I wasn't sure what quite to expect from our first seminar but is apparent that listening to your lecturer and frantically making notes isn't going to quite cut it here. During our HCJ seminars we are required to speak up and discuss with each other our various thoughts of Bertrand Russell's 'History of Western Philosophy'.
The main focus of our discussion this week was to state which philosopher include in Russell's book that you found most interesting and the one which you found most bizarre. I chose Russell's chapter on Plato as the most interesting philosopher because having studied Plato as part of my Philosophy and Ethics A-Level we looked in depth at Plato's ideas. Therefore I have the best understanding of Plato and can also relate to his ideas. The main idea of Plato's thoughts was that we should not be content with what we see but rather strive to discover more such as his idea of a World of Perfect Forms. This I find is still relevant today in the way that the majority of society become too accustomed to the world we live in and don't seem to question why things are the way they are. Instead we reply on scientists to provide us with the answer.
On the other hand I explained that I found Thales' beliefs to be rather extreme and most definitely unrealistic. For instance Thales believed that everything in the world around us is mater of the Elements which consists of water, air, wind and fire. When I read this alone I thought the man was crazy to think that everything is made of fire and water etc. when a desk or a book is clearly not made of the elements. However, after discussing this in class I realised that Thales wasn't literally meaning that all objects are made of fire but rather all things that objects are made of such as paper are made of trees which are linked to the earth. All of the Forms of Matter are subject to continual change. This shows how the elements are constantly transformed into one another, however, without one element ever gaining dominance over the others because of a Natural Balance. This shows that in fact I was the stupid one not Thales to have doubted him.
Yes - that's right. In seminars the tutors are trained to keep quiet if possible and just ask you about what you have read. Basically there is nowhere to hide. You have to read the set reading for the seminars, tutors can be fairly merciless about this. You can't basically blag it in seminars.You can cruise it and cram for the test. You have to do some reading each fortnight. Best time is before the lecture. Easier way is
ReplyDelete1. Do the reading
2. Go to the lecture ABOUT the reading and here me or Brian jawing on about it and explaining what we think about it, and how it fits with the other reading
3. Go to seminar and speack up about what you have read, and what you made of it.
This is the way to success and glory with HCJ