UCLA Philosophy???

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
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<p>I am a transfer student who was just accepted to UCLA as a Philosophy major. I already SIR'd and will be attending UCLA starting this Fall 2011.</p>

<p>So can anybody out there tell me what to expect from UCLA philosophy classes? Especially Upper-Division Philosophy classes, since I already finished all the lower-div pre-reqs in Community College. Are they extremely hard? easy? medium difficulty? Any professors to look out for? How much reading do we do per week? How Much writing per week? The overall difficulty of the major at UCLA?</p>

<p>Any help or advice that a current or former UCLA philosophy major can give me would be greatly appreciated. Because I heard that UCLA has one of the best Philosophy departments around. Oh and also, is the UCLA philosophy dept. better than USC? Cuz i also got accepted to USC as philosophy major so I am just curious.</p>

<p>THANK YOU! and I'll see you other future Bruins this fall!</p>

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<p>Hi, i’m a current philosophy major at UCLA.</p>

<p>The classes very in structure, focus, and content, but the expectations are pretty much the same.</p>

<p>the most difficult classes are probably Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Science, and Logic (section II) and Metaphysics and Epistemology (section IV) so be careful with those.</p>

<p>Be careful with philosophy of language classes, they are very deceptive. The workload is really light, which seems to imply that it’s easy, but the content, structure, and papers are usually very difficult to understand, which makes the class very difficult. On our last midterm, 30% of the class placed somewhere in the C range, so that should give you some idea.</p>

<p>are far as professors go, try to take these classes by these professors:</p>

<p>Phil. of Lang 127B and 127C (Kaplan)
Kant (Herman)
Phil. Of Mind (tyler burge)</p>

<p>reading in the class can vary from anywhere from 0 pages a week (for some phil. of Lang classes) to like 80 pages a week. The average, ime, has usually been 30 pages per week per class.</p>

<p>advice: brush up on your logic, you’ll need it for some of the upper division classes. and read this and make sure you follow the guidelines (has been recommended in nearly all of my classes)</p>

<p>[Guidelines</a> on Writing a Philosophy Paper](<a href=“http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html]Guidelines”>Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper)</p>

<p>also, make sure to go to office hours at least once if you can with either your TA or Professor (or both) especially right before your papers.</p>

<p>UCLA’s phil. department is extremely prestigious. It’s way higher than USC in phil. rankings.</p>

<p>if you have any additional questions, feel free to PM me.</p>

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<p>Thanks beyphy! i think ive had PM convos with you before, idk if you remember. </p>

<p>But anyways, how is the transition from community college phil classes to UCLA phil classes? Were you stressed out beyond belief in your first quarter or was it manageable?? How have you been doing “grade-wise” in ur phil classes so far this year?</p>

<p>Also, everyone says that philosophy of language classes are extremely difficult. why is that? and is it required to take a phil. of language class? or can you still graduate w/o ever having to take a philosophy of language class? Because I am more interested in Philosophy of law, ethics, and metaphysics type classes. I can handle logic (i got an A in phil 9: symbolic logic, at community college), but I still find philosophy logic very difficult and frustrating so I feel like i will be intimidated by UCLA philosophy logic classes. </p>

<p>And since philosophy is not an impacted major at UCLA, is it easier to get the classes you need?</p>

<p>THANKS so much! this help is really appreciated.</p>

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<p>[Major</a> Requirements](<a href=“http://www.philosophy.ucla.edu/index.php/undergraduate-program-/39-undergraduate-category/46-major-requirements]Major”>http://www.philosophy.ucla.edu/index.php/undergraduate-program-/39-undergraduate-category/46-major-requirements)
The language/logic classes are under the Group 2 requirements for the major. Based on the requirements for the major, it will mean you will have to take at least one class in that group. While at UCLA, you will have class options(that aren’t just language and logic) in fulfilling Group 2, so it may be the case that you don’t have to take a language or logic class at all to fulfill that group.</p>

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<p>you don’t need phil. of lang. classes, but i’d recommend taking at least 1 (if you only take 1, take 127B imo, that class will knock your socks off)</p>

<p>my phil. classes were semi-easy, semi-not easy. you’ll get used to the increase in workload. The writing is a bit more demanding, but nothing insurmountable.</p>

<p>even though classes aren’t impacted, registration appointments can sometimes screw up your schedule completely but sometimes this can lead to you taking interesting classes that you wouldn’t have otherwise taken (that’s how i’m taking my phil. 127a class now which i LOVE)</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice!</p>

<p>So when you say 127B will rock your socks off, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is it a super hard/super interesting class? I’ll look into it.</p>

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<p>Both i’d say, it’s a really fascinating class and probably the most interesting one in the series (that or maybe 127c, but idk about it since i’m taking it next year)</p>

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<p>beyphy, thanks for the great info!
How would you say is UCLA’s metaphysics? (in comparison to the philosophy of language or philosophy of mind) does the department have any prominent metaphysicians?</p>

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<p>no, the department sucks for metaphysics (berkeley is worse!) in fact, only two UCs actually even rank for metaphysics: UCLA and UCSB, the rest have departments that are not ranked.</p>

<p>metaphysics is a really difficult subject and few departments are actually good at it (off the top of my head i can only think of NYU, MIT, Oxford, and maybe rutgers)</p>

<p>you’ll no doubt deal with metaphysics, but it will be mostly indirectly due to other things like phil. of Lang. Metaphysics is my favorite subject in philosophy (ironically enough which i haven’t had the opportunity to take a course in yet) but the department isn’t well reknown for it.</p>

