AcademicX Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 (edited) I am looking forward to Columbia releasing its acceptances. However, looking back at my application, I am concerned that my writing sample might be detrimental to my overall file. I am mostly interested in Continental philosophy and I made that clear in my SOP (working with Honneth and Neuhouser would be a dream come true). However, given that I discovered philosophy quiet late in my college career, I didn't have a writing sample on a topic that most people in the adcom would be familiar with (the other paper I had ready was on existentialism and structuralism). At that point, I was still working on my senior thesis about Honneth's theory of recognition, which would have been the perfect writing sample. In the end, I sent a paper on Spinoza's conception of eternity in the Ethics. I am proud of that paper and there are two faculty members at Columbia who work on Spinoza. My main worry is that my choice of writing sample will look weird in the context of my overall application (interests in Continental philosophy and political philosophy). What do people think? Does the writing sample necessarily have to be on your main philosophical interest (or at least tied to it in a tangential way?) Or is it enough that it reflects a good philosophical potential? Thanks and good luck to everyone. Edited February 21, 2014 by Johannes14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattDest Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 My own advice from advisors on this topic was to pick my best philosophical work, and not worry about it not relating to my AOI. My AOI are philosophy of mind and epistemology, but I submitted a paper on theoretical rationality. I don't think it negatively impacted any of my chances that the two were somewhat unrelated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lesage13 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 (edited) The following is from Eric Schwitzgebel's blog (http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.ca/2007/10/applying-to-philosophy-phd-programs.html): You also want your essay, if possible, to be in one of the areas of philosophy highlighted as an area of interest in your statement of purpose. If necessary, you can adjust your statement of purpose, but that can only go so far. If your best essay is in Chinese philosophy or medieval philosophy or Continental philosophy or technical philosophy of physics or Bayesian decision theory, or some other subfield that's outside the mainstream, and you aren't planning to apply to schools that teach in that area, it's a bit of a quandary. You want to show your best work, but you don't want the school to reject you because your interests don't fit their teaching profile, and also the school might not have someone available who can really assess the quality of your essay. The following question was posted in the comments: 2) Similarly, how much is it expected that the writing sample match with the interests of the faculty of the school? For example, say a student's personal statement says that her main interests are philosophy of language, political philosophy, and Kant. If the faculty is strong in the first two, but weak in Kant, is it problematic at all if her writing sample is on Kant? More generally, how much should the writing sample on its own, separate from the interests listed in the personal statement, cohere with the interests of the faculty? Here is Schwitzgebel's answer: My impression is that you can partly counteract the effects of (2) by mentioning in your statement that although the topic in your sample remains a strong interest, you see your interests possibly going more in those other directions in the future. If your sample is on X, and the first thing you talk about in your statement is X, the committee will probably tend to think of you as an X person, unless you clarify matters. If the topic of your sample is too far from the faculty's strengths, you also run the risk that no one on the committee will really feel able to evaluate the sample. Edited February 21, 2014 by lesage13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philophilosopher Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Yeah, I definitely think it will not hurt you. In fact, if the sample is on one of your secondary or tangential interests, it may strengthen the application - i.e. if you write this well and thoroughly about something peripheral to what you really want to study, adcomms may assume that the quality of your writing in your primary interest will be equal, if not superior, to the documented quality in the writing sample. Again though, it definitely shouldn't hurt you, and, if it is about one of your other interests (though not your primary), it very well could help you. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs_doubtfire Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I agree with what's been already said. I'll just add that there's an interesting link between Spinoza and continental philosophy. I confess to not knowing my continental too well, but a reliable source told me that Spinoza was an influence on Hegel, who might have influenced other continental thinkers? (this is where I'd defer to the wisdom of wikipedia or students of continental philosophy). If this is right, then the discontinuity between what your interest is and the topic of your writing sample isn't that grave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burroughs Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 So, here's a situation in which a sample unrelated to your AOI may be a disadvantage. Professor X, with whom you want to work, is consulted on the applications. Your sample, and the sample of Applicant Y, are both of a similar strength, and you are qualitatively identical candidates except that Y has written on your AOI & you've written on Spinoza. Professor X recognises Y's paper as a reasonable contribution to the literature, and takes the greater relevance of Y's writing as being the decisive factor. It's not a likely occurrence, of course, and requires a quite abnormal set of coincidences. What is