Body and Mind Essay

I received my result for my Body and Mind essay on Homunculi-Headed Robots and I received a Distinction. While usually I'd kick and scream over such a grade I'm not going to this time. The reason you may ask, I'm not that happy with it myself. You see, because I had a holiday and didn't get as much work (Uni work that is) done while I was away my essay suffered. So in this case a Distinction is fine. If anyone cares to read the essay you'll find it on my Uni Papers Site under the Philosophy heading or, only if you're lazy, click HERE.

P.S. I've also uploaded a Buddhism essay on Mahayana to my Uni Papers Site too. I haven't updated the Religion page yet but if anyone's keen to get a sneak preview you can download it by clicking HERE.

How Do You Organise Information?

With the amount of information available on the net now browser based bookmarks just don't cut it anymore. Even with the widespread use of broadband services page load times and navigational issues still cause many upsets. For example, every morning I like to check the weather forecast, my calendar, various news sites, my blogs for comments, other's blogs for new posts or replies to comments that I've left, pod cast updates, my university discussion boards and my various email accounts. It is easy to see how all of this could fill up a lot of time.

So how does one manage all of this? For a while now I've been using iGoogle but I was growing tired of the lack of features and customisability that someone like me, a non-programmer, could accomplish. Where I turned was to netvibes. So what do these (free) services offer that can reduce the time for me to finish all the tasks listed above? Let me see if I can describe it for you.

Both sites are relatively similar with both offering customisable home pages with tabs where dynamic content can be stored. For example, on my netvibes page I have ten tabs of sorted information. These tabs are Home, News, Personal Blogs, Friends Blogs, Philosophy Blogs, Religion Blogs, University, Pod Casts, MySpaces and Mail. I think you get the idea as to what content I place under each tab. Let's look at a few of these tabs so you get the idea of how such a service operates.

The News tab contains custom 'modules', little boxes that display dynamic content, in columns. In each 'module' I subscribe to a different news feed, a dynamic process that 'feeds' the news content to my 'modules'. The module then displays the news headlines as links which you can then follow for the entire story. iGoogle and netvibes handle this linking process differently but I'll discuss that more below.

The Personal Blogs tab displays 'modules' just like the other tabs but link to the 'feeds' from my personal blogs. I have this tab configured with two columns, the column on the left has my posts and the column on the right has comments on my posts. The other blog tabs are configured in the same manner. This way I can look at all of the posts and all of the comments on all of the blogs I'm interested in from a single page without having to load all of the individual graphics etc.

The pod cast tab has, you guessed it, 'modules' that subscribe to pod casts. What I like about netvibes over iGoogle with the pod cast subscriptions is that with netvibes I can opt to download or stream the audio/video from the module itself, no funny business.

Lastly the mail tab includes 'modules' that link to all of my email accounts, gmail, yahoo, hotmail, and POP accounts etc. I can see if I have any new emails, who they are from and their subject lines all from one page. A huge time saver.

Now, why have I opted for netvibes over iGoogle? Well, many reasons actually. On the tabs of the netvibes page a little number will display indicating how many unread feeds are present in that tab. For example, if I have 12 unread emails the email tab will have a number 12, the same goes for all the other tabs. Also, netvibes is so much more customisable. There are more themes, more 'module' options, more tab options, a great wizard for creating your own 'modules' and to add 'modules' you don't need to leave your page. iGoogle just can't compete with this.

I mentioned above about links to entire news stories or complete blog entries etc. and this is something that netvibes really have sorted. When the user clicks a link in netvibes you don't leave the page. The entire blog entry or news story etc. appears in a new 'module' in your page. What's more is that an archive of stories/feeds from the blog, news site etc. also appears so you can read other entries without leaving your page. Of course you can navigate to the blog, news site etc. page if you so desire.

There are also many more options that I haven't mentioned but I'd rather you take a look for your self. You'll find netvibes HERE and iGoogle HERE.

