Author Archives: Mr Melican

About Mr Melican

A teacher of English and children

Simone Weil: ‘A Need for Roots’

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Mr Melican

The Basis of Weil’s Philosophy: Before Weil can enumerate her proposed Needs of the Soul she must first show what has caused these needs to arise, or at least to show what need there is of them. Even as she … Continue reading →

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Nietzsche Revision

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Mr Melican

The First Essay: Nietzsche first defines his terms. He explains that ‘good’ can have two meanings, and that though these are similar we can see the difference in their antonyms. ‘Good’, as opposed to evil, is different from ‘good’ as … Continue reading →

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Armstrong’s Nature of Mind Revision

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Mr Melican

Summary of concepts: Armstrong suggests that it is right for contemporary philosophers to believe that the best tool (method) we have to discovering the true nature of the human mind is science. Scientists he admits may disagree, but modern science … Continue reading →

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Annotated text of Thomas Kuhn’s “Structure of Scientific Revolutions”

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Mr Melican

See below my annotations on a pdf version of the set text. This is not identical to the prescribed edition of the text, so you’ll still need to refer to your own and where there’s a conflict prefer your prescribed … Continue reading →

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Falsification

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Mr Melican

Amazon gives a summary of Popper’s essays in ‘Conjectures and Refutations’: “The way in which knowledge progresses, and especially our scientific knowledge, is by unjustified (and unjustifiable) anticipations, by guesses, by tentative solutions to our problems, by conjectures. These conjectures … Continue reading →

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Hume’s Chapter on sceptical doubt

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Mr Melican

The pdf slides I referred to in class recently are available here (with thanks to the work of Mr Ross Barham of Melbourne High School)

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David M Armstrong

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Mr Melican

Philosophy Unit 4, Area of Study 1. Learning Intention: To understand the historical and cultural influences on the writings of David M Armstrong. Reading: David Malet Armstrong was born in Melbourne in 1926. He became one of Australia’s most respected … Continue reading →

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Descartes Lesson 1

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Mr Melican

    His Life: René Descartes was born March 31st 1596 in a small town named la Haye, south of Tours in central France. The town has since been renamed ‘Descartes’ in his honour and the house in which he … Continue reading →

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Materialism and Immaterialism

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Mr Melican

In my last post I discussed Substance Dualism (Cartesian Dualism). Dualist philosophers would argue that there are two distinct substances in the universe: the physical (material) world of our bodies, and the non-physical (ideal) world of our mind. Other philosophers … Continue reading →

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The Mind / Body Problem

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Mr Melican

For centuries philosophers have considered the nature of the human mind, and its relationship with our bodies. There are some who believe that the mind is completely separate from the body: that it is made of a completely different substance. … Continue reading →

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