How to choose a Philosophy course/instructor?

[Steven95747]

I don’t know if this has been addressed, but I’d appreciate anyone’s thoughts…my college aged daughter is considering taking a Ph course at our local comm. college. She and I are both wondering if this is a good idea. She (as of today, anyway) is planning on transferring to Steubenville after getting her AA at comm. college. Here’s the burning question: how would one ‘vet’ a Ph course/instructor at this local college? We both agree that she doesn’t want to get a bunch of garbage, instead of the Truth…your thoughts???

Thanks! Steven and Stephanie ")

 

[Steven95747]

thank you

 

[NewsTheMan]

My opinion, as a philosophy major, is to let her choose whatever interests her. Jesus is the TRUTH, which means he is to be found everywhere

Philosophy can be painfully boring if you aren’t interested in something, so don’t worry about the teacher. Anyway, Most professors/lecturers in philosophy I know are agnostic and not particularly ardent about it - they know its cliche to be an athiest. On the other hand, my current professor is also my Catechism teacher

Philosophy is a thinking course; the only opportunity one gets to think deeply about things and not be called a bit weird. Do it! You should, and will, be challenged. Rene Descertes should be of interest, his Meditations basically relies upon some proof of God. It’s a classic work. St.Anselm and Aquinas are also interesting in proofs of God.

On a personal note, from my own experience I would stay away from:

Nietzsche
Existentialism
Philosophy of Race/Ethnicity/Origins

But some might find the above enjoyable, and I know Nietzsche in particular is loved. Existentialism I found to be pretty bland, although it did make me think I never was interested. Philosophy of Race was flogging a dead horse and every day I read Frantz Fannon I wanted to drown things

Good luck!

 

[frindro]

I’m a philosophy major who just finished my first year of university. I can’t make judgements about instructors I haven’t had at even my own school, so I don’t think I can advise you about your daughter.

I don’t know the courses offered to your daughter, but if they are first-year courses, they are probably just survey courses, meaning they just cover a whole bunch of philosophical theories/schools of thought. If you study philosophy you are bound to get a lot of garbage. This may sound strange coming from a philosophy major, but it’s true. Unless you take a philosophy course that is specifically about Christian philosophers (e.g. St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas), you will be taught many things that are not compatible with Christianity. It’s like enrolling in a religion program, you’re not just going to learn about Christianity, but also Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, etc.

That being said, some things you learn will support Christian beliefs. It can be hard to tell, but I find that though most of what I have learned thus far is untrue, it challenged me to think differently and critically, and I have learned about good theories that counter the bad theories (some professors may not do this though, so beware). Avoid courses with titles like: “Reasons Not to Believe in God,” “A Defence of Moral Relativism,” or “Feminist Ethics”

If philosophy in school gets stressful, try Peter Kreeft, a Catholic philospher.

P.S. Descartes did believe in God, but some of his other stuff wasn’t the greatest.

 

[NewsTheMan]

Yeah, first year is very introductory as mentioned, so I wouldn’t worry! Anyway, don’t be afraid of studying anti-christian things - for myself I just confirmed my beliefs further by finding philosophical holes in the arguments!

At an undergraduate level, you are at the mercy of the course co-ordinator. So don’t get too picky. Go with the flow, philosophy is interesting at least and eye opening and enlightening at best!

P.S. I’m midway through 3rd year philosophy - Descertes pretty much dictated the direction Western philosophy went, he is pretty instrumental, I’d say some if not all of his stuff is the greatest (esp. Meditations).

 

[hatsoff]

In my intro philosophy course at community college we covered:

Socratic method
Plato’s forms
Descartes’ Meditations
ontological and cosmological arguments for God
pragmatism
empiricism versus rationalism
King’s civil disobedience

We covered some other stuff I cannot recall, including perhaps existentialism and Aristotle. Anyway, as you can see, the curriculum is fairly nonthreatening. No view is ever presented as “the truth.”

 

[flyingfish]

Read the course syllabus, see if the school provides student generated reviews of instructors/courses. You can always e-mail an instructor to ask about the course, and what is emphasized.

If you/your daughter are worried about being exposed to non-Catholic points of view, philosophy is the wrong thing to study in my opinion. Better to study something like math or physics or engineering or Catholic theology.

 

[NewsTheMan]

hatsoff to hatsoff, he touched on something that is important to note. In philosophy, nothing is every really presented as the truth. At least, in my experience. It’s all musings, theorising, guessing, arguing, assuming, pondering, etc etc etc. It’s truly a lovely subject! Don’t be afraid of it, you know the Truth is Jesus, so why worry? Don’t be afraid of non-Catholic things. It might just be a test of your faith!

 

[ThomasToo]

Read the course syllabus, see if the school provides student generated reviews of instructors/courses. You can always e-mail an instructor to ask about the course, and what is emphasized.

If you/your daughter are worried about being exposed to non-Catholic points of view, philosophy is the wrong thing to study in my opinion. Better to study something like math or physics or engineering or Catholic theology.

I’d take physics off that list… Anything in the hard sciences gets into… ahem our sort of issues…

 

[ThomasToo]

hatsoff to hatsoff, he touched on something that is important to note. In philosophy, nothing is every really presented as the truth. At least, in my experience. It’s all musings, theorising, guessing, arguing, assuming, pondering, etc etc etc. It’s truly a lovely subject! Don’t be afraid of it, you know the Truth is Jesus, so why worry? Don’t be afraid of non-Catholic things. It might just be a test of your faith!

