INTRODUCTION TO A LEVEL MATHS AT MGGS

?-688192-59087500Flying start: Philosophycenter9652000Welcome to A Level Philosophy at TRC:Thank you for showing enthusiasm in joining us here at TRC to study A Level Philosophy. This course will give you chance to ask questions unlike any others, discuss topics outside of the norm and attempt to make sense of the world and reality in a way you will never have done before. The activities in this document are intended to give you a flying start to the A level philosophy course and help you judge if it is the right course for you. Completing this work will also demonstrate your ability to be a self-motivated independent student capable of being highly successful at A Level.The following activities will enable you to: Develop a basic understanding of Philosophy.Start to make sense of some of the topics we’ll cover in the course.Begin to develop skills and techniques useful to succeeding in A Level Philosophy. Please see this video if you wish to go through a basic outline of the course and it’s content: look forward to meeting you all in September and hope you find this flying start pack interesting and useful!MikePlannerThe following plan is meant as a guide to help you structure the activities in this flying start pack between June and August. However, if you would like to complete this at a different pace and / or spend less or more time on each activity this is entirely your choice. Week and activity numberPage numberTime allocationComplete?Week 1: Philosophy Journal4As much time as you want to spend!Week 2: What is Philosophy?61 hourWeek 3: Learning Key Terms91 hourWeek 4: Arguments1130 minutesWeek 5: Identifying Arguments141 hourWeek 6: Understanding philosophy151 hourWeek 7: Reading Descartes171 hour 30 minutesWeek 8: Thought Experiments2330 minutesWeek 9:Developing Your Reasoning 2545 minutesWeek 10:Doing philosophy26As much time as you want to spend!Activity 1: Philosophy JournalTask: Start a philosophical journal to record your thoughts and enquiries as you complete the rest of this pack.Philosophy is a subject that can be engaged in anywhere, whether it be simply covering content in lesson, arguing with your friends about something at lunch (and I mean reasonable arguing not ‘falling out’), just before you drift off at night when your mind wanders onto all manner of strange and weird topics, or at the dinner table trying desperately to explain to your parents what you covered in college that day. All of these are you actively thinking, debating and enquiring and it’s those three skills that are at the heart of a good philosopher. right19050Unfortunately because of the fact that Philosophy is not necessarily just confined to the classroom, it’s sometimes difficult to keep track of what topics our minds might be considering at any given moment, which is why the first thing I urge you to do (and indeed your first activity in this pack) is to start a Philosophy Journal.A Philosophy Journal is simple, it’s a notebook / folder / word document or even a blog that you can use to record and develop your thoughts on different questions as you come across themThe easiest way to create one is to simply write each philosophical question you are considering (as you come across them in lesson or as you stumble onto them naturally) at the top of a blank page and then, underneath, note down any thoughts you have about that question.Your notes might include:Key definitions you need to know to answer the question (whether you know them or not).Possible ways of answering the question.Possible issues we might have with answering the question.Other thoughts and meanderings that might arise when considering the question.For those who are extremely organised and / or arty amongst you, you could even colour code the different types of notes or link pages together when topics cross over.For an example of a page see below.It’s sometimes difficult to track independent work in Philosophy, setting more reading and exam questions is always a possibility but that can lead to confusion or distraction. Instead students have found it useful simply discussing and considering ideas themselves in their own time and in their own way, keeping a philosophy journal is a way of following these thought processes and having concrete examples of you engaging in the subject in your own time.In terms of its purpose here, as you complete the rest of the activities, add any questions (along with the notes mentioned above) to your journal and hopefully you’ll find when you start in September you’re already considering some of the types of things we’re going to be discussing in lesson.Example Page:-3771901206500Question: Is it possible I’m living in a dream?left6350Definitions required:DreamsLiving020000Definitions required:DreamsLivingright572770Question: Is there any way to tell if I’m dreaming?Pinching myself? But I could be dreaming about the pain?No guarantee I’m definitely waking up and not just dreaming something else.020000Question: Is there any way to tell if I’m dreaming?Pinching myself? But I could be dreaming about the pain?No guarantee I’m definitely waking up and not just dreaming something else. left377825Question: What might not exist if I am dreaming?Everything could be a lie!But I have to exist somewhere right?Is it possible I’m dreaming myself up?But what’s creating the dream in that case?020000Question: What might not exist if I am dreaming?Everything could be a lie!But I have to exist somewhere right?Is it possible I’m dreaming myself up?But what’s creating the dream in that case?left3058795Other questions:What is reality anyway?What am I?020000Other questions:What is reality anyway?What am I?right569595Question: Would I want to wake up if I knew this was a dream?Yes: Surely once you know