<p>This doesn't seem to be the right time to post this since most of the threads seem to be about freshman admits.. but here goes. I'm interested in doing some philosophy courses at NYU over the summer as a visiting college student and I'd like to know a few things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>May be a stupid question, but it seems, by browsing the NYU threads on CC, that NYU students do not take summer courses at NYU. Is that true? Why's that?</p></li>
<li><p>I'm looking to take the Logic and History of Modern Philosophy courses, and Central Problems of Philosophy, if I can get in. Could anyone who has taken it over the summer shed some light on how it is? Tuition is really expensive..</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you very much for taking the time to read this!</p>
<p>I don’t know of NYU students taking classes at other schools except in cases where the credits are transferable. The only reason people take summer classes is to graduate early, imho. There are a fair number of people who take summer classes.</p>
<p>I took two consecutive summers of summer courses, as Alwayslivewell said, in order to graduate early. </p>
<p>You’ll find quite a few NYU students in summer courses usually. </p>
<p>Summer courses are not taught by NYU professors, they’re taught by graduate students - so you won’t be gaining the advantage of having access to the world’s most renown philosophy faculty. You’ll be taught by PhD students who are usually in the process of writing their dissertation. </p>
<p>Central Problems is an introductory course; Modern Philosophy can be taken as an intro course, but it generally isn’t recommend. I definitely wouldn’t recommend taking Logic without having good previous experience in philosophy. Formal First-Order logic can be annoying to deal with if you haven’t studied philosophy before.</p>
<p>Thank you both for your replies. I’d thought some of the essence of the stellar faculty would filter down to the graduate students haha. </p>
<p>I’d actually like to do Central Problems and Logic but I dithered and the former filled up a week after registration started… Since the section size is just 6, is there any chance they might open a new section? If not, is there a good alternative? (I haven’t taken any philosophy courses)</p>
<p>Also, the contact hours for phil courses at NYU seems sparse compared to those of UCB’s (6 to 12 per week for the logic course) so is there cause for concern? Especially for a course like logic? Also, I’ve some rudimentary knowledge of truth tables, implications, contrapositives etc. from a math course I’ve taken. Would that help?</p>
<p>Yes, that will certainly help. Logic is every philosophy major’s dreaded nightmare though, so be warned. It’s not too difficult, but for those who aren’t used to/cannot think very abstractly, some areas of logic may elude you. </p>
<p>My NYU course search says that Central Problems is still open to NON-NYU students. </p>
<p>What areas of philosophy interest you? </p>
<p>Ethics is a good course, but I never got along with the PhD student teaching it (Julian) - he never understood my papers and I always had to end up explaining them to him. His native language is not english and, to his credit, understanding my papers oftentimes depends on a deep understanding of English syntax. </p>
<p>Medical ethics is certainly interesting - you’ll be exposed to the ethics of abortion, quality of life, animals, etc. </p>
<p>Philosophy of law is interesting if you’re interested in understanding what makes a law ‘law’. You’ll be exposed to Dworkinian and positivist theories (NYU was host to Dworkin, so it is heavily non-positivist). </p>
<p>Mind is also very interest, I took mind as a summer course and really enjoyed it. </p>
<p>Metaphysics is also really interesting if you like thinking about free will, what makes a person a person, etc. </p>
<p>Do you know what areas of philosophy interest you?</p>
<p>Apparently, visiting students are considered NYU students. I.e, only pre-college students are non-NYU students. (I made the same assumption as you did and only realized what the school’s definition of NYU students was when I tried to register for section open to non-NYU students.) </p>
<p>As an aside, it has been 3 weeks since I’ve emailed philosophy dept to ask if they would be opening a new Central Problems section considering the interest. I have yet received a reply, are they usually like this?</p>
<p>I’m interested in the philosophy of science, metaphysics, epistemology and Rawlsian theory of justice. Having said that, I considered Ancient and Modern Philosophy as alternatives because I think it would be better for me to get some sort of an introduction before I delve into particular areas.</p>
<p>I never had any interest in the Ancient or Modern classes - but both are required for philosophy majors, so I had to take them both. Neither really helped with learning contemporary philosophy, since for the most part, they’re so far removed from one another. Granted, I was completely uninterested in both classes - my interests namely only concern contemporary philosophy.</p>
<p>If you enjoy metaphysics and epistemology, then you can take those classes; both are being offered over the summer. </p>
<p>Classes pertaining to theories of justice are more likely to be found in the politics department - the only class I ever took pertaining to theories of justice was called, unsurprisingly, ‘Theories of Justice’ and it was offered by the politics department. Rawls is certainly interesting, but I completely disagree with the difference principle. Having just checked though, the politics department is not offering ‘Theories of Justice’ this summer though. </p>
<p>If you’re interested in theories of justice, you might have an interest in philosophy law - is law moral? Does a rule need to be moral for it to be a law? Can law be devoid of morality? Who makes law and how? </p>
<p>Most of these courses can be taken by people who have a basic understanding of philosophy. During term time, however, anything beyond the introductory courses (Issues, Minds and Machines and the History courses are considered introductory) always have pre-reqs (e.g. you have to have already taken intro courses). Take from that what you will.</p>
<p>Hey NYU2013. Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my queries in a very prompt fashion. I hope you get to read this because I don’t have the required amount of posts to send a PM…</p>
<p>I’ve decided to go to UCB for the summer because my school has a tie-up with them and also because it is cheaper overall. Also, the courses generally have more contact hours although the class is significantly larger - by a factor of 4-1 last I checked. I’ll be taking Logic and Ancient Philosophy but I’m only really taking Ancient because I couldn’t get any other class due to scheduling conflicts. </p>
<p>Epistemology and Metaphysics seem like interesting courses so I hope to take them in the future, hopefully at NYU!</p>