That’s not the experience I had at my (very Catholic) university; we read Aristotle and Aquinas who were presented as ‘almost there,’ and ‘oh boy, he’s got it.’ Not quite what I was expecting in philosophy courses…

 

[NewsTheMan]

That’s not the experience I had at my (very Catholic) university; we read Aristotle and Aquinas who were presented as ‘almost there,’ and ‘oh boy, he’s got it.’ Not quite what I was expecting in philosophy courses…

Maybe I was a bit too quick to speak. But I don’t know how to phrase what I’m getting at really I think definitely, some philosophers have ‘got it’ with regards to what they want to ‘get at’, but then, some other philosophers speculate and are off the mark when it comes to ‘getting at’ what some philosophers ‘got’.

That sounds ridiculous

Point is. Take philosophy. It’s nice.

 

[Leela]

I don’t know if this has been addressed, but I’d appreciate anyone’s thoughts…my college aged daughter is considering taking a Ph course at our local comm. college. She and I are both wondering if this is a good idea. She (as of today, anyway) is planning on transferring to Steubenville after getting her AA at comm. college. Here’s the burning question: how would one ‘vet’ a Ph course/instructor at this local college? We both agree that she doesn’t want to get a bunch of garbage, instead of the Truth…your thoughts???

Thanks! Steven and Stephanie ")

I don’t understand what the concern is. Are you content that she is not getting “a bunch of garbage” instead of the Truth in her other courses? I think that the only academic subject that hasn’t ever run into conflict with Catholic doctrine is math. Doesn’t she already get “a bunch of garbage” on television, in the movies, and on billboards? It seems to me that she already does and is always going to have to face up to ideas that conflict with Catholicism pretty regularly.

 

[Sideline]

hatsoff to hatsoff, he touched on something that is important to note. In philosophy, nothing is every really presented as the truth.

Well there are logic classes. Logic is presented as the truth, but only the*** rules*** of logic. However, logic is about as threatening to Catholic theology as geometry is.

 

[Non_Serviam]

My suggestion would be that you try to find graduates of the course(s) she is considering taking who are of your faith and ask them what their experiemces were. There are some philosophy profs who enjoy using rhetorical technique to take apart new believing students who are unskilled in rhetoric.

While some believe they are benefitting the students by shattering their illusions, some just have a cruel streak. These are the folks you want to avoid.

I had an unbelieving philosophy professor who every year hosted a debate between himself and a Christian member of the philosophy faculty. Their classes attended and heard their different viewpoints on one specific area of belief. The nonbeliever felt he was giving believing students a chance to see “the truth” as he saw it and the believer saw it as an opportunity to evangelize nonbelieving students.

It’s like anything else, do your homework before investing.

 

[flyingfish]

I’d take physics off that list… Anything in the hard sciences gets into… ahem our sort of issues…

Really? What about physics/chemistry/geology/astronomy would conflict with the Catholic point of view?

I can see how the biological sciences would conflict with Catholicism, not physics though.

 

[ThomasToo]

Really? What about physics/chemistry/geology/astronomy would conflict with the Catholic point of view?

I can see how the biological sciences would conflict with Catholicism, not physics though.

I think it takes you to places like this, specifically ‘our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.’

More simple than that I think a thoroughgoing understanding of physics pushes any concept of god (in the loose sense of the word) to the position of deist constant-definer which is a pale shadow of the gods of Christianity, Judaism or Islam.

 

[Steven95747]

To All: thanks for the generous response! Gives us both stuff to consider…to Leela in particular: Yes Tv, movies, etc is FULL of garbage, but this young lady of mine avoids it! I’m not just being a pious parent here…she is a remakable person and I thank God she is in my life. We both knew that taking Philosophy would be a broad exploration of ideas but wanted (name removed by moderator)ut on your experiences…so thanks also in particular to those who expressed said experiences…(dad–a HS grad only, ah regret, regret!-- is currently reading Kreeft’s “Philosophy 101 by Socrates” so the suggestion by ‘findro’ was most confirming ‘Newstheman’ for your helpful comments…

Again, thanks to all!!!

 

[flyingfish]

I think it takes you to places like this, specifically ‘our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.’

More simple than that I think a thoroughgoing understanding of physics pushes any concept of god (in the loose sense of the word) to the position of deist constant-definer which is a pale shadow of the gods of Christianity, Judaism or Islam.

Yours is an interesting position. Usually believers will try to explain a theistic God in the context of physics. Would your position be to question the validity of our physical theories? You seem to be saying that if physics is accurate in its description of our world, then the most consistent belief is deism?

 

[ThomasToo]

Yours is an interesting position. Usually believers will try to explain a theistic God in the context of physics. Would your position be to question the validity of our physical theories? You seem to be saying that if physics is accurate in its description of our world, then the most consistent belief is deism?

Believers try to explain gods with anything they can–usually with no success (assuming a full understanding of the science involved).

I would hardly question our theories but frankly I’m not really qualified to do so.

I would say that in light of modern biology, chemistry and physics the most coherent theistic belief is deism.

 

[flyingfish]

Believers try to explain gods with anything they can–usually with no success (assuming a full understanding of the science involved).

I would hardly question our theories but frankly I’m not really qualified to do so.

I would say that in light of modern biology, chemistry and physics the most coherent theistic belief is deism.

Oh, I noticed you’re not religious, so ignore my previous surprise. I would agree with you wrt deism.