What's your area of interest?

[wandajune]

I can't speak for everyone, but I'm certainly curious as to how many applicants on this forum share my philosophical interests. This is an anonymous poll for those of you concerned about issues of privacy, and you may choose as many of the options as you would like (though try to restrict it to your primary interests!)

I apologize if I left anything significant out of the poll options.

Edited January 28, 2014 by wandajune

[objectivityofcontradiction]

German Idealism and the Frankfurt School (19th - 20th Cent. German phil generally).  

Edited January 28, 2014 by objectivityofcontradiction

[philosophe]

Very interesting! thanks for the poll. I'd love to see the result. It's good to know how many people you're competing with

[wandajune]

Very interesting! thanks for the poll. I'd love to see the result. It's good to know how many people you're competing with

 

I definitely agree! Hopefully this gives a somewhat accurate picture of the competition within different areas, although we can't be sure how closely GradCafe users mirror the overall competition.

[SelfHatingPhilosopher]

I definitely agree! Hopefully this gives a somewhat accurate picture of the competition within different areas, although we can't be sure how closely GradCafe users mirror the overall competition.

For some reason, I've always been of the opinion that the GradCafe community was largely continental, whereas the WhoGotIn community was largely analytic.

[Edit_Undo]

You did not include philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of logic 

[wandajune]

You did not include philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of logic 

 

No need to frown. I have added them to the poll.

 

There can be up to 20 options, and we are now up to 19. I can add just one more if someone has another suggested addition.

[Griswald]

Phil science

[wandajune]

Philosophy of Science has been added, and there is no more room for additions. If your area isn't included, choose "other", and feel free to leave a comment in order to specify.

[Edit_Undo]

No need to frown. I have added them to the poll.

 

There can be up to 20 options, and we are now up to 19. I can add just one more if someone has another suggested addition.

Awesome! Thank you!

[bar_scene_gambler]

Generally speaking, Post-Kantian German Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy, Aesthetics and (what some people call) Existentialism. I also have budding interests in Ordinary Language Philosophy and Phenomenology. So my interests are incredibly broad.

Edited January 28, 2014 by bar_scene_gambler

[philosophe]

can we condense philosophy of logic to logic, and add history of philosophy? seems redundant 

[MattDest]

This is a good idea. It would be really interesting to see these sorts of stats for the entire applicant pool. My AOIs are philosophy of mind (especially psych/neuro and perception) and epistemology (especially social, but also some decision theory etc.). 

[wandajune]

can we condense philosophy of logic to logic, and add history of philosophy? seems redundant 

 

Since so many people have responded at this point, I'm hesitant to make any changes. Not sure how I didn't include history of philosophy broadly in the first place, but people are welcome to leave a comment if it is their AOI and even specify the tradition or time period.

[philosophe]

Since so many people have responded at this point, I'm hesitant to make any changes. Not sure how I didn't include history of philosophy broadly in the first place, but people are welcome to leave a comment if it is their AOI and even specify the tradition or time period.

 

understandable, though can I ask what the difference is between logic and philosophy of logic?

[SelfHatingPhilosopher]

understandable, though can I ask what the difference is between logic and philosophy of logic?

I don't do philosophy of logic so I couldn't give you concrete examples, but my crude understanding is that logic is applied, it examines properties of formally axiomatized systems. Philosophy of logic does what isn't captured by the above. For example, Quine's criticisms about second-order logic. We all agree on the various facts about second-order logic which a logician will figure out, but what's controversial is whether second-order logic is a kosher way to express/serve as a foundation for mathematics, which a philosopher of logic will try to work out.

Edited January 28, 2014 by SelfHatingPhilosopher

[isostheneia]

(Philosophical) logic and philosophy of logic are sufficiently different fields - one involves doing logic (in some sense), while the other involves thinking about logic. Roughly.

 

Also, I know there's no history of philosophy on there, but the PGR seems to break it down pretty well:

Ancient

Medieval

Early modern - 17th c.

Early modern - 18th c.

Kant (seems to warrant his own category in terms of the amount of work done)

19th c.

Hist. of analytic philosophy

20th c.

 

In terms of my own case, I'm mainly interested in a couple areas of history of philosophy: Kant, 19th century (Hegel esp.), and history of analytic philosophy. Plus epistemology and philosophy of logic, both as they relate to these historical areas and in self-standing contemporary discussion.

[philosophe]

(Philosophical) logic and philosophy of logic are sufficiently different fields - one involves doing logic (in some sense), while the other involves thinking about logic. Roughly.

 

Also, I know there's no history of philosophy on there, but the PGR seems to break it down pretty well:

Ancient

Medieval

Early modern - 17th c.

Early modern - 18th c.

Kant (seems to warrant his own category in terms of the amount of work done)

19th c.

Hist. of analytic philosophy

20th c.

 

In terms of my own case, I'm mainly interested in a couple areas of history of philosophy: Kant, 19th century (Hegel esp.), and history of analytic philosophy. Plus epistemology and philosophy of logic, both as they relate to these historical areas and in self-standing contemporary discussion.

 

So basically logic and meta logic.

[SelfHatingPhilosopher]

So basically logic and meta logic.

No, I don't think so. I think when isostheneia writes "one involves doing logic (in some sense)", included in that sense is metalogical work which is still acquired through the use of formal mathematical/logical reasoning.

Because really, strictly speaking, no one really uses logic for anything. It's something that undergrads can be completely taught in a semester, at least as far as first order logic. When someone says they do logic, they mean they do metalogic, but that isn't the same as saying they do philosophy of logic.

Edited January 28, 2014 by SelfHatingPhilosopher

[isostheneia]

If I'm Godel, and I'm proving things about provability in certain types of logical systems, I'm still doing logic. If I'm Kant, and I'm saying that the laws of logic are both normative laws for how we should think and laws constitutive of thought itself, I'm doing philosophy of logic. Certainly, though, it's more of a dotted than a solid line between them.

[philosophe]

Because really, strictly speaking, no one really uses logic for anything. 

 

I don't think this is true at all. My AOI is epistemology, and formal epistemology uses quite a bit of logic.

[maxhgns]

I don't think this is true at all. My AOI is epistemology, and formal epistemology uses quite a bit of logic.

 

 

Yeah. Language too.

[bar_scene_gambler]

Wooooo! Continental has finally pulled ahead. That's surprising.

[ianfaircloud]

I'm just glad to see that ethics isn't particularly popular.  I was tempted to list ancient as an AOI on my SOPs, only to set my application apart from the rest.

[bar_scene_gambler]

I'm just glad to see that ethics isn't particularly popular.  I was tempted to list ancient as an AOI on my SOPs, only to set my application apart from the rest.

I never thought to do something like that, though the only thing that would really set me apart from other applicants would be an interest in Aesthetics or Chinese Philosophy, which aren't very popular (to say the least). Not really sure how much it would have helped.