3rd Year English - Some Philosphy Links

Dear Eager Third Year Academic,

You may already be feeling pangs of loss, having completed your Philosophical Projects. Well, if you are; I have a cure. You could simply find a small, dark room and contemplate. I find the downstairs toilet excellent for this. Or you could increase your knowledge and understanding of the horrifically big world of philosophy by exploring the links I have judiciously selected below. I have to tell you that they are, on the whole, not very teenage-friendly. People seem to think that philosophy is only the preserve of adults. Nonetheless, I can recommend that they are worth a gander. If they look too scary, just return to Bebo and everything will be alright. Really, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Social networking sites are fun.

Alternatively, read Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. It's a brilliant starting point for philosophy and contains the idea of the "Rabbit's Fur", which I made reference to in (blatantly nicked for) your lessons. Order it now! I have included a link to Amazon to buy it just here. The "Customers Who Bought This Item..." section contains a lot of good stuff too - both fiction and non fiction. You may be able to find some of them in your local library. There can be no doubt that, whatever your standpoint on Ethics, libraries are good things. They stand as testament to all the good we can do as a species. I'm not wrong on this, trust me.

Anyway, those links in no particular order:

BBC Ethics - a really good introduction to the complicated and contradictory views on various thorny moral issues, such as Capital Punishment, Abortion etc. Brilliant.

Philosophy Basics - A website with loads of stuff about philosophy and philosophers. Just click on a name or area which remotely interests you and begin reading. At the very least it is interesting. At best it serves as a superb introduction to many philosophical subjects.

Philosophy for Dummies - An Internet offshoot of the ...For Dummies series of books. Some good basic stuff here, which may prompt you to ask for the Philosophy For Dummies book for Christmas/Birthday/Nagging Your Folks Constantly About It. Don't even consider buying the book, unless you like the site.

Philosophy Timeline - An interesting site where you can obviously see a timeline showing when the philosophers lived. You can also click on their names and find out more about them.

Philosophy Encyclopedia - A more advanced site with loads of stuff for university academics on philosophy. Possibly a little ambitious, but what the hell!

Philosophy Topics - A link to the epistemelinks.com site where various philosophical subjects are listed and you can click on them to find resources all about them. Pretty high level stuff again, but I will never underestimate your intelligence.

So there you are. All sorts of gubbins to start you out on your philosophical career. Or just to get you thinking. Thinking is very important. In fact, vital. Look up the word "vital" while you're at it. Interesting, huh?

Eat your fill at the nourishing table of philosophy.

Mr K