Day 4

The Honours seminar wasn't quite what I expected. Each week we're to read a selected paper (or two) in a particular area of philosophy. The grades are fashioned from participation, several shorter response papers to the in-class articles, and one 20 page research paper.
What I don't like is that the research paper must revolve around a particular philosophy book or article published within the last ten years. That is, it must be strictly a response paper.

As it turns out, the same guy is teaching both Aristotle and the Rationalists! He's alright, a bit bumbly, and in his words, pretty rusty after having spent 2 years on sabbatical.

Psychology 100 is a bore. It's hard not to feel a little insulted to be told all the exact ways in which one thinks. Sometimes I want to "shhhh!" the professor: "Don't tell me this stuff, I'd really rather just not know!" It is also difficult to take seriously. Just this morning, the professor explained that purchasing the most recent text edition (3rd) was important; that the second edition would only be partially useful, and the first, totally useless. So why am I learning the 3rd, if in just two years, professors will be telling their psyc100 kids that it is obsolete? I imagine either knowledge is changing so quickly that even field experts can't keep up, or textbook companies are shamelessly ripping off already-poor students.

The one class I've not attended yet is Wittgenstein, taught by one Jan Zwicky (last page of the phone book, anyone?). She's quite controversial in the department, for her love of poetry, the arts, and the continental tradition; a Socratic if there ever was one. I took Plato from her last year, and it was a great experience. Our first essay was to be in the form of a Socratic dialogue: I wrote one between two high school teachers, one of music and the other of science, arguing whose department ought to bear the brunt of recent budget cuts.

My classes this semester are:

1. Psychology (100b)
2. Aristotle (303)
3. Rationalists (306)
4. Philosophy of Mind (460)
5. Wittgenstein (490)
6. Honours Seminar (499)

It's not going to be a walk in the park, that's for sure. Well, unless it happens to be a very hazardous and grueling park walk with many obstacles and torments along the way.

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