Adequate Philosopher
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Posts posted by Adequate Philosopher
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Hello bookofletters,
I hate to be a Hume here--but you should be aware that, generally speaking, there is a bias against the philosophy of religion in the philosophical community at large. This is unfortunate, because I think philosophy of religion is the greatest! I want it to be an AOS.
What is my evidence, you ask? Professors and my own experience (I do not deny that my sample size is limited, however).
Regarding professors: I wanted to write my thesis on the problem of evil, and, even among the theistic philosophers at my department, I was advised against it. One professor told me that, when he attended the University of Notre Dame for his PhD (the philosophy of religion capital in the world, or at least the U.S., at any rate) famous philosophers there such as Alvin Plantinga and Peter van Inwagen would gladly advise students for their dissertations--as long as their dissertations focused on a more general metaphysical and/or epistemology problem--that is, not focused on an issue in the philosophy of religion. Apparently, students who do their dissertation on an issue in the philosophy of religion have a tougher time finding jobs, even more so than everyone else. I ended up doing my thesis on the problem of evil anyway, and got accepted into a decent graduate program. But I also got a lot of rejections!
Regarding my own experience: Not all, but some professors seem implicitly (some explicitly) to be contemptuous of religion. Also, so did most of my colleagues at my undergraduate institution.
You might be thinking, "I said that I wanted to specialize in medieval Islamic philosophy, not philosophy of religion, which you have focused on." Sure, but (please correct me if I'm wrong) religion and philosophy is a bit more difficult to separate in much Islamic philosophy, is it not?
So what am I getting at here? The short version is this: Are your interests to narrow? Kinda. Now, you might get lucky, and get hired somewhere looking for a scholar in medieval Islamic philosophy. But those jobs are far and few between. It is my understanding that most of us get jobs teaching at smaller schools where the opportunities to teach our "pet interests," (or whatever you want to call them) are slim to none.
I suggest broadening your metaphysical/epistemological/ethical interests, and this is likely to be strongly suggested if you are accepted into a graduate program. But still, by broadening your interests you may be able to use your expertise on medieval Islamic philosophy to contribute to current philosophical debates. Analytic philosophers have a short memory regarding the history of philosophy. (For example, my thesis adviser was writing a paper on Biblical interpretation basically identical to that of Averroes' view of how to interpret the Koran.)
Let me know if I can clarify anything! But ultimately, you have to decide for yourself.
"A man convinced against his will
is of the same opinion still."
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On 5/8/2016 at 3:53 PM, Lucky14 said:
@Adequate Philosopher yah me too. I am looking for housing options amd literally have no idea. I will be moving to College Station too. Did you apply for on-campus housing?
Congrats on your acceptance!
I have not applied yet, but will probably apply to on-campus housing.
Based on my research, all furnished apartments in the College Station area are around the same price. Nearly all (significantly) cheaper apartments are unfurnished. Some people I have spoken with recommend looking at apartments in Bryan, which is close to College Station. Apartments there tend to be slightly cheaper, but if you figure in driving and dealing with traffic it seems to me to even out.
I hope this helps.
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Hello everyone!
I'll be moving to College Station this fall.
Does anyone have any recommended apartments? Any apartments I should stay away from?
I'm currently leaning towards graduate housing in The Gardens. Has anyone on here lived there? How was your experience?
I appreciate any help you have to offer!
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I'll be the cranky looking bearded white guy with glasses.
That should be enough to separate me from everyone else. Right?
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13 hours ago, MentalEngineer said:
This is the first time in my life I'll be able to afford living alone, so I. Am. Doing. That. I think I remember hearing that a 2-person place that's currently being rented by two philosophers is being vacated, though, and that they're looking for replacements. You should message/friend some current students in the program and ask around for other possible opportunities.
Amen brother!
I've had a string of bad roommate situations.
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Are MA students allowed?
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I have declined my MA offer from Virginia Tech. I hope this helps someone. (Do they even do a waitlist?)
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Does anyone have any information on Texas A&M? I'm on the waitlist for their MA program and would appreciate any information if you have it!
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2 hours ago, brush said:
One thing I noticed is a lot of MA programs (e.g. VTech) offer lots of graduate level survey courses, whereas others offer mostly seminars on particular topics (e.g. FSU). I'm wondering which type of class will put me in a better position to make a good writing sample? I've never taken a graduate seminar before. Survey courses are nice in that they get you thinking about a lot of things and give you good background knowledge, but I'm afraid they don't go in depth enough on any topic to be able to write a novel paper on that topic.
From what I can tell, Virginia Tech usually offers a mixture of both. http://www.phil.vt.edu/courses/fall_2016_coursedescriptions_GRAD.pdf
For example, this fall they'll be offering advanced introductions to the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language. However, they'll also be offering a seminar on David Hume's political philosophy and how it was influenced by Adam Smith.
