Monday, February 28, 2011

A new semester

Well a new semester has started and the subjects I'm doing include Maths and Philosophy (not to be confused with psychology).

Here's what they give for maths.

[Maths] gives you mathematical tools and understanding which will both enhance your appreciation of your world, and also improve your chances of solving problems in your chosen career.

And here's what they say for philosophy.

Psychologists know that human thinkers make a surprising number of mistakes in their reasoning. This course is an opportunity to encounter, enjoy and lament these mistakes as they crop up in publicity, politics, public debates and personal relationships. We will introduce techniques from logic for analysing the ways in which people reason. (We won't, however, be using any symbols of the kind we use in our stage one formal logic course.) We will explore what it means to say that some methods of reasoning are better than others. This in turn should equip us to spot the predictable errors made by others and to avoid making them ourselves. Such skills are invaluable when interpreting texts, constructing arguments for and against controversial positions, writing essays and reports and thinking clearly.

This should be an interesting year hopefully.

19 comments:

  1. Good luck with the new semester!

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  2. I wish you success this semester... remember everything is connected, so learn as much as possible and you´ll see the connections.

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  3. I have to take a semester of philosophy eventually, hope it turns out well for you!

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  4. maths - straight to the point and concise
    philosophy - bit woolly and wordy

    ...nice contrast

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  5. Math is beautiful, but that depends on what level math you're taking. Most entry level math courses are really boring, but once you get into it and start taking more advanced courses you're hard pressed to find a more elegant discipline.

    I for one don't really like psychology, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

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  6. Its interesting how our brain really works.

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  7. i read maths part and when i moved my eyes to philosophy it started to shut itself..
    Whom should I blame?

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  8. Just keep at it. When it's all done, you'll love how much easier jobs will get and how much more you will make.

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  9. I really enjoyed that. I'm just showing my support.

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  10. Good luck this semester on all your endeavors! I took two advanced philosophy courses and enjoyed them quite a lot, hope the same is true for you. Thank you for sharing!

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  11. Maths and Philosophy. Sounds like fun! ;)

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  12. Yes sounds very interesting. Good luck hope you do well in both :)

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  13. Both are essential tools for understanding the world.

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  14. Those were my subjects too! Wait until you hit Gödel -- they suddenly become the same subject :)

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  15. I believe that you have the perfect combo....when you get vexed by maths, you can get all philosophical about it!

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  16. @A : I guess for someone doing higher level math, the entry level courses will look boring, but for a first timer, they should be interesting still...

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