this is a dream nothing would make sense / matter anymore because none of it is real. The only way to get any meaning back would be to wake up and find out what’s really going on.No: What if it’s worse than this and then I can’t get back in?!020000Question: Would I want to wake up if I knew this was a dream?Yes: Surely once you know this is a dream nothing would make sense / matter anymore because none of it is real. The only way to get any meaning back would be to wake up and find out what’s really going on.No: What if it’s worse than this and then I can’t get back in?!Activity 2: What is Philosophy?Task: Answer the following questions:What does Philosophy mean?How does philosophy approach common sense?What is metaphysics?What is extreme scepticism? How does it differ to other types of scepticism?Why might there not be a universal theory in morality?What are the four topics we cover across the two years of this course?For questions 1+2 - Watch the video here: questions 3-6 – Use the information below.What is philosophy? Many answers have been offered in reply to this question and most are angling at something similar. Philosophy is all of rational inquiry except for science. Whilst scientific enquiry deals with empirical facts about the world (things we can check through testing and experience) philosophy endeavours to ask and discuss questions that we cannot simply answer through experience alone. We can get a better understanding of philosophy by considering what sorts of things other than scientific, empirical issues humans might inquire into. Philosophical issues are as diverse and far ranging as those we find in the sciences, but a great many of them (including the four components we’ll cover in this course) fall into one of three broad topics: metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Metaphysics Metaphysical issues are concerned with the nature of reality. Traditional metaphysical issues include the existence of God and the nature of human free will (assuming we have any). Here are a few metaphysical questions of interest to contemporary philosophers: How are space and time related? Does the past exist? How about the future? How many dimensions does the world have? Are there any entities beyond physical objects (like numbers, properties, and relations)? If so, how are they related to physical objects? What am I? When I die will anything carry on? Does God exist? What type of being is he? Historically, many philosophers have proposed and defended specific metaphysical positions, often as part of systematic and comprehensive metaphysical views. But attempts to establish systematic metaphysical world views have been notoriously unsuccessful. In just the past few decades metaphysics has returned to vitality. As difficult as they are to resolve, metaphysical issues are also difficult to ignore for long. A better way to understand metaphysics as it is currently practiced is through a better understanding of how various claims about reality ‘hang together’ or conflict. Metaphysicians analyze metaphysical puzzles and problems with the goal of better understanding how things could or could not be. Metaphysicians are in the business of exploring the realm of possibility and necessity. They are explorers of reality.Epistemology Epistemology is concerned with the nature of knowledge and justified belief. What is knowledge? Can we have any knowledge at all? Can we have knowledge about the laws of nature, the laws or morality, or the existence of other minds? The view that we can’t have knowledge is called scepticism. An extreme form of scepticism denies that we can have any knowledge whatsoever. But we might grant that we can have knowledge about some things and remain sceptics concerning other issues. Many people, for instance, are not sceptics about scientific knowledge, but are sceptics when it comes to knowledge of morality. Some critical attention reveals that scientific knowledge and moral knowledge face many of the same sceptical challenges. Even if we lack absolute and certain knowledge of many things, our beliefs about those things might yet be more or less reasonable or more or less likely to be true given the limited evidence we have. Epistemology is also concerned with what it is for a belief to be justified. Even if we can’t have certain knowledge of anything (or much), questions about what we ought to believe remain relevant. Ethics While epistemology is concerned with what we ought to believe and how we ought to reason, Ethics is concerned with what we ought to do, how we ought to live, and how we ought to organize our communities. It often comes as a surprise to many new philosophy students that you can reason about such things. Religiously inspired views about morality often take right and wrong to be simply a matter of what is commanded by a divine being. Moral Relativism, perhaps the most popular opinion among people who have rejected faith, simply substitutes the commands of God for the commands of Society. Commands are simply to be obeyed, they are not to be inquired into, assessed for reasonableness, or tested against the evidence. Thinking of morality in terms of whose commands are authoritative leaves no room for rational inquiry into how we ought to live, how we ought to treat others, or how we ought to structure our communities. Philosophy, on the other hand, takes seriously the possibility of rational inquiry into these matters. We don’t have a universal theory in science, why would there be a universal theory in morality? So we might think of metaphysics as concerned with “What is it?” questions, epistemology as concerned with “How do we know?” questions, and ethics as concerned with “What should we do about it?” questions. These three topics are covered in the A-Level