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This is my first year of University and I just got out of my second Philosophy seminar. For those are you who are unaware of how it works, you have lectures and seminars; lectures are where you learn new things and relate to the text, seminars are where you talk about what you learned and relate to the lectures.
So I am in my philosophy seminar and we had two seminar leaders, they had to lead a discussion on Waking Life, a movie about philosophical ideas and opinions, more or less. So to earn marks in a seminar, you have to talk, that's the point. We started the seminar and within 10 minutes the topic of religion came up. One person said a very general statement about how he didn't think God exist and we as people invented him to feel secure, etc etc. For the next fourty minutes, that is all these people would talk about. I was refraining from answering because every person agreed with the person who spoke previously and we weren't getting anywhere; it was pointless.
I found it hilarious because everyone started with, "No offense to anyone here who's religious but..." You'd think after twenty minutes and EVERYONE speaking about it with the same opinion, they'd gather that no one was going to offended. I couldn't help but laugh to myself at how everyone was trying to feel special by stating the same thing over and over. Anyone who talked made it seem like they were being original and going against the grain.
We finally moved on to a new subject; dreams. The question presented to the group was, "Are dreams a means of escaping reality?" The very first person says, "Well, I think dreams are a way of our mind just believing what we want to be true, it's a lot like religion..." The fuckers brought it back to religion and we spent the remaining time talking about it. I'm not religious, but a discussion about it can at least be interesting if we have people with different opinions.
Anyways, I'm just posting this because I am on an hour break before my Philosophy lecture -- which I fucking hope cannot be related to religion in any way and I wanted to share this because I found it absurd.
___UPDATE___: So I wrote the above because I was a little annoyed at how shitty my Phil Sem was. I was mostly annoyed because I really like the Prof. and I think he does a good job teaching the course and bringing up interesting points, so it sucks that we don't have an intelligent group to discuss it with.
We started the lecture with an overview of an essay we are going to have to write. Informal, 7-10 pages, APA or MLA and on any philosopher of our choosing. The first thing he mentions is: It doesn't have to be an opinionated essay, it can just be informative, at the same time, it CAN be opinionated if you want it to be. Your choice - sounds pretty straightforward.
First question: "Can we include our opinion?"
Prof: "Yes you can, it's up to you."
few questions later: "Do we have to have a thesis? Like what we think about what the philosopher?"
Prof: "As I mentioned a few questions ago, it's your choice, it doesn't have to prove anything. I just want to see you can summarize what we've learned thus far. You can reflect your opinions if you wish."
So this goes on for a bit and at this point the guy is getting a little annoyed, hes answered this question a few times already being asked by different people in a slightly different way.
Finally in the back says, "What if I don't agree with the philosophers research?"
In the funniest moment yet at University, he says, "Jesus Christ, i've answered this multiple times already, how can I make this even clearer to you? Shall I write it down on a sticky note and put it to your forehead?"
The girl doesn't say anything... then gets up and leaves. Few moments later, WAILING from outside the doors, the girl was balling her eyes out. The Prof walks up the steps and goes to the door and I thought he was going to say, "Are you okay?" or something but he says, "Hey... shut up." and closes the door. It was by far the funniest thing I've witnessed this school year.
BTW: Just to make it clear, the reason no one felt bad for this girl was because she kept talking and talking and annoying those around her, so it was no wonder she missed the answer to her question... four times.
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Calgary25981 Posts
Welcome to first year philosophy. I took it in fourth year as my elective (Fundamental Questions! My major is engineering). It's a bunch of wide-eyed first years who think they have the world figured out. Enjoy the ride.
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hehe I was majoring in Philosophy for a short time. Then I came to go -___- u fucking serious now like that seminar :-P
Now I am physics and stats once again ^^
You're not majoring in philosophy are you?
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Haha Chill, that's spot on. I should have thought out the title to my post a little more and called it, "How I figured out life in first year philosophy!" Your absolutely right and that's kind of what I was driving at. I'm majoring in Psychology and doing a minor in Philosophy, so I have a lot of this to look forward to.
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Show the Dean TL and you will get your PHIL requirements waived.
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No offense to anyone here who's doing philosophy, but philosophy is a hippie subject.
+ Show Spoiler +I don't really mind philosophy, just wanted an excuse to use that phrase...
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I took it because I thought it would correspond well with Psychology. I have Psych, Sociology and Philosophy all going.
As a side note and kind of funny, my grandfathers friend was telling me he has a daughter in University, being nice I asked, "Oh yeah, what is her major?" and he's like, same as you; mind reader. I'm like what? He's like mind reader, all that fancy shit with palm reading and I just looked at him. I don't think he knows what Psychology is.
