Some things might never change. Who's to say that after all the experience we amass, we'll emerge different people? Maybe lots of people have always taken the future as a given -
I will get married, I will have a great job, I will have 2 kids(a boy and a girl), I will own a black Volvo - and the biggest one of them all is
I will be a mature adult. But the reality is, I doubt the future will change much. I might just still be the same when I'm 28 or even 58. A mind and a body forced to get along, forced to operate till death, but not necessarily complementing each other. Don't take it for granted that your opinions will evolve, that your behaviour will straighten out. The future might be less scary if you take it on as you now are.
posted by beautiful at 9:41 pm
If I ended up in Murdoch these are the electives I want to take.
A105 Structure, Thought and Reality (FOUNDATION)
Enrolment Options: Murdoch: S1, S1-external, Y-external 3 points
Description: This unit is divided into three sections: Matter, Mind and Spirit. It covers topics as diverse and interesting as cosmology, quantum theory, history of science, philosophy, metaphysics, ethics, history, psychology, politics, ideology, modernism, postmodernism, the media, anthropology, the paranormal and religion: in other words, a Short History of Everything. There is something here for everyone. The theme that binds these topics together is that of humanity's millennia-long search for reality. The unit should prepare students to understand better debates about the construction of reality as we enter the twenty-first century.
Contact time: Lectures: 2 hours per week; workshops/tutorials: 2 hours per week.
Prerequisites: Nil.
H277 Life, Death and Meaning
Enrolment Options: Murdoch: S2, S2-external 4 points
Description: What vision of human life is most nearly adequate - materialist, religious, humanist, evolutionist, nihilist...? How do we fit into the world? Do our lives have any meaning or purpose? Are we free agents? Do we perceive values or create them? How should we live? What happens to us when our bodies die? Is mind merely the brain working? Does our world-view take account of telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and mystical and aesthetic experience (for example, of nature and music)?
Contact time: Lectures/seminars: 2.5 hours per week.
Prerequisites: Nil. This unit is intended to be accessible to students from all disciplines.
H219 Moral and Political Philosophy
Enrolment Options: Murdoch: S1, S1-external 4 points
Description: Whereas the moral theorist asks 'How ought we to live?' the political theorist asks 'How ought we be governed?' In both cases questions of right, of obligation, of justice, of the good life, come to the fore. In this respect, moral and political theory share some important common interests and concerns. This unit examines some of these ideas which are foundational to broader social issues.
Contact time: Lectures/tutorials: 2.5 hours per week.
Prerequisites: Nil. This unit is intended to be accessible to students from all disciplines.
H201 Existence and Freedom
Enrolment Options: Murdoch: S1, S1-external 4 points
Description: This unit provides an investigation of key figures and central themes of Existential Philosophy: Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, the Phenomenological Enterprise of Edmund Husserl, and Heidegger and Sartre. The Existentialists were disenchanted with the remoteness of traditional philosophical questions and the lack of personal and ethical commitment to the pressing issues of the contemporary world. Themes: the unique manner of human existence, anxiety in the face of nothing, the absurdity which is hidden behind efforts to find meaning, and the radical contingency at the basis of human freedom.
Contact time: Lectures/tutorials: 2.5 hours per week.
Prerequisites: Nil. This unit is intended to be accessible to students from all disciplines.
J225 Literary Journalism
Enrolment Options: Murdoch: S2 4 points
Description: Literary journalism combines the finest traditions of print journalism and creative writing, using fictional techniques in the telling of factual stories. Students will explore the theory and history of literary journalism. They will also be required to regularly submit pieces of literary journalism including news features, columns and reviews.
Contact time: Lectures: 1.5 hours per week; tutorials: 2 hours per week.
Prerequisites: J220 Principles of Journalism and either H122 Creative Writing: Text and Practice I or H269 Creative Writing: Text and Practice II
S141 Introduction to Psychology
Enrolment Options: Murdoch: S1, S2
Rockingham: S1 3 points
Description: This unit should be of interest to any student who has ever wondered how and why people think and behave as they do. It provides a general coverage of a broad range of topics studied by contemporary psychologists, including the biological basis of behaviour, learning and memory, intelligence, consciousness, motivation and emotion, and psychological disorders. The aim of this unit is not only to provide students with a basic understanding of modern psychology, but to provide the skills that will set students on the road to becoming literate and critical consumers of psychological research.