Exams

I just got my results for my mid-term test for PHI220: Body & Mind and, to my delight, I received 100%. The test was simple and consisted of five questions in multiple choice and short answer which I'll post below with my answers.

Q.1.

Epiphenomenalism is the thesis that:

A) Mental properties are causally inert
B) We don't have privileged access to our own mental states
C) Mental states are neither material nor immaterial
D) It is a category mistake to think that 'the mind' refers to a substance
E) All mental states are phenomenal states

Q.2.

J.J.C. Smart advances the identity theory, according to which sensations are brain processes, as:

A) an a priori claim whose truth can be established by an analysis of mental concepts
B) a claim that we can see must be true even if we have no idea how it can be true
C) a claim that must be true because its denial-dualism-is unintelligible
D) an empirical speculation that has little chance of being true
E) a plausible empirical claim

Q.3.

Explain why Putnam discusses the mental life of other animals-such as the octopus-in arguing against the claim that mental states are brain states.

Putnam argues that the brain-state theorist, to make good his claims, needs to specify a physical-chemical state so that any organism is in pain, necessarily and sufficiently, if it possess a brain of a suitable physical-chemical composition and its brain is actually in that physical-chemical state. This is not limited to just mammalian brains but any organism that has the potential to experience pain which, while sufficiently including mammals, also includes reptiles and molluscs (octopus), for example, as well. Putnam uses this example to illustrate the ambitiousness of the brain-state hypothesis claiming that the brain-state theorist does not just claim that pain is a brain state but that all psychological states are brain states. Putnam claims that if we can find a single psychological state that can be applied to both a mammal and an octopus, for example, and that the physical-chemical correlate is different between the two then brain-state theory collapses. Putnam thinks that this is 'overwhelmingly probable'.

Q.4.

Explain in a few sentences how the functionalist account of mental states differs from the behaviorist account of mental states.

Ned Block describes Functionalism as 'a new incarnation of behaviorism' because while there are many similarities between Functionalism and Behaviorism there is a difference in their ascription of mental states. For Behaviorism to be met a mental state consists of a disposition to act in certain ways relative to a certain set of input-output relationships, however Functionalism goes further. Functionalism also requires that internal (mental) processes will have a causal relationship with other internal (mental) processes and, at the same time, have a causal relationship with external input-output relationships. Functionalism therefore claims that mental states may be seen as causal 'objects' while Behaviorism only sees sensory inputs, or external causes (input-output relationships), as causally significant.

Q.5.

Block uses the example of the homunculi-headed robots to argue that functionalism is wrong because it:

A) is too liberal in its ascription of mental states
B) has no plausible account of mental causation
C) reduces to behaviorism
D) cannot give a plausible account of privileged access
E) is consistent with dualism

MQPhil Group Philosophy Blog

I really enjoy reading the many and fantastic group philosophy blogs on the net and now there is another one that you should all check out. MQPhil is a group philosophy blog by undergraduates from Macquarie University Australia. Looks like there will be some interesting entries soon.

<--LINK-->

Philosophy, Morality & Society - Major essay - Pt. 2

Another semester down, phew. For whatever reason, well actually many reasons, I was just overwhelmed this semester. It's not that the work was too hard or anything similar I think that it has more to do with the fact that I've not had more than a single weekend off for over a year. My plan to remedy this: an international holiday. That's right, I'm off to India in a few weeks. I thought that unless I just make a booking I'll never give myself a break so that's what I did.

I got my final essay in today. I had quite a bit of trouble reducing that argument to so few words. There is just so much more information I wanted to include but I had to leave it out. If anyone wants to read my essay you can find it HERE or browse through some of my others by clicking |uni papers| above.

This semester I'm studying three subjects: An Introduction to Buddhism - Body & Mind - Business & Professional Ethics. I'm looking forward to all three but I am perhaps more eager to get back into the religious studies subject and the Body & Mind subject looks quite good too. Having said that I'll probably end up enjoying Business & Professional Ethics more :)

Now to get back to the Buddhism lectures.

