Is Philosophy really so bad?

Thanatos

"I will get rid of that "friend" if I were you. In SFU, friends don't let friends take Philosophy."
Funny, but is phil really so bad?
I was planning on taking some Phil in the future for electives, but now I'm worried. Is it really so hard at SFU? I once picked up a book on Philosophy from a condo book-sharing thing and it was all on Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, and so on. I thought it was really fascinating. So is philosophy really so bad at SFU? Is it just "boring" for people who don't like phil, or is it actually demanding, involving a lot of papers, graded unfairly, awful profs and so on?
I must say I am sick of assistant profs who have no experience. I had one this semester and it looks like I'm getting one next semester for Kin 207. Anyone heard of Bloomfield? Well, it seems like a new/assistant prof, and it sucks that they pass off profs with no experience on to students, because it always = worse grade.

xxk1nky

Yes.

But if you are one of the few that actually "enjoy" it, it might not be as as 95% of people think.

icerider

I've heard enough crap about philosophy that I'll never take it. It seems like its too much of a risk to see if its right for you or not, and if it isn't, you're screwed.

Thanatos

I guess maybe COGS is the way to go instead of phil???

Ether

Thanatos;62526 said:

I was planning on taking some Phil in the future for electives, but now I'm worried. Is it really so hard at SFU? I once picked up a book on Philosophy from a condo book-sharing thing and it was all on Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, and so on. I thought it was really fascinating.

Yes! It is fascinating damn it.. Even if most people on this forum don't think so.

- It's not difficult if you pay attention and/or care about the material.
- It doesn't involve too many papers, and the papers you do write are relatively short.
- bad TA's - you'll get them in every faculty. The TA's I've had in PHIL have all been top notch.

..so take philosophy. You'll probably like it.

I recommend 100W.

online predator

I took Phil 100W with Peter Horban. I enjoyed it and got a B+. I really don't think he's as bad of a prof as I would usually hear from otehrs.

The class does demand a lot of careful reading and understanding of opposing/different point of views. But that's philosophy. And their arguments, once you get a good grasp at them, are actually quite fun to follow.

You do get a chance to express your point of views in the essays. In Horban's finals however, you don't get much room to express yourself anymore. The final is focused more on seeing if you understood the philosopher's povs and can elaborate on them.

imelting

i think you should be the judge of whether u should take a subject/course
ppl's interests/motives vary from your own so if u like it, take it!

online predator

Most of the time people make decisions based on what others say without even trying for themselves. Then again, I am "others" and so is everyone else.

imagen

If you're interested in logic and arguments, philosophy might be a good choice for you. I took 3 lower division PHIL courses (100, 110, 120) to fulfill some of my WQB requirements and they ended up being some of the most enjoyable (and challenging) classes I've taken in university. The papers can be extremely tough and time-consuming to write but if you can construct a good logical argument, you'll do well. In general, the TA's have excellent attitudes and are really good at clarifying the material (they'd have to be, or else they wouldn't be majoring in philosophy of all subjects).

I ended up getting A+'s in all of them, so it definitely isn't impossible.

xxk1nky

online predator;62574 said:

I took Phil 100W with Peter Horban. I enjoyed it and got a B+. I really don't think he's as bad of a prof as I would usually hear from otehrs.

The class does demand a lot of careful reading and understanding of opposing/different point of views. But that's philosophy. And their arguments, once you get a good grasp at them, are actually quite fun to follow.

You do get a chance to express your point of views in the essays. In Horban's finals however, you don't get much room to express yourself anymore. The final is focused more on seeing if you understood the philosopher's povs and can elaborate on them.

I took 100W with Jill Macintosh. Beware.

Ether

I took 100W with Jill Macintosh. It was pretty good.

Makall

I took 100W with Jill Macintosh. Got a B from a C. I highly recommend.