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Group for those who do OCR A2 Philosophy & Ethics [Post Exam Discussion]

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Original post by Ineluctable
Good helpful site but be wary, there were a few misconceptions-Ryle is NOT a materialist.


He's not a materialist? I thought he was since he argued that the idea of the soul and body being separate is similar to suggesting that there is a mysterious substance within us, like a ghost in a machine floating around.
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Nayberay
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Original post by Anna Louise
ohh really ! is this from the summary book ? or the actually thick textbooks that are edited by ocr's principle examiner ?

true ! but some books give you good quotes to help lift your essay, but you are right, it's how you adapt the knowledge and your ability to analyse etc. which ensures the high grades !

ohh no it's fine, don't worry ! nothing like a bit of constructive criticism :tongue: hahaa ! i just personally prefer to use textbooks that go beyond a summary :smile: but i hear what you're saying !


Haha from the blue official OCR one (Chris Eyre, Richard Knight etc)

I have the thick ones too and I agree that they are much more in depth and make you consider other points.

Deffo agreed x 100 on other books giving you quotes, I know quoting is key in the exam, me personally I try to read from loads of different sources but as time is against me as I had literally no time this week due to 3 exams, i'm flicking between revision PPs the blue book and the overly thick book by Matthew Taylor to revise. =/

Lool btw I wasn't criticising, I was just a little curious... Good points though. :five:
Original post by Anna Louise
yeahh sorry i know you only call it an a, i just meant i have over the minimum about of ums you need at as in order to get the final a*.. if that makes sense ! but this is actually quite helpful, does that mean that if you just got an a in a subject, maybe 163 ums, something like that an a* overall is still achievable ? just you seem like you know the process of getting an a*, i still haven't managed to get my head around it ! the whole you have to 'average 90%' at a2 confuses me :/


Yes, you could get 160 UMS (minimum A) or 200 UMS (maximum A) at AS, and in both cases you would get an A* if you got 180 UMS/90% at A2. Basically as long as you have an A overall, and between 180-200 UMS at A2, you get an A*.
Original post by SpriteOrSevenUp
He's not a materialist? I thought he was since he argued that the idea of the soul and body being separate is similar to suggesting that there is a mysterious substance within us, like a ghost in a machine floating around.


Ryle actually said "idealism and materialism are answers to an improper question". He emphasised that we are not reducible to physics and chemistry. He rejects reduction of the material world to mental states and rejects the reduction of mental states to physical states. I would be safe and just use him to criticise Descartes
Original post by Noodlzzz
Yes, but we don't talk about that :P


Sorry :colondollar:. I was just wondering if you applied for theology/philosophy.
Original post by Ineluctable
Yes, you could get 160 UMS (minimum A) or 200 UMS (maximum A) at AS, and in both cases you would get an A* if you got 180 UMS/90% at A2. Basically as long as you have an A overall, and between 180-200 UMS at A2, you get an A*.


ahh rightt thank you for clearing that up :smile: so with a subject like english do know how the coursework is 40% of the marks and the exam 60%, this does mean, say you only managed an a on the coursework so 80 ums at worst, if you got 90 ums or above on the paper you could get the a* too ? sorry i must be coming across really thick, but we've just never had it properly/clearly explained to us !
Original post by Anna Louise
ahh rightt thank you for clearing that up :smile: so with a subject like english do know how the coursework is 40% of the marks and the exam 60%, this does mean, say you only managed an a on the coursework so 80 ums at worst, if you got 90 ums or above on the paper you could get the a* too ? sorry i must be coming across really thick, but we've just never had it properly/clearly explained to us !


No its fine, I had to check up on it a lot because they never explained it to us. If the coursework and exam were both at A2, you would need to get the 90% overall to get A*. If you got below 90% for the coursework, you would have to make up for that in the exam, so that on average you had 90%+.
Original post by Ineluctable
Ryle actually said "idealism and materialism are answers to an improper question". He emphasised that we are not reducible to physics and chemistry. He rejects reduction of the material world to mental states and rejects the reduction of mental states to physical states. I would be safe and just use him to criticise Descartes


Ohhh I understand! Yup I probably wouldn't have mentioned that he's a materialist, because I think he's better as a criticism rather than an actual point.

Thanks though for clearing that up :smile:
Original post by Nayberay
Haha from the blue official OCR one (Chris Eyre, Richard Knight etc)

I have the thick ones too and I agree that they are much more in depth and make you consider other points.

