<p>We did a tiny little bit of that in class. I can't wait to study more in college. I'm sure this makes me sound crazy.</p>
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We did a tiny little bit of that in class. I can't wait to study more in college. I'm sure this makes me sound crazy.
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<p>Not really. However, your interest might fade after reading 'The Concept of Law,' by Hart. Except for some minor problems, the view espoused in that text seems to be the dominant one in legal academia, though there could be something that I am missing.</p>
<p>Philosophy as a whole intrigues me. Not simply material which relates to law. Although the texts I have read pertaining to Philosophy have all been in French as of this year, I still hope to enjoy the subject in college. If I don't, I can always change majors, I guess.</p>
<p>Who are your favorite Philosophers? and what are your favorite theories/works? Just curious to know the kinds of things that are studied in college.</p>
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Who are your favorite Philosophers? and what are your favorite theories/works? Just curious to know the kinds of things that are studied in college.
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<p>The material studied in college depends, at the outset, on your intended focus in philosophy. You cannot take every course in the department, so you will have to narrow your interests within the first years of your major.</p>
<p>At Georgetown, I have not read a single full text in any class, though we are assigned selections from various texts. The material one reads, at any rate, depends on the courses he takes. If you are taking a course on Social and Political Thought, expect to see selections from Rawls or Mills or Bentham or all three. If you are taking Early Modern Epistemology, expect to read selections (or the entire texts of) of Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, and Kant. If you are taking an introductory course to logic, or symbolic logic, do not even expect a philosophical text; we use a textbook for logic, just like any other mathematics course. </p>
<p>My favorite philosophers are Nozick, Korsgaard, Kant, Rawls, Dennett, and Quine. The preponderance of my readings, however, are from personal curiosity.</p>
<p>Expect to do the bulk of your reading in your junior and senior years as well as graduate studies. Though, by then, you will be reading texts that fall in your philosophical focus.</p>
<p>I rarely have time for texts outside of my focus, unfortunately. I have a stack of unread CogSci texts sitting on my desk, but the normative ethics takes precedence:) I still enjoy it though, but I wish I could do more.</p>
<p>"Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, and Kant" are all authors we have studied. We only read selections, but I read entire texts when I have the time (Voltaire at the moment). Kant is also one of my favorites. I like that I have just discovered this subject and that I still have plenty to discover.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the information. I'm even more interested in studying Philosophy as a major now that I have heard about your experiences. Now I only hope I can get into a school of a similar caliber to that of Georgetown (or GT itself). Although I don't expect this, I can only hope that I will go somewhere which offers various types of Philosophy classes so that I can try them out before focusing on a specific area. </p>
<p>Thanks again, and I wish you all the best with your studies.</p>
<p>Philosophy is one of the older, more established areas of study, like English and History. Thankfully most schools seem to have at least some philosophy department and course offerings. In my intro to ancient philosophy class at Berkeley this semester, we read small to large excerpts of Plato, and the entire Republic, as well as many excerpts from Aristotle. The logic class I hope to take soon is, as nspeds said, will be taught out of a textbook. The survey of modern philosophy class, which spans either about five hundred years or more, will probably have fewer entire works read. In that class, we study more people but less in depth. These three courses are required of every major, and then you are required to take courses in different areas, such as at least one class on metaphysics, at least two in epistemology, ect. Also, three elective classes are required- this is where you get to "specialize" or focus. By that time, most people know what they're interested in, or which professors they're interested in taking classes with.</p>
<p>I'm taking (took, I suppose?) a Greek philosophy class at Duke this semester. We've covered the pre-Socratics (Homer & Hesiod, Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Xenophanes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Melissus, Democritus, Diogenes), the Sophists (Critias, Protagoras, Gorgias), and Socrates. We read fragments of the pre-Socratics, Plato's Protagoras, Plato's Gorgias, Plato's Euthyphro, Plato's Apology, Xenophon's Defense, and a few Greek plays (Clouds, Oedipus Tyrannos, Hippolytus, Prometheus Bound). We also covered introductory logic and schematized some of the pre-Socratics' arguments. The class was fairly demanding. For example, the prof. gave us a list of 50 terms (in Greek) for the exam. Of those, he'll pick 5. We have to be able to translate the word and tell (in detail) how it pertains to Greek philosophy. I really like the class, though.</p>
<p>Out of all the philosophy classes I have taken and plan to take, none have midterms or finals. One of my classes for next semester just has one long paper that is due by the end of the semester. One student is, also, expected to lead the discussion for a class; however, since we only have seven students, I can imagine myself leading quite a few discussions!</p>
<p>warblersrule86,</p>
<p>You should consider taking a course taught by Alan Buchanan if you are interested in political philosophy.</p>
<p>Thanks, I'll look into it. :)</p>
<p>I just found out that No</p>
<p>Wait...philosophy? Why didn't anyone say anything about Ayn Rand?</p>
<p>It's not as if we made some exhaustive list of people worth mentioning, from times of old to crtical theorists of today. You just mentioned her. Is she still alive and does she teach?</p>
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Is she still alive and does she teach?
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<p>Ayn Rand is not a philosopher.</p>
<p>Yes, but she is of note. Would you not call her a critical theorist? She is (or was) fond of philosophical debate.</p>
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Yes, but she is of note. Would you not call her a critical theorist? She is (or was) fond of philosophical debate.
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<p>Bandy her name or ideas in any scholarly circle of philosophical significance and consider yourself academically dead.</p>
<p>That sounds like snobbery. Philosophers don't do that, nspeds. </p>
<p>Do you think they would do the same for Nietzsche, or Foucault, or Judith Butler?</p>
<p>"if one is naturally well favored but engages in philosophy far beyond that appropriate time of life, he can't help but turn out to be inexperienced in everything a man who's to be admirable and good and well thought of is supposed to be experienced in. Such people turn out to be inexperienced in the laws of their city or in the kind of speech one must use to deal with people on matters of business, whether in public or private, inexperienced also in human pleasures and appetites and, in short, inexperienced in the ways of human beings altogether..."</p>
<p>Yup, I'd say that pretty much sums nspeds up. </p>
<p>In reference to this conversation, a Philosophy major is always a starting point; several doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. were Philosophy majors as undergrads; and it's also really nifty because it opens you up to nearly any field. The point is that, even if you are going to teach, you must go to graduate school if you are going to make anything extremely 'profitable' from it. On the other hand, how many bachelor of arts degrees really set you up for the job world? It's probably not significantly less helpful than many alternative majors.</p>
<p>And, Rand is not a philosopher.</p>
<p>I read this somewhere: "major in philosophy if you plan on doing LOTS of drugs during college." :)</p>