Anyone like philosophy?

Ar Scion

Ar Scion

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Oct 27, 2009
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Im thinking of going to school to major in philosophy. I can't help but enjoy reading and thinking about philosophical questions.

Anyone else?
 


Took on a philosophy course in uni and ended up with a C in the course. It left a bitter taste in my mouth ever since...Fuck you Descartes..

If you can agree to arbitrary points on abstract themes, then you're good. If you choose to disagree, you will be slaughtered.

Everyone tries to disagree but philosophy is about conforming, your point will never matter as it's been brought up and refuted many times over.

IMO philosophy is at it's best when high..

Plus learn to like hipsters, they love that shit..
 
jfizzle said:
Everyone tries to disagree but philosophy is about conforming, your point will never matter as it's been brought up and refuted many times over.
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Red herring. Education is about conformity, philosophy is not.
 
It's great if you want college to be interesting, extremely easy, and offer you absolutely nothing in the job market once you graduate.
 
My cousin got a PhD in Classic Philosophy.

Works as a Regional Director of Toyota.

Totally unrelated.

Totally awesome though. It will help you a lot in many ways. If you don't want your education to streamline you straight into a job, but instead use your skills and brain to make something - totally worth it. You just gotta really think about what they teach you though, not just do your homework and projects and study for exams.
 
Hmm. It's a subject I've found to be intriguing although I've had too much going on to really pay attention to it. I think I'll start with a basic 'philosophy for dummies'.

I think it's a subject that can really stretch the mind as some of the books can be quite challenging to read and understand. (Not because the issues are THAT complex but rather, because most philosophers are poor writers who struggle to commit their ideas to paper in a clear comprehensible manner.)

Apparently, a sentence in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason spans a whole page!). Speaking of that book; I once opened Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and I had to read a paragraph several times before I got an idea of what was being said.... I ended up shelving it.

I guess I'm more in love with the sophistication that comes with having a deep understanding of philosophy than philosophy itself. Then again, most of the time I'm lost in thought! Either way, I plan to study PPE (Philosophy, Politics & Economics) at some point in my life (for pleasure rather than for a career).
 
My bachelors degree is in philosophy. I didn't care too much for the theories I studied, but the skills I learned by getting the degree served me very well when I went to law school.
 
You can learn philosophy outside of school.

I would argue that school may be the worst place to learn philosophy.
 
guerilla said:
You can learn philosophy outside of school.

I would argue that school may be the worst place to learn philosophy.
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^^ Agreed. Having studied it in school I think philosophy is one of the more sensible subjects to study on your own. Plenty of good reading out there on whomever you want to learn from, whether it be Kant, Leibniz, Bacon, etc...
 
Start here:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwOCmJevigw]Three Minute Philosophy - Immanuel Kant - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz_iGGGMddw]Three Minute Philosophy: Thomas Aquinas - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q34MHpBu0Oo]Three Minute Philosophy: Plato - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm0Uq08xXhY]Three Minute Philosophy: Aristotle - YouTube[/ame]
 
guerilla said:
You can learn philosophy outside of school.

I would argue that school may be the worst place to learn philosophy.
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If by school environment, you mean a lecture environment, I agree with you. But if it's done properly (socratic method), school is a great place to learn philosophy.

When I took philosophy classes (both in high school and in college) it was always a discussion oriented class. We were given a homework assignment to 'understand X' and then we'd go into class and we'd all talk about our opinions on it for 45 minutes. I could (and often did) tell my professor that I completely disagreed with him and thought he had no clue what he was talking about, and that was completely ok as long as I had reasoning to back up my claims.

I think that way of learning philosophy was really really enriching (when you are learning it on your own you don't get to actively discuss your thoughts and opinions in a room of 20 other people who just read over similar stuff to what you did).
 
cardine said:
When I took philosophy classes (both in high school and in college) it was always a discussion oriented class. We were given a homework assignment to 'understand X' and then we'd go into class and we'd all talk about our opinions on it for 45 minutes.
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You can do this at mises.org or freedomainradio.com for free.

Just sayin'
 
I love philosophy, especially metaphysics, but frankly I feel like reading too much of it can make you lose sense of reality and start questioning everything. And the problem is that there are no answers, just questions! (Socrates: All I know is that I know nothing) For a programmer 1+1=2. For a Philosopher it doesn't always equal 2.

My philosophy teacher in college: a single, 42 year old pothead that puts makeup on and plays starcraft every day. First day of class he told us that taking coke while a teenager helped him find his "inner self". Very smart and awesome guy though.

One of my best friends from high school: took philosophy in college, did a Masters and now doing a PhD. Today he's a 33 years old virgin still living at his parents basement. Very socially awkward and struggles with depression. Awesome guy to talk to though.

I have tons of examples like these. It could be just anecdotal evidence, or there could be some degree of correlation. I have no idea, but I have yet to meet a philosopher with both feet on the ground.
 
cardine said:
It's great if you want college to be interesting, extremely easy, and offer you absolutely nothing in the job market once you graduate.
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Extremely easy, really?

Having a comparison I would say it is one of the most difficult subjects to master. Many confuse philosophy with a group of people sitting and discussing simple ethical problems (not saying you do). Phylosophy is very broad with ontology, epistemology and other subjects.

I also doubt people go to study philosophy to get something from it apart from mind tools and probably the biggest intellectual adventure you may get.
 
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