Philosophy, Morality & Society - Major essay

I'm having one hell of a time writing this last essay for Philosophy, Morality & Society and it is not just the crappy word count. Well, the word count is pretty limiting; with only 1500 words I'm not sure how anyone can do justice to any question! My essay question is to describe how Professor Peter Singer argues that the interests of animals should be given equal consideration with the interests of Human beings and to outline whether I think that there is a moral divide between human and non-human animals. I think that there isn't any morally significant difference but how am I supposed to answer this question in only 1500 words!

Secondly, I received a telephone call from Centerlink, Australia's state welfare agency, the other day and I was advised that I am being cut off my meager pension. The reason, basically, is because of a loophole. I'm on disability pension (DSP) and, it seems, that to be eligible for DSP the candidate doesn't only need a debilitating medical condition but that condition needs to be being currently treated and stabalised.

Now this seems adequate on the surface but in my case I seem to slip through the cracks. Let me explain. I have a debilitating back condition. I usually describe it as a broken back but no vertebrae are in fact damaged. I have a perforated disk. The fluid in this disk has since drained out and I've been left with a mass of scar tissue surrounding the disk. The problem with this is that the disk itself has no nerves, and for good reason. If the disk had nerves every time you moved you would aggravate those nerves as each vertebrae slid around. Scar tissue has nerves so every time I move my spine I get quite severe pain. Surgery is out as the disks above and below are showing signs of weakness and were surgery to be performed the pressure on these disks would increase exponentially and hence increase the risk of them deteriorating further.

Now, on the surface, this would seem like a pretty good case for DSP but this is where the loophole comes into question. The criteria states that the condition needs to be stabalised and being currently treated. I've had masses of treatment and the outcome was, basically, that there is nothing that can be done other than some physio to slightly increase my mobility. Since then I have received no treatment, because none is available, and my condition isn't stabalised, it's in fact getting worse, because of there being no treatment available.

So because there is no treatment available for this condition I am not entitled to DSP. Now this seems absolutely absurd to me. My only option is to seek out the same, expensive, treatment that I've already had so I can reapply for DSP. It seems absolutely absurd that people with treatable conditions are eligible for DSP but people with medical conditions of which there is no available treatment are not entitled to DSP. In my opinion I think that this should be reversed if anything. What a way to clog up our health system; have possibly thousands of people with un-treatable medical conditions receive treatment that will do nothing just so they can get the pension that they need because they have limited-to-no access to work.

So this is my dilemma this week. I have this essay to complete but I'm also battling state bureaucracy and back to receiving daily treatment that I not only don't need but have to take time out of studying to travel to.

Bloody Centerlink. Your admin really need to go and read some Rawls.

Second Philosophy Essay

I received the comments back for my second essay this semester and I would have to say that I'm in complete agreement with them. Usually I'd disagree and pick the markers comments apart but this time I'm fine with them. I knew I wasn't perfect...this time.

You see, I'm having trouble answering the essay questions with such a tiny word limit - 1500 words. The question for this last essay was 'What are the central claims of moral relativism? Is moral relativism a plausible meta-ethical theory? Answer with reference to both objections to the theory and defences of it'. To me, at least, I had no idea how to answer this question, coherently and justly, in only 1500 words; and this seemed to be the only criticism of my essay, in essence.

I have two sets of comments for this essay, the first set from the guy who marked it and the second from my tutor. Both were almost identical. My arguments were clear, my exmples were unique and interesting, and the essay shows 'shows abundant research, passion, and understanding'.

The negative criticisms were uniform too and basically said that I was too ambitious and tried to cover too much ground with too few words; and I totally agree - I am ambitious!

Now, at least, I know where I need to focus for the next essay.

University of the Sunshine Coast

Today I was at the University of the Sunshine Coast talking to my friend at the Student Union 'cause they (the Uni) have been advertising for at least four years that in their Bachelor of Social Science (community work) degree the student has the option of taking an international placement. Jodie went to see the coordinator to organise this international placement and it turns out that it is not actually available. While it was once an option it is no longer; no one has been able to do an international placement for at least four years. The University still advertises that it is an option however, hence getting the Student Union on their case.