more, it's certainly true that the capacity to write strong papers outside of one's AOI is indicative of philosophical ability. Nevertheless, it's something to bear in mind. Writing on one's AOI and writing on some other subject both have costs. Whether those costs are relevant to most of us is, perhaps, the better question. gentle_dove 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weltgeist Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I agree with what's been already said. I'll just add that there's an interesting link between Spinoza and continental philosophy. I confess to not knowing my continental too well, but a reliable source told me that Spinoza was an influence on Hegel, who might have influenced other continental thinkers? (this is where I'd defer to the wisdom of wikipedia or students of continental philosophy). If this is right, then the discontinuity between what your interest is and the topic of your writing sample isn't that grave. Spinoza weighs pretty heavily not just on German Idealism but also elsewhere in Continental philosophy (especially Deleuze and French Spinozism as such) so Spinoza despite being more of a "history of philosophy" figure and less "continental" is pretty sexy to Continental philosophers (as he should be). But I'm sure Johannes already knows as much. also Neuhouser, Honneth and Goehr are my dream team so I share your Columbia anticipation, Johannes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logos0516 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I had the same worry as this questioner. I want to work in ethics and epistemology, but I submitted a writing sample on Descartes' Meditations, which I thought was far and away my best work. There are people in all the departments I applied to that specialize in Early Modern philosophy, so I didn't think it would be a big deal. I think far more important than the specific topic of the writing sample, is its quality. I think I would have been at a disadvantage submitting a paper in ethics that wasn't my best, and that would've reflected negatively because they would've said "well, this applicant wants to specialize in ethics, but his paper on a topic in ethics isn't outstanding." So I think I dodged that by giving in my very best paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamisha Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I’m not a philosophy candidate, but I will say that I was shut out of several universities (six, in fact) for submitting a sample that was somewhat outside of my interest area. I know this because when I emailed the universities to find out what I could do to become a more competitive applicant in the future, they said that despite my writing sample being a published essay of high quality, they couldn’t assess my knowledge in the area in which I wanted to work and thus couldn’t admit me. I don’t know if it’s the same in Philosophy as it is in Literature, but I just thought I’d chime in. MattDest 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRising Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Be aware that you might be asked for another writing sample in the event that 1) they are interested and 2) they feel unable to properly evaluate your submitted writing sample. It doesn't hurt to have back-up papers for that reason, even if they aren't polished (it might mean the difference between rejection and acceptance). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
objectivityofcontradiction Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 (edited) Weltgeist, Neuhouser and Goehr (not so much Honneth, his book on reification left me very unsatisfied, although of course I'd love to take seminars with some one of the Frankfurt School lineage) are on my dream team as well. Good luck. Edited February 21, 2014 by objectivityofcontradiction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs_doubtfire Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Spinoza weighs pretty heavily not just on German Idealism but also elsewhere in Continental philosophy (especially Deleuze and French Spinozism as such) so Spinoza despite being more of a "history of philosophy" figure and less "continental" is pretty sexy to Continental philosophers (as he should be). But I'm sure Johannes already knows as much. also Neuhouser, Honneth and Goehr are my dream team so I share your Columbia anticipation, Johannes! good to know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weltgeist Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Weltgeist, Neuhouser and Goehr (not so much Honneth, his book on reification left me very unsatisfied, although of course I'd love to take seminars with some one of the Frankfurt School lineage) are on my dream team as well. Good luck. Yeah I'm not that big of Honneth either but I'd like to work for him for the same reason (and really I'd take anyone at such a school who takes reification seriously as a philosophical Thema). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcademicX Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 Thanks for all your comments. Just here, it looks like I have really tough competition for the Continental spot at Columbia (hopefully my Spinoza paper won't put me at a disadvantage vis-a-vis other people with my interests and who submitted a paper on their AOI). Good luck to everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcademicX Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 Weltgeist, Neuhouser and Goehr (not so much Honneth, his book on reification left me very unsatisfied, although of course I'd love to take seminars with some one of the Frankfurt School lineage) are on my dream team as well. Good luck. I'm interested in your criticisms of Honneth's book on reification, if you don't mind sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Establishment Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I'm interested in your criticisms of Honneth's book on reification, if you don't mind sharing. He thinks that Honneth reifies reification. Ironic, really. isostheneia 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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