Punishment: The need for law and justice, theories of punishment, capital punishment, laws on drugs and alcohol and the social problems caused by them, the attitude of Christians and Muslims to all these issues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjY-foU8Ipw
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
French parliament debates ban on burqa-style veils
French parliament debates ban on burqa-style veils http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-07-06-france-burqa_N.htm
.
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Using religious language to fight global warming
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8468233.stm
Monday, 21 June 2010
Morality Play
A new morality game to test your ethics from The Philosopher's Magazine online.
http://www.philosophersnet.com/games/morality_play.php
Philosophy A2
The Philosophy A2 course begins on 22nd June with a module on Religious Language. Full course outline is attached below:
Religious Language
• Use and purpose of religious language
• The via negative
• Verification and Falsification principles
• How meaningful is religious language
• The use of symbol, analogy and myth to express our understanding of God
• The Vienna Circle
Religious Experience
• Arguments from religious experience
• Main conclusions drawn by William James
• Forms of religious experience: visions, voices, “numinous” experience, conversion experience, corporate religious experience
• Revelation through sacred writing
• MIRACLE including:
o Different definitions including Hume
o Biblical concept of miracle
o Criticisms made by Hume and Wiles
The Nature of God
• God as eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omni-benevolent and the philosophical problems these cause
• Boethius – Book 5 The Consolations of Philosophy
• Would a good God reward or punish
Life and Death: The Soul
• Distinctions between body and soul (Plato, Aristotle, Hick and Dawkins)
• Questions surrounding the nature of a disembodied existence
• Relationship between the afterlife and the problem of evil
Religious Language
• Use and purpose of religious language
• The via negative
• Verification and Falsification principles
• How meaningful is religious language
• The use of symbol, analogy and myth to express our understanding of God
• The Vienna Circle
Religious Experience
• Arguments from religious experience
• Main conclusions drawn by William James
• Forms of religious experience: visions, voices, “numinous” experience, conversion experience, corporate religious experience
• Revelation through sacred writing
• MIRACLE including:
o Different definitions including Hume
o Biblical concept of miracle
o Criticisms made by Hume and Wiles
The Nature of God
• God as eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omni-benevolent and the philosophical problems these cause
• Boethius – Book 5 The Consolations of Philosophy
• Would a good God reward or punish
Life and Death: The Soul
• Distinctions between body and soul (Plato, Aristotle, Hick and Dawkins)
• Questions surrounding the nature of a disembodied existence
• Relationship between the afterlife and the problem of evil
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Tenth worker at ipad factory commits suicide.
Do workers have the right to good working conditions? What constitutes good conditions and what should an employer do when 10 of their workers commit suicide? Read the following report from The Independent and consider it in the light of the business ethics topic and the recent programmes on "Blood, sweat and luxuries"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tenth-worker-at-ipad-factory-commits-suicide-1982897.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tenth-worker-at-ipad-factory-commits-suicide-1982897.html
Friday, 21 May 2010
Fallacy-B-Gone Critical Thinking Spray - Effective on Politicians, Banke...
Found this on the TPM site - If philosophers made infomercials!
Thursday, 20 May 2010
'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists
Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.
The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell.
The resulting microbe then looked and behaved like the species "dictated" by the synthetic DNA.
See the story here...
Is this the ultimate in intelligent design? What are the ethical implications here?
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