Course catch-up

I haven't had time to post on here, not had time to do anything really :-)  This is proving more challenging than I thought it would be - which is a good thing.

I am looking toward my dissertation year and plan to focus on distributive justice.  Ever the practical one, but it has been my lowest grade in the course.  Probably because I still have much bias and many chips hanging around my shoulders.  I will need to develop a more critical objective attitude to my own writing if I head down this path.

I am on the final hurdle before the exam now and am full of new terms I hope I can retain at my age, at least for the next two years.  Assignments so far have been on topics in:

• Metaphysics: what is a person, and how do we know that a person is the same person at different times; 
• Philosophy of Mind: Folk psychology and its putative underlying theory, FP, mind/brain problem, problem of other minds, eliminative materialism, connectionism, simulation, problem of other minds, type/type identity theory, token/token identity theory, multiple realisability, artificial intelligence and I am sure there are more terms I needed to get to grips with.  Thank God I had done a course in biopsychology - it really helped, I think?  I will know shortly.
• Social and Political Philosophy: Libertarianism (Robert Nozick) and distributive justice, where my assumptions were seriously challenged and I had to read lots around the subject (or wanted to).  Yet to be studied is the final module before the exam: Punishnent and Justice.  I will again meet John Rawls and may have time to consider himore critically given I have more time, and words, for this module.

I may start writing more to help me revise the topics, I hope so as I always have problems in my exams and they haven't got any easier as I get older - my once sharp memory has been dulled with time I'm afraid.

Onto the different theories of punishment then - none of which I believe have worked: deterrence, rehabilitation and neo-retributive theories of punishment have been the standard.  We are focusing on a communicative theory of justice - which I have never heard of.  New knowledge to get my teeth into :-)

I love learning :-D

Logic in philosophy

Oh dear, my great bugbear - maths.  This is too much like mathematics for me to take to easily!  But I must strive to reach understanding  - can't be a philosopher without being able to examine arguments analytically!

Personhood

Well it begins in earnest. What is a person? What characteristics are used to define personhood? Am I a person or simply a human being?

Embarking on a Masters Degree

This is a small diversion from my getting to grips with some of the reading I will need to do during this course, my little bit of procrastination - is this the one time I will have challenged myself too far?  We shall see...

I must be mad!  At my age, trying to work out who I am, whether I deserve to be called a person, whether I am the same 'person' I was when I resided in my mother's womb, indeed, will I still be the same person I am today in ten year's time.  If I survive death (an oxymoron) will I still be me?  What is the difference between I and me?  Is there a difference?

Issues of Personhood and Personal Identity form the first part of the course.  And what a minefield!  I never would have believed that such simple concepts could hold such a variety of meanings.