Independent Research Task - Philosophy
Getting Started
If you want to look at a particular philosopher, or area of philosophy, look at the list below. Otherwise, try Debates.org [http://www.debate.org/opinions/] - look at the opinions about philosophy, society, technology, religion, or politics - College Binary's Three Minute Philosophy YouTube clips [https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=three+minute+philosophy] or The Ethics Centre [http://www.ethics.org.au/on-ethics/blog]. Other places you could look for ideas include the Community and Family Studies page on the School Website [http://riversidegirlslibrary.weebly.com/]; TV programmes such as Big Ideas [http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/] , Insight [http://www.sbs.com.au/news/insight] , Compass [http://www.abc.net.au/compass/pastepisodes.htm] ; or magazines like New Philosopher (NF 100) and New Internationalist (NF 300.5). Another place to look (especially if you want to pick just one philosopher to research) is this mind map of philosophers.
Note: If your resources don't directly reference philosophy, check that you are researching a philosophical rather than a sociological project.
I will add lots more useful links when I know what you are interested in, so keep me in the loop.
Epistemology
This area of philosophy examines the concept of Truth and how we know things/discover truths. You could research key philosophers such as:
You could also look at a specific area of Epistemology such as:
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Ethics and Morality
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This area of philosophy debates issues of right and wrong - how to be a good person.Ideas for research questions on ethics could come from The Ethics Centre [http://www.ethics.org.au/on-ethics/blog]. Brown University has a wonderful webpage which outlines main areas of Ethics and Key philosophical approaches
[https://www.brown.edu/academics/science-and-technology-studies/framework-making-ethical-decisions] . Even if you are looking at a specific dilemma (eg stem cell research or free range eggs) you should definitely look here to identify a philosophical concept that encapsulates your argument. You could look at issues such as:
Key philosophers include:
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Metaphysics
This area of philosophy examines the concept of Existance - who we are and how we are/become conscious of our identity.
You could research classic philosphers such as:
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