I suppose we can compare survey courses and seminars on particular topics to swimming in a pool. I prefer to start at the shallow end, dip my big toe in the water and make sure it isn't too cold (i.e., survey courses), then gradually swim to the deep end (seminars on particular topics). However, it's perfectly reasonable to prefer jumping in the deep end of the pool and splashing about a bit. There are virtues to both methods, I suppose.
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On 3/31/2016 at 3:13 AM, ClassApp said:
I think we are missing some of the most important information here:
Have you studied a foreign language previously? If so, how did you do?
If you've successfully learned another language before, it will make learning other languages on your own a million times easier. If you have not studied a foreign language previously at all (or were unsuccessful), I think that attempting to learn on your own without any course or guidance would be an inefficient use of your time--it will take you much, much longer to figure it out on your own for the first time.
I have to warn that I am also a classicist, but I would recommend taking Latin first for several reasons:
A) As you mentioned, it's largely taught for reading knowledge right from the start.
B ) Latin has a relatively small regular vocabulary (especially compared to Greek or German) so you'll be able to read texts more quickly with less brute vocab study (there will be a lot of this regardless)
C) Latin is grammar-heavy. The first thing you'll be doing is learning all about the declension system, the conjugation system, etc. This will be extremely helpful when you learn your other languages, like Greek and German, and you're already all too familiar with the dative and future passive participles. It will also allow you to study other languages on your own much more easily.
D) The vocabulary that you do need to learn will translate extremely easily over to French (and Italian and Spanish and Portuguese...). It's extremely easy for me (as a classicist with no formal Italian training) to read Italian. Even if this isn't really a required language, it will open up more opportunities for your own research, and it's great to be able to put down reading knowledge of other languages on your CV with so little extra training.
E) Greek textbooks (and courses) largely assume an audience already familiar with Latin (and therefore can occasionally gloss over important grammar information). Latin courses do not assume prior knowledge of another foreign language. In addition, Latin is significantly more regular than Greek. Ancient Greek is pockmarked with irregularities and is therefore extremely difficult for a first-time foreign language learner (or, frankly, even a second-time one). Much, much more brute memorization.
F) German's structure is much more similar to the structure of English than Latin/Greek/even French are. This makes it easier for you as a native English speaker to teach yourself German than to teach yourself Latin/Greek/even French.
I've taken a few Spanish classes. Reading I found to be quite easy, but speaking Spanish was tough for me. However, I should note that I probably wasn't studying as hard as I should have.
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15 minutes ago, frege-bombs said:
Declined UMass Amherst. Hope it helps!
No. But thanks for deciding before the 15th!
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I have a question for you historians of philosophy: How did you acquire reading knowledge of a foreign language? Did you take a class? If so, which one(s)? Did you study the language on your own? If so, which books did you buy and/or self-teaching services did you use?
I will begin pursuing a terminal MA this fall, and my main interests are in the history of philosophy. I like it all, but if I had to specify, I would choose early modern philosophy as an AOS. One conspicuous weak spot in my CV is a lack of reading knowledge of the four main languages historians of philosophy need to know. (Ancient) Greek and Latin will be easy--classes in the classics are almost always geared towards reading knowledge of the language.
However, for those of you who have reading knowledge of French and/or German, did you take college classes or study the language on your own? Classes in German and French typically put a considerable emphasis on conversing in the language. All else being equal, I'd love to be able to converse in French and German, but what I'm really concerned about is reading knowledge.
I appreciate any help you have to offer!
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11 hours ago, dgswaim said:
Passed my MA thesis defense today
Congratulations!
But at the risk of sounding pedantic (however, perhaps this is acceptable on a philosophy forum), is the venting thread the best place to post about successfully defending your MA thesis?
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17 hours ago, Adequate Philosopher said:
I receiving a resounding rejection a while ago. So maybe you're a borderline case of being accepted.
*received*
No wonder I "receiving" a resounding rejection a while ago. I can't not write no good.
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I receiving a resounding rejection a while ago. So maybe you're a borderline case of being accepted.
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On 3/15/2016 at 1:03 PM, Davidspring said:
Thanks for letting us know about this. I definitely take your point. But those of us who are in a tricky situation in which we have to decide between waitlisted schools to which we really want to go and admitted weaker schools would very much appreciate it if people like you could decide at least two or three days prior to the deadline.
Amen.
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I've been accepted into Virginia Tech (no funding). It is nice to receive some positive feedback, considering that pretty much everywhere else rejected me.
- frege-bombs and philosophe
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Hello everyone (first post),
I was waitlisted for Texas A&M's MA program back in February. If you're considering declining, just remember you might benefit someone whom you've never met.
Are my interests too narrow?
in Philosophy
Posted
Would you guys mind elaborating a bit? Awaken me from my dogmatic slumbers.