Last Words

Remember:

KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD is all about trying to understand the way human beings are in the world:

• what is the relationship between our thoughts and the things we think about?
• How do the things that seem to go on inside our heads connect with the things that seem to go on outside our heads?
• What is this division between the internal (our minds) and the external (the rest of the world) really all about? Is there even a division at all?

Don't be afraid to make these kind of points. They show you know what the point of all this stuff is.

FREE WILL & DETERMINISM is also absolutely fundamental to understanding what it is to be a human being living a life. Are we really in charge of ourselves in the way everybody assumes we are? Are we really autonomous beings?

If we're not, and it's hard to see how we are completely in control, then the important question is how much are we in control? and that's when things get really complicated - compatibilism etc.

FINALLY: If you've run out of things to say it's nearly always relevant to mention Wittgenstein and the idea that all meaning is socially constructed through language and therefore no meaning is ever fixed and certain. The meanings of words and ideas are constantly shifting and changing. It is quite possible that the meaning of 'internal' and 'external' will become changed or blurred together so that all the ideas discussed in KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD become outdated. Remember, some languages have no word for 'me', does that mean that individuals don't exist in the same way in those cultures?

IF all meaning is constructed and constantly re-negotiated and changed then what we understand by idea of 'free-will' will change into something different. Hume said way back that the argument was all about the meaning of the words. And Dennett trying to change the way we understand free will.

Say these things: you need the technical jargon to say them, just sound fascinated by the ideas and you'll score marks. Although if you can remember the proper terms that's even better.

Good luck and remember the stones.