philosophy course via four components – two of which are completed in Year 12, and two completed in Year 13. Have a brief read through the specification linked below to find out about the four components we will cover, you may also wish to link them to the broader areas mentioned above.Specification:(You may find reading through this gives you some questions to consider in your journal!)A-Level Philosophy is assessed through two examinations at the end of Year 13. The examination is through AQA. There is no coursework component and the paper are structured as follows; Paper 1: Epistemology & Moral PhilosophyPaper 2: Metaphysics of God & Metaphysics of MindActivity 3: Key Words and TermsTask: The technical terms outlined below are used or referred to throughout the philosophy course. Read through the definitions, summarise each of them, and add an example you could use to illustrate it. These are new and difficult terms and we don’t expect you to grasp them all easily – just do your best to understand the key point of each one and express it as clearly as possible!‘A priori’ and ‘a posteriori’ knowledgeThe terms ‘a priori’ and ‘a posteriori’ refer to the way in which we acquire knowledge. Knowledge that can be acquired independently of experience, without the use of the senses, is said to be a priori. Rationalists claim that many propositions are knowable a priori because you don’t need to depend on experience to be certain of their truth, e.g. maths, “2 + 2 = 4” ; laws of logic, “whatever is green all over can’t also be red all over”; analytic propositions, “all bachelors are unmarried”. Knowledge that can only be acquired via the senses and so is dependent on experience is said to be a posteriori. Empiricists claim that all knowledge of the world is derived from the senses and so is a posteriori. For example, “there is a bowling green in the park” and “John, a bachelor, has smelly feet” are both instances of knowledge acquired a posteriori. Necessary and contingent truthsNecessary truths are those that just have to be true. There’s no way they could even conceivably be false, e.g. ‘2+2=4’, ‘triangles have three sides’, ‘either it will snow or it will not snow’, ‘all bachelors are unmarried’. A necessary truth must be true, it could not be otherwise, there is no possible world in which it could be false: it expresses some kind of necessary relationship (e.g. a logical necessity) so that its opposite, or negation, implies a contradiction. Contingent truths are those that just happen to be true and may easily have been false or in the future may become false, e.g. ‘there is a chair in the room’, “it always snows in November” or “bachelors are less healthy than married men”. It’s easy to imagine these could be false. A contingent truth need not have been true, it could have been otherwise. If a proposition is contingently true neither it nor its negation is necessarily the case: the proposition can be negated without contradiction. The opposite of a contingently true proposition is possible. Analytic / Tautology and synthetic propositionsYou can tell that some propositions are true simply through an examination of the meanings of the terms involved. The predicate is contained in the subject. Such propositions are termed analytic. An analytic proposition is true by definition and cannot be denied without contradiction. They are also called tautologies and deemed trivially true.For example, it is analytically true that ‘a bachelor is unmarried’. I can tell this is true just by looking at the terms involved, because it’s clear that being “unmarried” (predicate) is part of the concept “bachelor” (subject); I do not need to go out into the world and conduct a survey of actual bachelors.Contrasted with analytic propositions are synthetic propositions, which are not true simply by definition and can be denied without contradiction. The predicate is not contained in the subject. For example, it is a synthetic truth that ‘John, a bachelor, is in good health’. The proposition is synthetic because ‘being in good health’ (predicate) is not part of our idea of “bachelor” (subject), i.e. it’s not part of what we mean by bachelor ; not part of the definition of bachelor. The following terms are not as complicated as those outlined above, but you may still wish to research and note down technical definitions of them:PropositionAntecedent / ConsequentObjective / SubjectiveDilemmaParadoxProofJustification Activity 4: ArgumentsTask: Read through the information below regarding arguments, and then complete the task in bold at the end.How do we do philosophy?As a kind of inquiry, philosophy is aimed at establishing knowledge and understanding. Once we raise a philosophical issue, whether about the nature of justice or about the nature of reality, we want to ask what can be said for or against the various possible answers to our question. Here we are engaged in formulating arguments. Some arguments give us better reasons or accepting their conclusions than others. Once we have formulated an argument, we want to evaluate the reasoning it offers. If you want to know what philosophers do, this is a pretty good answer: philosophers formulate and evaluate arguments. Once a philosophical position is considered: We want to ask what arguments can be advanced in support of or against that issue. We then want to examine the quality of the arguments. Evaluating flawed arguments often points the way towards other arguments and the process of formulating, clarifying, and evaluating arguments continues. This method of question and answer in which we recursively formulate, clarify, and evaluate arguments is known as dialectic. Dialectic looks a lot like debate. The goal of a debate is to win by persuading an audience that your position is