Deffo agreed x 100 on other books giving you quotes, I know quoting is key in the exam, me personally I try to read from loads of different sources but as time is against me as I had literally no time this week due to 3 exams, i'm flicking between revision PPs the blue book and the overly thick book by Matthew Taylor to revise. =/

Lool btw I wasn't criticising, I was just a little curious... Good points though. :five:


hahaa okay, me and that 'blue' book don't really get on :tongue: managed to get into a bit of a 'punch up' and the book is now a little worse for wear, had it's cover ripped clean off :tongue: hahaa !

they are good but they are soo heavy ! some of the points could be cleared up in less detail, if that makes sense ! and still give a sufficient explanation, but anyways, such is life !

that's what i've been trying to do, i've been using a religious studies second edition advance, which is goldy/brown but i was worried that if i totally abandon the matthew taylor one it may affect my grade.. what do think ? and i have three exams too, theology on monday, english on the thursday, and then french the day after, it's a nightmare ! and juggling both ethics and philosophy is soo hard, they should definitely have them on separate days !

hahaa okay then, sorry ! :tongue: and why thank you, glad you approve ! hahaa
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Ineluctable
Sorry :colondollar:. I was just wondering if you applied for theology/philosophy.


Aha no it's fine. Psychology, yourself?
Anyone got any detailed notes on myth? If so can you please send them to me, I'm stumped for this part of religious language.


Thanks :smile:
Original post by Noodlzzz
Aha no it's fine. Psychology, yourself?


I didn't apply last year and was considering applying this year IF my grades are good enough.
Original post by Ineluctable
No its fine, I had to check up on it a lot because they never explained it to us. If the coursework and exam were both at A2, you would need to get the 90% overall to get A*. If you got below 90% for the coursework, you would have to make up for that in the exam, so that on average you had 90%+.


it's soo annoying , and when you do ask them personally to explain it its like they don't understand it themselves, and you wish you'd never have bothered asking them because you just end up even more confused.. just from my experience anyways ! :P

okay, i understand now ! you just need to get 90% with them both together, not separately, so you could get more on one and less on the other and average the two out. thank you :smile:
Original post by SpriteOrSevenUp
Anyone got any detailed notes on myth? If so can you please send them to me, I'm stumped for this part of religious language.


Thanks :smile:


My notes aren't that great, the notes on this site are good: https://learning.watfordboys.herts.sch.uk/file.php/133/Myth.ppt
Hey guys! Whats the difference between Monism/Materialism? Would it be a crime to not mention the distinction in the exam?
Original post by max the noob
Hey guys! Whats the difference between Monism/Materialism? Would it be a crime to not mention the distinction in the exam?


Monism is the idea that we are one substance, materialism believes that the only substance is a material one. In my opinion the boundary is blurred somewhat because materialism seems to be a subcategory of monism. You could label people like Hick monists or soft materialists.
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Oxmatt
Original post by max the noob
Hey guys! Whats the difference between Monism/Materialism? Would it be a crime to not mention the distinction in the exam?


Monism - there's only one substance (mind and the body are the same)
Materialism - this substance happens to be physical matter
Original post by SpriteOrSevenUp
Anyone got any detailed notes on myth? If so can you please send them to me, I'm stumped for this part of religious language.


Thanks :smile:

Just so you know - although it's still worth doing a basic overview of myth and analogy in your revision - myth came up in Jan 11, myth/analogy came up in Jun 10, symbol came up in Jan 10, and the specimen was about symbol/analogy. There's very little chance that either will come up again this year. In fact, I'm banking on a nice broad religious language question - "Assess the claim that religious language is meaningless", perhaps?
Original post by KieranJones
Just so you know - although it's still worth doing a basic overview of myth and analogy in your revision - myth came up in Jan 11, myth/analogy came up in Jun 10, symbol came up in Jan 10, and the specimen was about symbol/analogy. There's very little chance that either will come up again this year. In fact, I'm banking on a nice broad religious language question - "Assess the claim that religious language is meaningless", perhaps?


I was thinking the exact same thing, but I might wanna throw it into that sort of question, so I just wanted to be sure :smile:

I think the falsification/verification principle may come up, or maybe 'Religious language is cognitive.' Discuss.


I'm so confused about what is cognitive and what's non-cognitive at the moment :s-smilie:
Cognitive: "the door is open", because it can be proven true or false.
Non-cognitive: "green is the best colour", because it can't.

At least that's my understanding - please, please correct me if I'm wrong!

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