<p>After going through the courses available at NYU, I determined that philosophy was the major I am the most interested in. However, when I asked my friends on their opinion, some of them laughed because I guess I don’t appear to be a deep thinker in their books. It was pretty discouraging and now I am doubting my ability to take on philosophy as a major in CAS. I was hoping someone could tell me more about the nitty-gritty details of studying philosophy. I went to read the courses offered at NYU and I do find the requirements rather daunting. </p>
<p>If I do choose philosophy, I am definitely planning to read up on it before I go. I’ve always been more inclined towards the humanities and social sciences so my other options were anthropology, communications, sociology and psychology. I do not personally think that I am a strong critical thinker, nor am I particularly strong in writing. I tend to do well for subjects like art history, sciences, and math, but I struggle with subjects like economics and I do pretty decent for literature. </p>
<p>I would say I am a slower learner and I am pretty shy in terms of speaking up in class so I tend to approach teachers with my questions after class. I am afraid my fear of speaking up in class would not benefit me if I choose to study philosophy because I would not be able to put my arguments across well, and have them challenged, thus hindering my learning.</p>
<p>Please help me out! I really want to pick a major that I have a strong interest in and that is suitable for me. Thank you so much!</p>
<p>You don’t exactly sounds like a cut-out, but there’s only one…or two…ways to find out if philosophy is the major for you. First of all, I’d say buy a philosophy book that interests you (Nietzsche, Aristotle, Kant, Schopenhauer, Spinoza, etc.) or even an introduction to philosophy (Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell). Read it through and see how much your head aches. Philosophy can be pretty heavy, so see if you can imagine yourself studying it for 4 years. Take Philosophy 101 to be sure, an introduction can’t hurt. And if you do decide to major in it, you should probably pick up a double major. As interesting as philosophy is, it basically has no career options unless you plan on going to law school.</p>
<p>do you do your best work while inebriated?
can you live on ramen noodles, pet food, and canned juice?
what quality of alcohol does it take for you to get drunk?
do you have any cats?</p>
<p>I have a couple degrees in philosophy, and taught it part-time at the college level for 10 years. Perhaps the biggest distinction you have to make is are you more of a “philosopher” or more of a “scholar of philosophy”? The former is more creative and open-minded, searching below the surface of everything for a more profound meaning. The latter bores into other people’s writings digests them, tears them down and builds them up again…very disciplined and rigorous of thought. To become a “philosopher,” having lived an interesting life (e.g., soldier, bartender, commercial fisherman, lifeguard) is as important as the stuff you’ll learn in the classroom. The successful scholars tend to disregard their own human experience and focus on the ivory tower. </p>
<p>I’d disagree with drudkh in that one of the quickest ways to get turned off on philosophy is to dive into certain writers’ actual works (called “primary sources”), because some of them are really horrible writers (especially Hegel and Kant). The good news is that there are some philosophers who were great prose stylists (Plato, Schopenhauer, Pascal come to mind). Reading Plato’s “Crito” was what sealed the deal between philsophy and me.</p>
<p>Pick up Will Durant’s “The Story of Philosophy” or T.Z. Levine’s “From Socrates to Sartre: the Philosophic Quest” if you want an easy-to-digest overview of the history of philosophy.</p>
<p>Also promise to never give up on philosophy until you’ve taken an intro to logic course…trying to make headway in philosophy without a background in logic is like trying to learn engineering without knowing math.</p>
<p>Also be aware that the “Anglo-American” style rules the philosophy depts. at a lot of colleges, and it’s heavy into a dry linguistic approach, as opposed to the more swashbuckling “Continental” approach.</p>
<p>It makes no sense for you to struggle with economics, say you’re good at math and sciences, and claim you lean toward social sciences… I’m not seeing any patterns here. Classes like economics are social science classes, after all, or applied math.</p>