Greeting oh fellow students and sufferers,
This is to tell you a wee bit about my experiences with a Philosophy of Language evening class I’m taking.
It’s a 10 week course on Tuesday evenings 6.30-8.30 at the Edinburgh Uni Office of Lifelong Learning. Back in December I saw a programme and the Philosophy of Language course sounded interesting, and the time fitted my busy lifestyle! So, I got some more info from the internet, and thought Yup, let’s do it…I plan to study Linguistics and then course should be relevant and challenging! I paid my £50, and took the course book out the library…MISTAKE…it is a well heavy academic tone and I’ve managed about 5 pages of the intro!
I decided the book might make more sense after the first class, and cheerily trundled along. We started fine, with background to language but then quickly got into heavy issues about Analytic philosophy; Plato wrote on the conventions of naming objects, but then you knew that, right?
I came away blinking in a confused rabbit like way, but determined to keep at it. I emailed the lecturer, and he sent me the powerpoint notes and some links to some sites. I read a bit, but still found the whole philosophy business to be a bit, well philosophical! Is there an answer? What does answer mean anyway?
So, the next Tuesday I persuaded Sara (you know, the Mexican lass!) to join me, and we puzzled through Frege’s theories on sense & reference. Again, fascinating but so difficult to get my head around, and I reckon Sara felt the same.
I decided part of the problem is the depth of the material…it’s just too deep! I went to the college library and took out a basic introduction to Philosophy, which provides good background to the whole subject, and a book that is about Philosophy & Language…it’s still not exactly straightforward, but through perseveration we shall overcome!
Plan is to do some revision on Tuesday afternoon, then meet with Sara to go over it with her…
Sláinte and enjoyer yer haggis!
Monday, 25 January 2010
Monday, 18 January 2010
New year blog 2
Nothing much has changed this week
I still feel the exact same way as i did
in my last blog
I still feel the exact same way as i did
in my last blog
Monday, 11 January 2010
New Year, New Term
This is going to be a more reflective blog this time around, looking at what I have done and what I am now going to do to go forward.
SPANISH
I find this subject to be the biggest challenge of all. However I am able to read and understand what is being said. Speaking is an ongoing process but with learning a new language It shows me the amount of study I have to do to keep all the information fresh.
Overall I want to be able to hold a simple conversation in Spanish which I know I will be able to do by the end of this course and with the work we are doing this is not an unrealistic task.
COMMUNICATION
This is very good for self confidence and learning how to put my thoughts and ideas onto paper. The essay skills, especially the critical reading and writing exercises are good and I am able to transfer these skills to other subjects.
LITERATURE
Poetry was my first introduction into literature and at first I thought it was a load of rubbish, but after a couple of weeks I started to get into it. Learning how to dissect a piece of writing, analyse, criticise and formulate answers makes the understanding of how poetry and other styles of writing work more enjoyable. I am looking forward to the short story section because I am better equiped to deal with the work that will be set out.
HISTORY
History has shaped our lifes and I find this the most interesting subject. I have handed in all essays and I am getting good feed back on all of them. I have an essay to hand in on 22nd Jan so I will set aside an hour a night to compleat this task.
COMPUTING
This is an ongoing subject but it enables me to be more confident in using them.
MATHS
Nearly at the end of this subject and I am surprised at how well I have done. I am able to problem solve now!!!!!!!!!!!
INVESTIGATING EUROPE
Compleated this subject and it has taught me so much. I was able to use the skills I have learnt in; Communication, Literature and History into practice along with self investigation, time management, goal setting and individual learning.
SPANISH
I find this subject to be the biggest challenge of all. However I am able to read and understand what is being said. Speaking is an ongoing process but with learning a new language It shows me the amount of study I have to do to keep all the information fresh.
Overall I want to be able to hold a simple conversation in Spanish which I know I will be able to do by the end of this course and with the work we are doing this is not an unrealistic task.
COMMUNICATION
This is very good for self confidence and learning how to put my thoughts and ideas onto paper. The essay skills, especially the critical reading and writing exercises are good and I am able to transfer these skills to other subjects.
LITERATURE
Poetry was my first introduction into literature and at first I thought it was a load of rubbish, but after a couple of weeks I started to get into it. Learning how to dissect a piece of writing, analyse, criticise and formulate answers makes the understanding of how poetry and other styles of writing work more enjoyable. I am looking forward to the short story section because I am better equiped to deal with the work that will be set out.
HISTORY
History has shaped our lifes and I find this the most interesting subject. I have handed in all essays and I am getting good feed back on all of them. I have an essay to hand in on 22nd Jan so I will set aside an hour a night to compleat this task.
COMPUTING
This is an ongoing subject but it enables me to be more confident in using them.
MATHS
Nearly at the end of this subject and I am surprised at how well I have done. I am able to problem solve now!!!!!!!!!!!
INVESTIGATING EUROPE
Compleated this subject and it has taught me so much. I was able to use the skills I have learnt in; Communication, Literature and History into practice along with self investigation, time management, goal setting and individual learning.
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