Contact time: Lectures: 2 hours per week; laboratories: 1 hour per week.
Prerequisites: Nil.
S145 Introduction to Psychology and Culture
Enrolment Options: Murdoch: S2 3 points
Description: This unit looks at ways in which culture helps determine how we behave, and also how our behaviour assists us to define our culture. It involves becoming aware of how we see things through 'cultural glasses', often without awareness of this. More specifically, the unit will examine both universal and culture specific elements of human behaviour across a number of different cultures. Special topics include culture and sexuality; culture and intelligence; child development and its cultural consequences; culture and counseling, and the influence of culture on education. This unit will draw upon a multidisciplinary approach.
Contact time: Lectures: 2 hours per week; tutorials: 2 hours on alternate weeks.
Prerequisites: Nil.
Exclusions: Students who have successfully completed S145 Cross-Cultural Psychology or S277 Culture and Behaviour may not enrol in this unit for credit.
R107 Introduction to Social Psychology
Enrolment Options: Murdoch: S2
Rockingham: S2 3 points
Description: Basic principles of the study of the experience and behaviour of the individual person in a real or imagined social context; the evidence based upon investigations using a variety of psychological methods. Topics: perception and understanding of the actions and intentions of other people, nature of beliefs and attitudes, their structure and their role in the prediction of social action, change of social attitudes, social influence and reaction in group settings, including conformity and obedience to authority, social interaction in group settings, decision-making and problem-solving in groups and the facilitation and inhibition of performance, management and leadership of groups.
Contact time: Lectures: 2 hours per week; laboratories: 1 hour per week.
Prerequisites: Nil.
Exclusions: Students who have successfully completed S242 Social Psychology I may not enrol in this unit for credit.
R219 Psychology: the Individual and Society
Enrolment Options: Murdoch: S2 4 points
Description: This is an advanced unit in social psychology. It focuses on processes of social cognition -- how we each come to understand the world in which we live. Two broad themes in social cognition will be covered: a predominantly individualistic analysis of cognitive processes, and a predominantly social analysis of the social genesis, life, and function of ideas and thinking. This unit aims to integrate these two analytic themes, and does so with a special, but not exclusive, emphasis on patterns of intergroup relations.
Contact time: Lectures: 2 hours per week; laboratories/tutorials: 2 hours per fortnight.
Prerequisites: R107 Introduction to Social Psychology or S134 Introduction to Sociology.
Exclusions: Students who have successfully completed S357 Social Psychology II may not enrol in this unit for credit.
S115 Introduction to Travel and Tourism
Enrolment Options: Murdoch: S2, S2-external 3 points
Description: In this unit students will 'experience' the world of travel and tourism through the writings of travelers, through the work of social researchers and through their own travel experiences. The main concern in this unit will be the human dimension of tourism, the motivation to travel, the experience of travel and impacts on host communities. At least one field trip will be an important activity during the semester.
Contact time: Lectures/tutorials: up to 3 hours per week; plus field trip.
Prerequisites: Nil.
posted by beautiful at 1:48 am
You heard of the doctor who was pulled off the plane because they suspected him of being infected with SARS? My brother was on that flight and now he's been taken off duty for the time being. He is supposed to wait and see if symptoms manifest and if so he should go to the hospital asap. Which is well and good, considering how No. 2 and I are down with flu - I dunno if we're supposed to be scared of him, or he of us. Either way I've taken to contemplating just how 'close' is 'close contact'? Sharing the same keyboard? The same tissue box? The same kitchen sponge?
I'm so weirded out. I know I've complained a lot about being too tired to go on with all those applications, which was resolved by Jireh telling me
You've got to think about how much you really want to go, because if you're not sure then you might as well just stop now... but you have to make up your mind... So of course I plodded on, because I know that I don't wanna stay behind after the disaster they called NUS Open House. But does the negative automatically imply the positive - does not wanting to stay mean that I definitely want to go? No it doesn't, because I've just got my offer letter from Murdoch and suddenly I'm freaking out.
posted by beautiful at 3:00 am