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<p>Beyphy, where do you find out all this info on which schools are ranked higher for philosophy or what not? or have you just heard info from other people? thanks! and so UCLA isnt really known for metaphysics? well, ill still try to take a metaphysics class cuz im interested in that stuff.</p>

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<p>I believe he uses the Philosophical Gourmet Report:
[The</a> Philosophical Gourmet Report 2009 : Welcome](<a href=“http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/]The”>http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/)
That’s pretty much the only legitimate ranking available for philosophy.
…</p>

<p>How about the research opportunities? are there any for philosophy majors? is it hard to get into one?</p>

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<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>I’m another philosophy transfer to UCLA for fall 2011…
@Haro- David Kaplan who teaches the Phil of Lang A,B,and C sequence is arguably the most well-known philosopher currently teaching at UCLA(along with Burge and Herman).
If you want a glimpse of why you’d need logic keep in mind the A class deals with Frege, B with Russell, and C with Kripke( this is one course offered no where else in the world.).
Google- Bertrand Russell “On Denoting” for a glimpse at the material for 127 B. It’s tough stuff and I am definetely intimidated by the complicated notation.</p>

<p>Although I am not thrilled with taking lots of logic, it is an extremely part of philosophy and of all other fields of philosophy aside from Ethics, it arguably provides the most practical utility in it’s ability to teach you how to reason, think etc…not to mention it is directly applicable to the LSAT which I plan on taking.</p>

<p>I am also very interesting in research opportunities although I am seriously curious about how an undergrad can help a philosopher perform whatever they mean when they say “research”. Surely it is much different for the humanities than anything else. I think it would also be very interesting to do sociology or poli sci research. </p>

<p>And to echo what bephy said, UCLA is probably the most “prestigious” philosophy department in california aside from stanford…Cal is good too but is much more continental(bleh) and the stars are getting old.</p>

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<p>So how much work is 127A? I’m thinking mainly in terms of required time reading and writing.</p>

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<p>^here’s what someone posted from the “Bruin Philosophical Society” [dumb name, i know] on facebook for someone asking about 127A</p>

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<p>right now i’m taking kaplan for my second time. His style is pretty much as was noted above. You’ll be reading a fairly small amount and doing a very large in depth analysis of it. Those ‘4 weeks’ will usually be to add essential context to what you’re reading. </p>

<p>Kaplan usually provides lots of secondary papers that help elaborate on the material being read. He also records the lectures which a lot of people find helpful.</p>

<p>I might end up taking this class (i’m going to try to squeeze a letter of rec. out of kaplan.) so if i do i might see you there. But i’m also just as likely to take Burge’s philosophy of Mind class, which has a section which conflicts with this. Burge is also teaching philosophy of psychology, which i want to take. If i can get into phil. of psych, i’ll take 127A. If i can’t, i’m taking phil. of mind with Burge.</p>

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<p>Bump. Hey everyone, I’m a philosophy transfer admit and was wondering if you could help me on what classes I should try to enroll in this upcoming Fall. </p>

<p>Philosophy 100A, 100B, and 100C</p>

<p>Seven courses, two from three of the four groups and one from the remaining group:</p>

<p>Group I–History (Courses 100A-C119; 201-220)
Group II–Logic/Semantics (Courses 124-137; 221A-233)
Group III–Ethics and Value Theory (Courses 150-166; 241-M257)
Group IV–Metaphysics/Epistemology (Courses 170-188; 271-289)</p>

<p>Three additional upper division or graduate level Philosophy courses</p>

<p>So from looking at that, it seems like I should definitely take 101A? What else should I try to take? And is it usually recommended I should take 2 Philo classes and 1 elective? </p>

<p>Thanks a lot</p>

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<p>Heh, it’s pretty funny when i originally wrote this, nearly a year ago, i had only taken one of these classes (127B) and had only taken classes with one of these professors (Kaplan.) Now, a year later, i’ve taken all of these classes, with all of the professors, and i highly recommend all of them. </p>

<p>I personally am a huge fan of Tyler Burge (the guy’s a genius.) Every single class i took with him, while probably the hardest in the department, was amazing to take. His Kant class was awesome, and his book Origins of Objectivity is amazing.</p>

<p>Barbara Herman has a certain charm and force that i don’t think is paralleled by anyone else in the department (and few people i’ve ever met) and she’s one of the world’s foremost authorities on her subject (kant)</p>

<p>and Kaplan’s just an overall nice and really really smart guy. Also great to talk to about philosophy in general.</p>

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<p>hey neyphy do you happen to know where I can find kristen?</p>

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<p>Hey guys, I’m right there with you all (Transfer: Philo).</p>

<p>In my case, I haven’t finished up many of the pre-req courses because they were not offered at my CCC.</p>

<p>I have taken Ethics, and Logic. I loved both, however Logic was extremely challenging for me. I did pass with an A buuuut, will I be taking any other logic courses after this? I’m assuming I’ll need to pass my pre-req courses there, then I’ll be able to move onto upper div (sucks but I plan to knock them out quick).</p>

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<p>I second the Tyler Burge experience. I took Philosophy of Mind last quarter with Burge and it was extremely meaningful and impactful outside of academic gain. I highly recommend coming to UCLA for the name philosophers we have here. Unfortunately, I love metaphysics as well, but like beyphy said, we aren’t really well known for it. I talked to Burge about the subject (why we don’t have a very strong metaphysics program) and he said it’s due to the small size of our philosophy department faculty. If UCLA had the funds to branch and make some hires in that subcategory of philosophy we’d probably be on the radar.</p>