It seems a little strange that since the University has known for four years (at least) that NO student is able to do an international placement that they still advertise it as an option. It would seem that their advertising guys, or girls, are not afraid of euphemistic lies.

The University of the Sunshine Coast has great academics and, now with wireless networking, pretty good facilities too. I say pretty good because the car parking is the worst on the coast. It is such a shame that their second, or third, rate administration is letting them down. If you're going to advertise yourself as a University with such high standard academics then get some better administration staff to go along with it. Administration is pretty vital to be accepted as your weakest link.

Prize!

Today I found out I won a prize; it's a CD but I'm not sure by who. I wrote a short opinion piece for a magazine on sport as a religion and, it seems, the editors liked it. Here's hoping that I like the CD.

Reasons for Absence

As some of you have noted, I've been absent for a while and I thought I'd just give a short little reason.

Well, first of all I had a few more family, and non-family, members drop in over the Christmas / new-year week and that took a little of my time but the main reason is that my computer died. That's right, died. Well, it didn't die in the sense that one of it's organs failed but it certainly had temporary organ failure and when I managed to wake it back up it was suffering from amnesia. I usually have Fedora running alongside XP but I'd installed the final beta of Windows Vista x64 over the top and as any of you who have tried the beta of vista x64 it's pretty damn impotent.

Well, to make a short story shorter I had a power surge that messed with my registry settings so bad that recovery console couldn't even find the install! I've spent the last......while..... re-installing XP with all the service packs etc. and all my programs again. The worst problem I had was that I didn't update all my bookmarks and email addresses; well I did but they were on the same drive as my XP install.

I've now gotten rid of that pathetic Vista x64 beta and put the latest Fedora release back on.

So those of you who I usually email etc. please contact me so I can get in touch with you again.

Pronoun Absurdity

I have problems with comma placement. Most of the time it's due to not proof reading my work, other times it's due to my lack of grammatical training. What I have noticed this week, however, is how many people have problems with pronouns. This week I had a piece of assessment due for a philosophy subject I'm studying and I had the opportunity to view some other students work. I have read 14 pieces of assessment so far. While on the most part these essays were of a good quality there was a general problem, that being the use of pronouns.

I think this problem is due to the response to a particular students question relating to the use of the personal pronoun I. You see, my tutor advised against using this (another grammatical quirk I've noticed recently is the use of said or former as pronouns to refer to a previous subject, not strictly 'wrong', I know, but still not necessary especially when the reader will need to read previous sections of text to gather the meaning again) pronoun so the essay would remain neutral. While there's little wrong in many circumstances with avoiding personal pronouns in academic writing the directive of the tutor seems to have shocked many students into absurd pronoun usage.

You see there is a general rule governing the usage of pronouns and this rule states (Do you like my use of states? This is not grammatically correct either. rule is an inanimate object. I should perhaps have said - this rule of which is stated, but I'm not that idiomatic), a pronoun requires a true antecedent. Nearly every essay I read used it without an antecedent, which in itself may not be wrong but it is subjectively governed. For example, if I say "Epicurus offered to theorise but it was not accepted" then it is not governed by a true antecedent. I would need to say "Epicurus offered his theory but it was not accepted". Maybe I'm being to idiomatic here but ambiguity is the worst enemy of academic writing.

Another common mistake that I've noticed focuses on the use of he. There is also nothing wrong with using the word he but this pronoun, whether he, him, his, refers to the subject of the sentence. Notice I've used the word sentence here as this is important. You cannot use the pronoun he etc. in a sentence if the subject is yet to be identified in the sentence or if there is more than one applicable subject. I cannot say "Epicurus is a classist. He is, therefore, evil" because the he is not adequately governed. It makes sense audibly but not when read. I could write "Epicurus is a classist and he is, therefore, evil". I should probably even write "Epicurus is a classist so he is evil". I cannot, also, say "Locke describes Epicurus as a hedonist so he is, therefore, evil". The he in this sentence doe's in fact govern Epicurus but it is ambiguous. I may have been attempting to slander Locke. English is, as far as my knowledge extends, the only language that is ambiguous with he type pronouns. Latin has two he type pronouns with only one being subjective and my other language, Hindi, has three or perhaps more he type pronouns.