right and your opponent’s is wrong. Dialectic, on the other hand, is aimed at inquiry. The goal is to learn something new about the issue under discussion. Dialectic is sometimes referred to as the Socratic Method after the famous originator of this systematic style of inquiry.Arguments The common sense everyday way to assess a claim for truth or falsity is to consider the reasons for holding it or rejecting it. An argument is a reason for taking something to be true. Arguments consist of two or more claims, one of which is a conclusion. The conclusion is the claim the argument purports to give a reason for believing. The other claims are the premises. The premises of an argument taken together are offered as a reason for believing its conclusion. Some arguments provide better reasons for believing their conclusions than others. In case you have any doubt about that, consider the following examples: 1. Sam is a line cook. 2. Line cooks generally have good kitchen skills. 3. So, Sam can probably cook well. 1. Sam is a line cook. 2. Line cooks generally aren’t paid very well. 3. So, Sam is probably a millionaire. right734695Assuming the premises in the first argument are true, we have a good reason to think that its conclusion is true. The premises in the second argument give us no reason to think Sam is a millionaire. So whether or not the premises of an argument support its conclusion is a key issue. Now consider these examples: 1. London is in England. 2. England is south of Scotland. 3. So London is south of Scotland. 1. London is in Wales. 2. Wales is west of England. 3. So London is west of England. Again, the first of these two arguments looks pretty good, the second not so much. But the problem with the second argument here is different. If its premises were true, then we would have a good reason to think the conclusion is true. That is, the premises do support the conclusion. But the first premise of the second argument just isn’t true. London is not in Wales. So the latter pair of arguments suggests another key issue for evaluating arguments. Good arguments have true premises. That is pretty much it. A good argument is an argument that has true premises that, when taken together, support its conclusion. So, evaluating an argument involves just these two essential steps: Determine whether or not the premises are true. Determine whether or not the premises support the conclusion (that is, whether we have grounds to think the conclusion is true if all of the premises are true). What can you say about the following arguments given the information above?A:If Harry Potter is human, then Harry Potter is mortal.Harry Potter is human.Therefore, Harry Potter is mortal.B:All monkeys are primates.All primates are mammals.So, all monkeys are mammals.C: If Sue misses her plane, she will be late for the conference.Sue is late for the conference.Therefore, she missed her plane.D: All stars are bodies that shine steadily.All planets are starts.All plants are bodies that shine steadily.Activity 5: Identifying ArgumentsA vital skill in Philosophy is being able to identify arguments in the writing of others. Doing this will give you chance to then criticise or support those arguments with ideas of your own.Read through one of the three ‘debates’ in the following document from the University of East Anglia (the entire thing is a good read, but the debates specifically are what we’re interested in here): and note down the arguments each author uses for their side of the debate.Decide which side you support given the arguments used.Once again this might generate some questions you can use in your Philosophy journal!Activity 6: Understanding philosophyAnother vital skill in Philosophy is being able to decipher the meanings behind the writing of great philosophers. You will need to be able to discuss their ideas in your exam and therefore understanding what they are saying is the first step.One of the most famous philosophical works, intended as an allegory to show the value of philosophy as a subject and the nature of reality as we perceive it, is known as “Plato’s Cave”. Watch the following video: / note down the following in the correct order:What do the following elements of the story represent? (Use the passages on the following page to help you):center4445The people casting shadows that keep the prisoners trapped in the cave of ignorance could be interpreted as the people who are not truly enlightened but want power and control (Politicians/ Media) That stop people from questioning and searching for truth. 00The people casting shadows that keep the prisoners trapped in the cave of ignorance could be interpreted as the people who are not truly enlightened but want power and control (Politicians/ Media) That stop people from questioning and searching for truth. center317500This represents our perception of what is ‘real’ We think what we see in this world is true but it is a mere imitation of reality00This represents our perception of what is ‘real’ We think what we see in this world is true but it is a mere imitation of realitycenter5033645This is the world of the ‘real’ forms- A true picture of reality which we can find out if we open our minds up and question everything (think philosophically)00This is the world of the ‘real’ forms- A true picture of reality which we can find out if we open our minds up and question everything (think philosophically)center2713355This is most of us. We are fooled by what we think is real, we do not question things and we are trapped and limited.00This is most of us. We are fooled by what we think is real, we do not question things and we are trapped and limited.center5829300These things stop us and limit us from seeing reality, they hold us back and restrict us. This could also