Monadology

I think that's a good point. I started with In Contradiction, so I probably didn't realize the extent to which my reading Doubt Truth to be a Liar was being framed by In Contradiction.

The author of that article, Graham Priest, is awesome! He is one of the main proponents of dialetheism. I heartily recommend anyone, especially the staunchest proponents of the law of non-contradiction, read In Contradiction or Doubt Truth to Be a Liar. Beyond the Limits of Thought is also really fun metaphilosophy/history of philosophy.

Do you have any examples? I haven't heard much very critical of the Hong translations, aside from run-of-the-mill translation disagreements (and the characterization that they often omit style for more literal translation).

Right, I can only think of 4 well known PhD programs in the States that would be especially conducive to becoming a Kierkegaard scholar: Fordham, Baylor, Cornell (Michelle Kosch is awesome) and Chicago (Lear and Conant - not focused Kierkegaard scholars, but I've seen some damn good Kierkegaard dissertations come from there, like Jennifer Lockhart's). On the language stuff, I can't find where Hannay said it (if he did), butI did find where MG Piety says that "One of the biggest problems in Kierkegaard scholarship is how few scholars have even an elementary knowledge of Danish." (like I said, who knows if it is true!) Speaking of which: I'm certainly not reading him in Danish, as I am just now teaching myself Danish. There were not many resources I could afford prior to this summer when Duolingo got its Danish course into beta. Though my answer to your question is of considerably less interest after imparting that fact, I tend to use the Hong translations. However, I am a big fan of Hannay (though I am not aware whether he has an unabridged translation of Either/Or; the Penguin edition is certainly abridged). I'll read Hannay where I can. Otherwise Hong is fine. The only of those three I've read is Angier's, actually! It was pretty interesting. However, I don't know if he gave Nietzsche a fair shake since I'm not very familiar with Nietzsche.

There are a few books on the Nietzsche/Kierkegaard comparison. Here are a few: http://www.amazon.com/Kierkegaard-Nietzsche-Best-Way-Life/dp/1137302097/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421170911&sr=8-2&keywords=nietzsche+kierkegaard&pebp=1421170925033&peasin=1137302097 http://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Kierkegaard-Nietzsche-Critical-Thinking/dp/0754665747/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421170940&sr=8-1&keywords=nietzsche+kierkegaard+power&pebp=1421170943555&peasin=754665747 http://www.amazon.com/Either-Kierkegaard-Nietzsche-Intersections-Continental/dp/0754654745 You are definitely right. My most significant historical interest is in Kierkegaard, so the realization that there are few major Kierkegaard scholars in PhD programs was pretty frustrating (St. Olaf's has no PhD program!). On the other hand, it might not be the language. I think M.G. Piety and Alastair Hannay have suggested that many Kierkegaard scholars don't know Danish (that may or may not be true). That said, I know that there are some scholars in PGR departments with strong interests in Kierkegaard that have not been on the front burner research-wise. For instance, Mark Wrathall and Mark Alznauer. Also, Sara Buss is a huge fan and is working on a paper on Kierkegaard and contemporary ethics/agency.

It definitely does, I got a fairly early one last year and just knowing you've got somewhere to go is a huge relief. However, it wasn't as easy as I expected. Once I had that acceptance I was a lot more hopeful for my chances at other schools (I knew this was irrational but it didn't change anything). That meant it was a lot more disappointing when rejections kept coming.

I know someone that more or less happened to in their first year. It's probably not super common, but I definitely recommend trying to get a feel for the odds of appealing faculty leaving if you are accepted somewhere (within the bounds of tact, of course). It's not exactly predictable, but for instance in my case I heard that a faculty of interest recently turned down an offer from a prestigious program, which indicates that said faculty was pretty happy at the program and planning to stay. I also know of someone who asked a few of the faculty they were interested in, and got some positive answers (as well as some "I'm happy here but I might take a good offer if it came along, so who knows" type answers).

jjb919, regarding questions you might have about the atmosphere for women, if you are a woman yourself, you might try and get in touch with this group: They will probably have some helpful information.

I've only been at UCR's PhD for about a quarter, but I'll be happy to answer any questions about it insofar as I am able (either now or as the admissions process progresses).

