Applications 2014

[Cottagecheeseman]

What independent studies have you done? I spent my last 2 years doing nothing but languages and graduate level independent studies. To this point, I've done independent studies on/in Hume, Kant's ethics, Being and Time, Plato's Republic, Capitalism and Schizophrenia, and Nietzsche's early period. I hope that they'll be of some advantage in the application process, but I'm not holding my breath any.

 

I did two undergraduate (my program was only undergraduate, so no chance at any graduate work) independent studies, one on epistemology and one on metaethics. I think the best part about them was that my teachers who did them are writing my letters, and I did fairly well at those two independent studies. Otherwise they were just me sitting around reading stuff then banging my head on the table and going "why did I choose philosophy and not something empirical" and then writing a paper that actually wasn't that bad.

Also if you're interested in modern philosophy of religion, I know that Plantinga is the big guy when it comes to the christian side, and his book God and Other Minds is a good place to start. On the atheistic side, J. L. Mackie's book "The miracle of theism" is fantastic. These are both heavily analytic, so I don't know how interested you would be, but they are good starting points for modern analytic philosophy of religion.

[MattDest]

If your winking is a suggestion, then I'd happily attempt a submission, though I don't know the theme, and so I'm not sure I have anything worth presenting.

 

Who specifically? I've been looking to get into the philosophy of religion, but I've only read Kierkegaard (I'm not even sure that counts).

 

 

(1) It is indeed a suggestion for all who might be lurking here. Undergraduate submissions are welcome. This will completely give away my identity (it's really easy to figure out anyway), but I'm OK with that - I haven't said anything too incriminating, I don't think. Here's the CFP, please feel free to give it to anyone who may be interested: http://philosopherscocoon.typepad.com/blog/2013/10/gateway-graduate-conference-cfp.html

 

(2) There isn't a particular individual that I am interested in, I am mostly interested in issues in religious epistemology, the problem of evil (I edit the PhilPapers category for this actually - something that you all might consider applying for! It's very easy and helps out the PhilPapers editors immensely if you do a good job) and other things. Alvin Plantinga, Peter van Inwagen, William Alston, Paul Draper, J.L. Mackie, the list goes on and on. 

[bar_scene_gambler]

(1) It is indeed a suggestion for all who might be lurking here. Undergraduate submissions are welcome. This will completely give away my identity (it's really easy to figure out anyway), but I'm OK with that - I haven't said anything too incriminating, I don't think. Here's the CFP, please feel free to give it to anyone who may be interested: http://philosopherscocoon.typepad.com/blog/2013/10/gateway-graduate-conference-cfp.html

 

(2) There isn't a particular individual that I am interested in, I am mostly interested in issues in religious epistemology, the problem of evil (I edit the PhilPapers category for this actually - something that you all might consider applying for! It's very easy and helps out the PhilPapers editors immensely if you do a good job) and other things. Alvin Plantinga, Peter van Inwagen, William Alston, Paul Draper, J.L. Mackie, the list goes on and on. 

How rigid is your conception of "political philosophy"? I'm working on a paper focusing on Rousseau's "Emile", and though the book is largely about education, Rousseau is considered a political philosopher (obviously). Of course, I've been tossing around an idea on a paper on Nietzsche's anti-political leanings, but I'd actually have to come up with something substantive to say. 

[MattDest]

How rigid is your conception of "political philosophy"? I'm working on a paper focusing on Rousseau's "Emile", and though the book is largely about education, Rousseau is considered a political philosopher (obviously). Of course, I've been tossing around an idea on a paper on Nietzsche's anti-political leanings, but I'd actually have to come up with something substantive to say. 

Not very rigid. Obviously, it can't just be about anything you could possible word-associate with political philosophy, but we just want the best possible papers. 

[MattDest]

If my either my term paper on metaphysics or political philosophy this semester are any good I may end up submitting something. Thanks for sharing!

Please do! No problem. 

[Philhopeful]

2. I'm still working on my writing sample too--still doing significant restructuring even. I hope it gets done on time. It's a general essay on the epistemology of perception. I feel like I'm wading through a never ending mine field of subtly different views just to ground the question I want to ask.

 

3. I'm interested in philosophy of mind most broadly, but also epistemology, language, and metaphysics. The stuff I plan to work on professionally is pretty much purely analytic, but I'm also very interested in the phenomenological tradition and continental treatments of intentionality and I think that it influences a lot of my intuitions. I'm okay with continental, but after Derrida it starts to get iffy.

 

4. I think that my statement of purpose is just doomed to be boring. I'm having a hard time dividing it up between descriptions of my interests and personal history. The last paragraph is school specific. Hopefully the writing sample works out. I'm in kind of a pessimistic mood today.

 

5. I'd be thrilled to get into anywhere on my list. I think one of the things I'm most looking forward to about graduate school is having a stable departmental affiliation from which to initiate correspondences with faculty. 

 

6. I assume that my dissertation will be on philosophy of mind. I don't see my interest in it fading away, and the market for philosophers of mind seems pretty lively. I'm hoping to graduate a specialist in the philosophy of language too though, and would like a well filled in background on the history of analytic philosophy generally.