represent the thoughts or ideas we have (or lack of them) that stop us from knowing the truth. It could also represent our senses which limit us to this world and what we know.00These things stop us and limit us from seeing reality, they hold us back and restrict us. This could also represent the thoughts or ideas we have (or lack of them) that stop us from knowing the truth. It could also represent our senses which limit us to this world and what we know.center6647180These things stop us and limit us from seeing reality, they hold us back and restrict us. This could also represent the thoughts or ideas we have (or lack of them) that stop us from knowing the truth00These things stop us and limit us from seeing reality, they hold us back and restrict us. This could also represent the thoughts or ideas we have (or lack of them) that stop us from knowing the truthcenter3479165This is the light for the prisoners, this is the only source of light they know and believe to be true. It can represent the dim / unenlightened world that we live in. Once the prisoner breaks free he is able to see clearly the force and power of the sun which ‘enlightens’ everything, so perhaps this represents darkness00This is the light for the prisoners, this is the only source of light they know and believe to be true. It can represent the dim / unenlightened world that we live in. Once the prisoner breaks free he is able to see clearly the force and power of the sun which ‘enlightens’ everything, so perhaps this represents darknesscenter4333240This is the highest form of good. It is the biggest source of energy and provides warmth, produces seasons and controls most things in the world of the forms.00This is the highest form of good. It is the biggest source of energy and provides warmth, produces seasons and controls most things in the world of the forms.center2010410These people are philosophers (those who have escaped being chained) by their thinking and have true knowledge EPISTEMOLOGY They can see things as they truly are.00These people are philosophers (those who have escaped being chained) by their thinking and have true knowledge EPISTEMOLOGY They can see things as they truly are.center1096645The objects we cannot see when chained facing the wall or stuck in our narrow minded view of the world are the ‘real’ objects. What we see are imitations (shadows) If we turned around and saw the real shapes (forms)00The objects we cannot see when chained facing the wall or stuck in our narrow minded view of the world are the ‘real’ objects. What we see are imitations (shadows) If we turned around and saw the real shapes (forms)Activity 7: Reading DescartesThe philosopher we will mention more than anyone else in the course is the French thinker Rene Descartes, getting your head around his ideas will help you make sense of some of the various questions we’ll ask throughout the course and this activity is intended to help you start to do that.Task: Watch the following video and summarise 10 important points about Descartes philosophy (feel free to use the extra reading links below to help you): following websites should help you with your summary: you wish to read Descartes work directly you can find it here: 8: Thought ExperimentsWe’ve mentioned before that discussing and debating your own ideas is vital to succeeding in Philosophy, but how do we discover what our ideas are? Some of these questions are things we’ve never spoken about before so it’s sometimes difficult to work out where we stand. In order to try to identify the different thoughts we may have on a topic, Philosophers often use thought experiments. These are short stories intended to highlight a particular philosophical problem and possible responses to it. Task: Read through the following thought experiments and answer the questions below each one:right184784Imagine scientists have come up with an amazing new technology called the Experience Machine. It works like this: You go into the lab and sit down with the staff and talk to them about everything you’ve ever wanted to do in life—you describe your perfect, most ideal, most pleasurable, most joyous, most satisfying possible life. Then they induce you into a coma that you’ll never emerge from. They put your unconscious body into a tank of fluid in a pitch black room and cover your head with electrodes.Once you’re in the tank, the simulation begins. You’ll experience everything you said you dreamed of, for the duration of your life (or what can feel like a lot longer if you choose), and you’ll have no memory of going into the experience machine or knowledge that your world is only a simulation. You will experience your perfect life in its entirety, exactly as if it really happened—but in reality, none of it is real and you’re actually floating in a vat of fluid in a pitch black room. You’ll never again wake up to experience the actual world or interact with actual people, but you won’t know that, and you’ll feel like you did.00Imagine scientists have come up with an amazing new technology called the Experience Machine. It works like this: You go into the lab and sit down with the staff and talk to them about everything you’ve ever wanted to do in life—you describe your perfect, most ideal, most pleasurable, most joyous, most satisfying possible life. Then they induce you into a coma that you’ll never emerge from. They put your unconscious body into a tank of fluid in a pitch black room and cover your head with electrodes.Once you’re in the tank, the simulation begins. You’ll experience everything you said you dreamed of, for the duration of your life (or what can feel like a lot longer if you choose), and you’ll have no memory of going into the experience machine or knowledge that your world is only a simulation. You will