Antecedents to pronouns are necessary and do keep them in mind. There may be cases where you can place the antecedent after (I know it sounds absurd placing an antecedent after a pronoun) the pronoun but these are extremely limited. Look at this statement, "If the baby does not thrive on raw milk, boil it". It is here plain to see for all.

I won't go on and mention all the pronoun errors. I've likely made many myself. I know I've placed many commas in incorrect locations in previous works so I'm not the best person to comment on grammar. I just received an essay back today and while I did receive a HD I have found seven misplaced commas. One of these misplaced commas changes the meaning of the sentence drastically but my tutor either didn't notice or agreed with the alternate meaning. I won't comment on my essay that I've just submitted because my tutor may read this and....well you get the picture.

Exams Over With

I am so relieved to get home today. I had five hours of exams today and four hours of train travel to get to the study centre and back! Great to have them over with. My first exam was for PTR110 Structure, Thought and Reality and was so much simpler than I was expecting. Two questions, Q1 was a short answer of around five hundred words on Foucault's Power and Knowledge relationship and Q2 was an essay of around 2000 words on what consequences will flow on from thinking of globalisation and the War on Terror as socially produced concepts. Two hours for this exam and finished it in 1.5. Easy. Next exam was for PAC10 An Introduction to Asia and was in three sections. Even easier! this exam was for three hours and I had quite a bit of time left over. I must admit though that after hand writing more than 6000 words in one day I'm a little tired.

I had some good news from Griffith as well. some of you may know that I've had a little trouble with them of late but today I received my marks back from my new tutor and I received a HD. I couldn't be more pleased.

Those of you from PHI110 I have to appologise for not posting much today, the exams killed all my time and energy.

We're Not Happy John!

You see, Australia is one of the countries that supports the Iraq war and I'm not ashamed to say that this is one of the reasons why I opted for dual citizenship when I became an Aussie. Our Prime Minister, John Howard, has long declared that we will leave Iraq when our 'job is done'.

Apparently, we went to Iraq to dispose of Saddam 'cause the blighter was creating a stockpile of nuclear and biological weapons to use against us. I know, isn't that a great word, us, just who is that exactly? I love Little John's alterity.

This morning, after the opposition Labor party hounded the little guy for over a week, John Howard has come out of his closet, or should we say 'walk in robe'? It'd have to be pretty large to keep all of those euphemisms and blatant lies in there! Anyhow, it would appear our job description has changed. Little John has said Australia will leave Iraq when democracy has been established. Was this our original objective? It would seem likely as there were no chemical or nuclear weapons found in Iraq.

Our Little John, it seems, has become a neo-colonialist who's aim is to take over other Nation States that the original colonialists failed in creating. Most people argue these days that Iraq was a strategic move to control oil. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, I just don't know.

What I am now certain of is that John Howard has become, always was, an ideologue. He seems convinced of the ideology of the Nation State and maintaining the Nation State, even when the Nation States in question were created by colonialists and not the citizens (a very democratic procedure indeed!).

Little John is definitely an ideologue when it comes to neo-liberal democracy. His 'coming out of the walk in robe' statement this morning shows him for all that he is. Little John wants to establish democracy in Iraq, undemocratically, for the sole purpose of getting what he, and the other neo-colonialists George Bush, Tony Blair etc. want.

Little John, stop harassing us University students for being ideologues when we mention Marx or apply the theory of orientalism to contemporary society. You are an ideologue yourself and what's worse is that your ideological actions are destroying the lives of thousands and your influence, however unfounded, is influencing millions of people who know no better.

Wake up little John! We all know your political career is drawing to an end so out with it. Come out of the closet John and let Australia know who you really are! I promise we wont treat you like Fraser.