Seconding the MA suggestion. UWM is another excellent MA program that has tuition remission + stipend. The stipend is low, but Milwaukee is a cheap city, so it's possible to scrape by on it with roommates if you can work during the summer. If you can get a letter from a second philosophy prof, that would be ideal. You may want to ask one of your letter writers to include comments on your GPA (explaining why it is low, how that doesn't reflect on your academic ability at this stage etc...). PhD programs will be tough. If you can afford the application fees, it can't hurt to try, but you'll be competing with students who have strong philosophical backgrounds from prestigious institutions, stellar GPAs, stellar GREs and recommendations from well known philosophers. Many programs thin out the pool by GPA/GRE first, since reading through every writing sample just isn't feasible. The lack of philosophy background will also be a reason for setting your application aside, unless your CS background fits with some specialty of the program. Finally, having only one philosophy professor write a LoR will hurt a lot more at a PhD program than an MA program, since they will only have one third party's perspective on your philosophical ability. So, your plan to apply to MA programs first seems like the right plan to have.

I have yet to really appreciate B&T. Every time I read it, it just feels like warmed-over Kierkegaard. I do love Philosophical Investigations, but my love of that and my love of Kierkegaard are mutually implicated. So I guess I can't relate to losing an interest in existentialism from reading it! The reverse really. Also, the Critique of Judgment rules and it is what I am currently reading (most intensively, at least).

The problem wasn't that your professor wasn't familiar with Ancient philosophy, the problem was your professor wasn't familiar with Joseph Jacotot!

You can find recordings of John Caputo's lectures/classes here: http://trippfuller.com/Caputo/ http://trippfuller.com/Caputo/Fall2010%20Caputo/ It sounds like you are interested in continental philosophy, so you should really dig his stuff. I haven't had the chance to listen to much, but I've found them interesting and helpful.

I don't know about films *on or about* philosophy, but my favorite philosophical film is probably Upstream Color.

Welcome back, Ian!

... has been compiled here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/w8wqvzgon4i2oxy/Philosophy%20MA%20Funding.pdf

I've heard stuff both ways on naming names (I emphasized particular strengths of the program without naming names), but I would definitely recommend tailoring. After the first five or so applications I had all the area-of-interest paragraphs I needed to combine for each statement of interest, which meant I only had to add in some program specific flavoring for each application. I imagine it can only help, unless you appear to be boot-licking or something like that.

As a heads-up, Julius Sensat at UW Milwaukee is retired (or will be soon, I'm not sure). That's a knock against it as far as political, though it still has Blain Neufeld, Andrea Westlund and Stan Husi.

Fordham actually has a decent placement record. If that's what you're worried about with respect to rank, you might want to look at http://www.newappsblog.com/2014/07/job-placement-2011-2014-comparing-placement-rank-to-pgr-rank.html. The data they are working with there is limited and sometimes incomplete, but it gives reason to doubt that all unranked programs are necessarily bad choices. It's also not a safety school, I do not get the impression that it is easy to get into.

Pun intended?

If you haven't yet, you should definitely read Douglas Lavin's Practical Reason and the Possibility of Error. Also, I recommend applying to UWM's MA program, which is where I did my MA. It might help bridge you into a good PhD program if you have trouble with that due to your unusual background and Luca Ferrero, Bill Bristow, Ted Hinchman and Andrea Westlund are all right up your alley (EDIT: I totally forgot Blain Neufeld because I never took a class with him). As far as PhD programs, you might find UC Riverside (which is where I'm headed this Fall) very appealing as well. Lots of action/ethics folks there, some phil mind, and very pluralistic. Also, from what I've gathered, a really happy student body.

You might get some help if you specified programs or faculty you had questions about, but as has been pointed out your current approach is entirely impractical. Also, if you can come up with a specific list you'd probably be better served if you just email a graduate student at the programs you're interested in.

UWM's placement should be going up on their website sometime soon, I know someone got an email yesterday asking for up-to-date information so they could post it.

You jerks are getting all the good classes! I've probably also told both of you, but Bill Bristow is - to borrow an apt description I once heard - a real mensch and his seminars rock. So take one if you get the chance. For some advice whose application is less immediate, I've heard the the professor who has inherited the writing workshops was horrified when hardly anyone had a writing sample draft ready at the beginning of last semester. I think the department plans to get a little more hard-nosed about that, so make sure to use next summer to prepare a draft for the writing workshop. Finally, front-load your seminar requirements. I think you need to take four seminars total. If you front-load them, you have more freedom to schedule flexibly in the second year when you have other demands like your writing sample and thesis.

That's a real shame