experience your perfect life in its entirety, exactly as if it really happened—but in reality, none of it is real and you’re actually floating in a vat of fluid in a pitch black room. You’ll never again wake up to experience the actual world or interact with actual people, but you won’t know that, and you’ll feel like you did.Give two reasons someone might choose to plug into the machine and two reasons why they might not.Would you plug into the machine? Why / why not?right-2540Imagine that a scientist created a machine into which he could place a human brain. This machine, which we shall call a “brain vat”, would not only keep the brain alive and functioning, but it would allow the scientist to create virtual stimuli and feed them directly into the brain. The brain would register all of these stimuli in exactly the same manner as normal human sensory experiences, as these are already interpreted as electrical signals anyway. In this way, the scientist could create an entire fictitious world that, to the captive brain, would feel completely normal. What if I told you that you, the person reading this, were not actually a human being but instead merely a brain in a vat?00Imagine that a scientist created a machine into which he could place a human brain. This machine, which we shall call a “brain vat”, would not only keep the brain alive and functioning, but it would allow the scientist to create virtual stimuli and feed them directly into the brain. The brain would register all of these stimuli in exactly the same manner as normal human sensory experiences, as these are already interpreted as electrical signals anyway. In this way, the scientist could create an entire fictitious world that, to the captive brain, would feel completely normal. What if I told you that you, the person reading this, were not actually a human being but instead merely a brain in a vat?Is there any way to know that we are not a brain-in-a-vat?What implications might this have for the way people live their lives?right187960Suppose that you and a group of people had to decide on the principles that would establish a new society. However, none of you know anything about who you will be in that society. Elements such as your race, income level, sex, gender, religion, and personal preferences are all unknown to you. After you decide on those principles, you will then be turned out into the society you established.00Suppose that you and a group of people had to decide on the principles that would establish a new society. However, none of you know anything about who you will be in that society. Elements such as your race, income level, sex, gender, religion, and personal preferences are all unknown to you. After you decide on those principles, you will then be turned out into the society you established.What kind of rules do you think people would come up with?Should people be forced to live by these rules if it’s shown that they’re in everyone’s best interests? What if one person going against the rules would ruin this perfect society for everyone?right182879Imagine you are standing beside some tram tracks. In the distance, you spot a runaway trolley hurtling down the tracks towards five workers who cannot hear it coming. Even if they do spot it, they won’t be able to move out of the way in time. As this disaster looms, you glance down and see a lever connected to the tracks. You realise that if you pull the lever, the tram will be diverted down a second set of tracks away from the five unsuspecting workers.However, down this side track is one lone worker, just as oblivious as his colleagues.00Imagine you are standing beside some tram tracks. In the distance, you spot a runaway trolley hurtling down the tracks towards five workers who cannot hear it coming. Even if they do spot it, they won’t be able to move out of the way in time. As this disaster looms, you glance down and see a lever connected to the tracks. You realise that if you pull the lever, the tram will be diverted down a second set of tracks away from the five unsuspecting workers.However, down this side track is one lone worker, just as oblivious as his colleagues.Would you pull the lever? If so why? If not why not?Why might people disagree with your view? Activity 9: Developing your own argumentsThroughout this pack we’ve discussed famous ideas from different philosophers, looked at arguments in a debate context, covered key terms from the subject and thought about how we might respond to different thought experiments, but the one thing we’ve not actually done yet is argued for a point of view ourselves.Task: Write a long answer to the following question:“Is it wrong to steal?”Try to include:What you think and why (using good arguments as we discussed early in this pack).Why people might criticise your point of view.Any ways you can respond to these criticisms to show your point of view is correct.Activity 10: Doing Philosophy!By now you should have a good idea of the kinds of things we discuss in philosophy and the method we use to discuss them, you’ve had chance to discuss the ideas of others and formulate some of your own. You should have been considering some of the questions we’ve discussed in your journal and you might have noted down your ideas regarding some of them.Now you should take the time to investigate your own line of questioning.Task: Watch one of the films or TV shows (a few episodes) listed in the “Culture Vulture” document you will have access to. Use the themes covered in the show or movie to identify three philosophical questions and then consider:How you would respond to those questions.How others might respond to those questions.Why you think your point of view is a better answer. ................
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