Philosophical analysis of non-philosophical material
The task
Identify an issue raised by the non-philosophical material and analyse it in a philosophical way. Suitable material for analysis includes:
You will be given up to 5 minutes to present your work. You will probably want to use PowerPoint (max 10 slides) with embedded media files if needed. Your presentation should include:
Images by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
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"PhilPapers is a comprehensive index and bibliography of philosophy maintained by the community of philosophers. We monitor all sources of research content in philosophy, including journals, books, and open access archives. We also host the largest open access archive in philosophy." |
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The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy is written and maintained by the prestigious Stanford University and is an excellent, well-respected entry point into scholarly articles about Philosophy. Note that it has an excellent page explaining how to cite its entries, and some equally excellent search tips. |
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"The purpose of the [Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy] is to provide detailed, scholarly, peer-reviewed information on key topics and philosophers in all areas of academic philosophy. The Encyclopedia’s articles are [aimed at] advanced undergraduates majoring in philosophy" so are relatively high level. |
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"1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology is a constantly-growing collection of nearly 150 original essays on important philosophical topics. These essays are introductions rather than argumentative articles. ... Its intended audience is general readers who are interested in philosophy and students in philosophy, and philosophical courses."
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"The Crash Course team has produced more than 45 courses on a wide variety of subjects, including organic chemistry, literature, world history, biology, philosophy, theater, ecology, and many more!" A wide range of subjects here, not just Philosophy. Links to Arizona State University lend the channel some credibility.
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Philosphy Vibe is a "channel dedicated to those on their fascinating journey through the complex world of Philosophy. This channel will ponder some of the most fundamental arguments, inspiring theories and influential philosophers; all explained through animated debates. Through the course of our videos we will explore topics such as the existence of God, what is morality, what is reality, what is the mind… and much much more. Perfect for those studying Philosophy academically (college/university level)." It is difficult to find any information on the makers of the channel, but it has a FaceBook page and has produced a number of books by an author called Charles Georgiou. The books are independently published and there is no information available on the author, so it is difficult to tell how reputable they are. It is recommended by your teacher, so is likely to be trustworthy but it would be difficult to justify citing it in academic writing without further investigation.
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The School of Life is run by "a passionate group of people on a mission to bring about healing, growth, calm and self-understanding" who say that they "derive [their] ideas from psychology, psychotherapy, philosophy, art and culture" and "are here to teach people how life can be lived and what can make it truly worthwhile, effective and fulfilling." The channel is linked to a business website selling a range of services relating to emotional well-being including psychotherapy. While your teacher has recommended it as an interesting starting point for this inquiry it is not a scholarly source and should not be cited in academic work.
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Carneades is a YouTube channel with a linked website with extensive philosphy courses (largely free). It is difficult to assess the authority of the author because he remains anonymous because he says he works in international development in countries where his philosophical views could get him into trouble. His own Amazon Bio describes him as an "international development practitioner with years of experience bringing philosophical analysis to bear on the myriad problems in global development" and says he has "has extensive experience working on World Bank projects, Gates Foundation research, and in both policy and project implementation for multiple U.S. government development agencies." While impressive, this is not an indicator of his Philosophy qualifications. Another excellent introductory site but probably not one to cite in academic work.
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