14 replies to this topic

[amira_786]

Assalamou Alaykum,

I have just completed my A Levels in which my Philosophy grade wasn't to what I wanted! I am now taking a Gap Year due to the fact that I had overburdening family circumstances which caused a hindrance to my studies. I am hoping to resit 2 modules in Philosophy.

The first is Philosophy of Mind and (Moral Philosophy which I am fine with) which is about Dualism, Functionalism, Behaviourism, Materialism etc.

The second is an exam based on the text 'Descartes Meditations'

My problem is, my resources for the first exam (Philosophy of Mind) is rather limited! I have two textbooks but aren't very sufficient for the amount of information I need to study for.

Could anyone recommend anything? Or even any sites, resources or tips? Would be very much appreciated!

Salam and Duas

[Dawud1UK]

Wsalam,

I have some resources for Functionalism, Behaviourism, Marxism, New Right and Feminism although its for Sociology A-Levels so I don't think it would be much use or would it?

You checked this: http://www.thestuden..._Revision_Notes

or: http://getrevising.c...=Philosophy&go=

Also your teachers must have plenty of resources have you asked them if they could photocopy you some or give you lecture notes/slides that you go through?

Edited by Dawud1UK, 20 August 2012 - 09:59 AM.

[amira_786]

Thanks for the links, they seem helpful!

And no unfortunately not lol, I also do Sociology and at first I thought both Functionalists were the same but they aren't!

[wundermonk]

amira_786, on 20 August 2012 - 09:46 AM, said:

The first is Philosophy of Mind and (Moral Philosophy which I am fine with) which is about Dualism, Functionalism, Behaviourism, Materialism etc. My problem is, my resources for the first exam (Philosophy of Mind) is rather limited! I have two textbooks but aren't very sufficient for the amount of information I need to study for.

Classical Indian Philosophy of Mind is a great introduction to the thoughts and ideas deliberated upon by ancient Indians. This books focuses on the Nyaya realist-dualist school. It does not cover moral philosophy.

[amira_786]

wundermonk, on 20 August 2012 - 10:54 AM, said:

Classical Indian Philosophy of Mind is a great introduction to the thoughts and ideas deliberated upon by ancient Indians. This books focuses on the Nyaya realist-dualist school. It does not cover moral philosophy.

Thank you! It will be very helpful for my understanding on Dualism

[.InshAllah.]

This is a useful paper by a materialist atheist philosopher on substance dualism.

Giving Dualism its Due by William Lycan

Quote

Being a philosopher, of course I would like to think that my stance is rational,
held not just instinctively and scientistically and in the mainstream but because the
arguments do indeed favor materialism over dualism. But I do not think that, though I
used to. My position may be rational, broadly speaking, but not because the arguments
favor it: Though the arguments for dualism do (indeed) fail, so do the arguments for
materialism. And the standard objections to dualism are not very convincing; if one
really manages to be a dualist in the first place, one should not be much impressed by
them. My purpose in this paper is to hold my own feet to the fire and admit that I do not
proportion my belief to the evidence.2

What makes this paper unusual is that he is arguing that there are no good arguments against dualism or for materialism (which makes me wonder why he accepts the latter.  Maybe, like philosopher Thomas Nagel, he has a 'cosmic authority problem').  The paper is useful for you as it goes through many different arguments against dualism and carefully analyses them.

[Chicken_Nugget]

wundermonk, on 20 August 2012 - 10:54 AM, said:

Classical Indian Philosophy of Mind is a great introduction to the thoughts and ideas deliberated upon by ancient Indians. This books focuses on the Nyaya realist-dualist school. It does not cover moral philosophy.

Is it just philosophy or does it go deeper to their religious roots?

[amira_786]

.InshAllah., on 30 August 2012 - 03:27 PM, said:

This is a useful paper by a materialist atheist philosopher on substance dualism.

Giving Dualism its Due by William Lycan



What makes this paper unusual is that he is arguing that there are no good arguments against dualism or for materialism (which makes me wonder why he accepts the latter.  Maybe, like philosopher Thomas Nagel, he has a 'cosmic authority problem').  The paper is useful for you as it goes through many different arguments against dualism and carefully analyses them.

Thank you! This is really helpful!

I have been speaking to my tutors in the last few weeks and I'm considering dropping Philosophy of Mind module and learning Political Philosophy instead. What's your opinion?

[.InshAllah.]

amira_786, on 13 September 2012 - 02:08 AM, said:

Thank you! This is really helpful!

I have been speaking to my tutors in the last few weeks and I'm considering dropping Philosophy of Mind module and learning Political Philosophy instead. What's your opinion?

Its up to you; I think that they're both interesting but prefer philosophy of mind.  If you do go for political philosophy, two good books are:

An Introduction to Political Philosophy by Jonathan Wolff
Justice: What's the right thing to do? by Micheal Sandel

You can watch some of Michael Sandel's lectures online.

Another good paper on philosophy of mind is Against Materialism by Laurence Bonjour

Edited by .InshAllah., 17 September 2012 - 09:33 AM.

[amira_786]

.InshAllah., on 17 September 2012 - 09:29 AM, said:

Its up to you; I think that they're both interesting but prefer philosophy of mind.  If you do go for political philosophy, two good books are:

An Introduction to Political Philosophy by Jonathan Wolff
Justice: What's the right thing to do? by Micheal Sandel

You can watch some of Michael Sandel's lectures online.

Another good paper on philosophy of mind is Against Materialism by Laurence Bonjour

After thinking about it, I think I will go with Political. Reason being I have more knowledge and passion for it than Mind. I did A Level Politics and studied Political Ideology for the 2nd year which was based on the foundation of each ideology and introduced all the key people; Burke, Mill, Proudhon etc.

Thanks for the book recommendations!

What have you studied in Philosophy? And to what level? If you don't mind me asking?

Thanks for the help

[N-E-R-D]

You should check out:
plato.stanford.edu/
www.iep.utm.edu/

I took a philosophy of mind course a while ago. I'll see if I can find the course work if you're interested.

Edited by N-E-R-D, 25 September 2012 - 05:31 AM.

[amira_786]

Thank you!

Yeah that would be great, if it's not too much hassle!

[Replicant]

Salaam,

I did Philosophy of Mind at university. Tell me exactly what topics you are studying for Philosophy of Mind (in addition to the ones you have listed), and I'll point you to some good articles if I can.

The two main books I used (which were collections of various articles) were:

Philosophy of Mind: a guide and anthology by J. Heil (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
Philosophy of Mind: classical and contemporary readings by David Chalmers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)

Edited by Replicant, 25 September 2012 - 01:09 PM.

[amira_786]

Replicant, on 25 September 2012 - 01:06 PM, said:

Salaam,

I did Philosophy of Mind at university. Tell me exactly what topics you are studying for Philosophy of Mind (in addition to the ones you have listed), and I'll point you to some good articles if I can.

The two main books I used (which were collections of various articles) were:

Philosophy of Mind: a guide and anthology by J. Heil (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
Philosophy of Mind: classical and contemporary readings by David Chalmers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)

Wa'alaikum Salam!

Thank you for the references

The main point to start with is Dualism, then it goes from there to Non-Dualist positions. I am so tempted to s[Edited Out] that and start afresh with Political Philosophy!

Edited by amira_786, 25 September 2012 - 04:22 PM.

[Replicant]

Stanford Encyclopedia is very useful on philosophy:
http://plato.stanfor...ntries/dualism/