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United States24698 Posts
No offense to anyone here but Salv is gay.
I would be frustrated in that discussion group also. I took philosophy100 but it didn't really work out like that.
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The one thing North America needs is more psychologists and CJ majors.
nawt.
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On September 23 2008 05:48 Dknight wrote:
The one thing North America needs is more psychologists and CJ majors.
nawt.
-_- i'm going to be a Prof or Criminologist, not a Psychologist. Thanks for the quality post!
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I learn a shitload at seminars and lectures, guess your group just sucks balls.
Also I don't understand the whole minor/major thing, don't they have to relate at all?
In holland you go to uni -> get bachelor in subject -> get master in the same subject (wide variety of choice ofcourse)
How can some of you study completely unrelated stuff after eachother it seems so weird.
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United States22883 Posts
Intro philosophy courses suck balls. You figure out pretty quickly who does critical thinking on their own and is capable of reading literature.
Then again, I'm in an ethics class right now and it bugs me, but not for the same reasons.
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United States22883 Posts
On September 23 2008 05:54 Frits wrote:
I learn a shitload at seminars and lectures, guess your group just sucks balls.
Also I don't understand the whole minor/major thing, don't they have to relate at all?
In holland you go to uni -> get bachelor in subject -> get master in the same subject (wide variety of choice ofcourse)
How can some of you study completely unrelated stuff after eachother it seems so weird.
Minors don't mean anything. It's just a way of saying "I took a bunch of these classes, aside from the major."
I'm a poli sci major and if I happen to take enough philosophy classes, I'll be a double major. If I don't, I'll be a poli sci major and philosophy (or history, I can do either) minor, but no one cares about the minor.
Seminars are great, but in philosophy (or pretty much any subject) you need people who already have an advanced level of knowledge. A bunch of idiots making superficial arguments against religion gets you nowhere. Introduce them to the ontological argument and 9/10 of the class won't be able to figure out its fallacies.
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Now I know what to expect from my first philosophy seminar...
I watched Waking Life last year. That movie's so trippy ><
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Well Salv, take the initiative and lead the discussion next time.
When I took PSYC100, I could tell there were some people snickering at the stupidity of the current discussion; but guess what, they rarely spoke up.
I mean, are you just going to complain about the irrational drivel taking place in your seminar all semester long?
It's like:
they're stupid but at least they participate
you're intelligent but you keep quiet
meh.
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On September 23 2008 06:28 Spike wrote:
Well Salv, take the initiative and lead the discussion next time.
When I took PSYC100, I could tell there were some people snickering at the stupidity of the current discussion; but guess what, they rarely spoke up.
I mean, are you just going to complain about the irrational drivel taking place in your seminar all semester long?
You make a good point and I don't really have a good excuse for not trying to lead to discussion back to something relevant; keep in mind this was supposed to be about Waking Life in it's entirety.
On September 23 2008 06:28 Spike wrote:
they're stupid but at least they participate
That's the worst part haha, I got only a few discussion marks, yet they all probably got full marks for this seminar.
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On September 23 2008 07:32 Salv wrote:Show nested quote +On September 23 2008 06:28 Spike wrote:
Well Salv, take the initiative and lead the discussion next time.
When I took PSYC100, I could tell there were some people snickering at the stupidity of the current discussion; but guess what, they rarely spoke up.
I mean, are you just going to complain about the irrational drivel taking place in your seminar all semester long?
You make a good point and I don't really have a good excuse for not trying to lead to discussion back to something relevant; keep in mind this was supposed to be about Waking Life in it's entirety. Show nested quote +On September 23 2008 06:28 Spike wrote:
they're stupid but at least they participate
That's the worst part haha, I got only a few discussion marks, yet they all probably got full marks for this seminar.
Dude if there's anything that university taught me so far it is to talk as much as you can at any given moment so you won't have to listen to all the retarded answers and stupid unscientific bullshit that makes any normal man cringe.
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
lol @ "No offense to anyone here who's religious but..." 
You can try the House approach and start off with "You're all idiots". Seriously though, try to keep the discussion more or less on topic unless the said topic is interesting, whereas 1st year university students bashing religion isn't. The whole point is to try to enjoy the discussion 
Suggest to the marker/leader that people should lose marks for bringing up stupid irrelevant points.
I much prefer informal discussions in small groups ( < 5)... they're so much more fun and interesting.
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I just updated the original post. Basically my Philosophy prof just redeemed; Philosophy - the course, as a whole.
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hahahahaahhaahhaa
I want to go over to your professor and hug him
that's the most fucking badass professor ever hahaahha
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EPT
