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Sam's posts= Possibly the most amusing and irreverently poignant on TL? Maybe?
Then again, I'd rather not inflate the little bastards ego any more than is necessary...
On topic: PhD's. Sheer silliness. Still a cool piece of paper to have I guess. I'd hang it right next to my Frank Frazetta paintings and when I showed it to people, I could segue into talking about Frank. The perfect conversational trap.
God, I can't wait to get a PhD.
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Oh, it's my favorite straw Nietzschean/Nihilist/Death of the West Cultural Marxist conspiracist.
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On September 08 2013 03:35 sam!zdat wrote: if they would rename their field I might care less. If I rename my field 'meaning of life science' will I get more respect? It's just stupid.
and I really do have a grudge against pollsters and election strategists, and I think that this aspect of political science is the undoing of democracy
the more you calculate your democracy, the less democracy there is. This paradox is inscribed in the very name 'political science'. That's why I hate it. If they want to say they are studying political philosophy, or governance, fine. But 'political science'? Ick
edit: I also think economics a bullshit field full of inbred ideologues. Does that also make me a bad phd student?
edit: also, babylon, you've already made self-denigrating jokes in this thread. Lots of people hurl opprobrium at humanists and everyone thinks it is funny because humanists don't study things that are 'real'. But the reality is that what you do is far more valuable than any 'political scientist'. Why should we be expected to diss ourselves for our 'esoteric' fields of study (which is bs btw) while the reified ideologues pat themselves on the back for their 'hardheaded pragmatism' and everyone plays along? It's not the fault of the students for having to major in a field that is officially titled "political science" across all universities in the USA, and you're not the only one who is cognizant of the issues of labeling it "political science." What's even worse is that you know less than political scientists do about their field, and yet proceed to shit on them by generalizing your opinions about democracy and the electoral system onto the entire field. Does it surprise you to know that some political scientists don't even deal with those two topics in the USA, that some just want to sit around obsessing over places like Kazakhstan? You're talking exactly like all the snobbish science majors who shit on humanities students for being too dumb to do math.
But hey, so what? You're trolling. So are all those snobbish science majors! But think about what happens when people actually start believing that sort of shit, as they already do re: hard sciences vs. humanities. What an excuse, huh? Think about how that reflects on your field and yourself.
My comments are not self-denigrating "jokes." They're what I believe about the state of academia across all fields. Point out where I specifically criticize humanities students in this thread, and sure, I'll apologize, but you won't find it, because I didn't.
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On September 08 2013 13:19 Shiragaku wrote: Oh, it's my favorite straw Nietzschean/Nihilist/Death of the West Cultural Marxist conspiracist. <3 all my love Shiragaku.
Recently been reading some Julius Evola and Rene Guenon too, so the Nihilism is changing (I think?).
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hey man, I take it back. Everyone studying political science who knows that 'political science' is a ridiculous thing to call a field is hereby cool in my book. I'm just some guy who likes to hear myself talk. Pollsters, election strategists, and everyone contributing to the technocratization of american politics is still a running dog.
why you would be mad at me for suggesting that your studying the ANE is neither useless nor esoteric is beyond me. I think that makes you a badass, frankly, that's all I'm trying to say. You've just made some various comments that seem sort of self-denigrating about how teaching is pointless and so on and I don't understand why. What could be more important?
edit: I know this is like an armchair psychoanalysis and everything, but I feel like you've internalized the opinion of ignorant people that what you study is detached from reality and not the 'real world', and you then take it out on the 'ivory tower' with denigrating comments. If I had one experience leaving the ivory tower and sojourning in the real world, it was that what goes on in the ivory tower is real and important and what goes on in the real world is simulacral and useless. So I think you should cut it out.
edit: if the ivory tower has a problem, it's because of bean counters demanding that intellectuals conform to their limited mypoic reified view of what is 'useful', not that intellectuals are useless
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On September 08 2013 09:49 DisneylandSC wrote: As someone who actually does a PhD, I can state with utmost certainty that the majority of the claims in this thread are false and highly subjective.
Just because you did a study in some loser field noone cares about doesn't mean all the work being done in University is 'meaningless'. Nor is the fact that you are talentless an implication for the supposed fact that a PhD student can not make a real contribution to anything. And if you haven't even had any experience with doing research you most likely won't know what you are talking about.
I've seen numerous cases of people around me making actual contributions to both science and the real world, from creating optimization frameworks for all kinds of processes in industry to cancer treatment.
Seriously this petty Universities are political entities bla bla nonsense needs to stop. It's worse than those idiots that claim going to school is pointless and you might as well read stuff yourself on wikipedia. [/rant] Yeah, I can't imagine how awful would some people feel reading the posts here without previous knowledge on the topic. :D
I'm one of the hard sciences own humanities type of a guy, could anyone here try to convince me otherwise? I promise I'll try to be respectful.
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what does 'own humanities' even mean? Is it a wrestling match? Maybe we just study different things,
physics owns geology!!!!
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On September 08 2013 15:23 sam!zdat wrote: what does 'own humanities' even mean? Is it a wrestling match? Maybe we just study different things,
physics owns geology!!!!
I do prefer this hierarchy
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On September 08 2013 20:57 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2013 15:23 sam!zdat wrote: what does 'own humanities' even mean? Is it a wrestling match? Maybe we just study different things,
physics owns geology!!!! I do prefer this hierarchy
"Why is everyone standing around inside a box?"
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I dislike a hierarchical arrangement of the sciences, so I'll use a handy illustration of my own making:
edit: for the record, I'm an insufferable troll and I don't actually think that either economics or 'political science' are completely bullshit. But I do think they are much more ideological and not nearly as 'scientific' as their adherents would like everyone to believe.
One day, political engineers will come to this great moral epiphany, realise how their interference in researching a thing controls the behaviour of the very thing they purport to be researching, and become gadflies like sam!dzat.
One day, all our gadflies will realise that those puppetmasters are necessary cogs in our civilisation, without which society could not function, and become a hedonist like me.
One day, we hedonists will realise that thought is the servant of action and not vice-versa, and we will become political engineers.
There's a place for everyone in this world, and without each other we'd each be less of ourselves. 
P.S. If my own illustration is too prosaic to excite you, I would borrow the lines of The Lord from Goethe's Faust, when he spoke in the prologue to the devil:
Therein thou'rt free, according to thy merits; The like of thee have never moved My hate. Of all the bold, denying Spirits, The waggish knave least trouble doth create. Man's active nature, flagging, seeks too soon the level; Unqualified repose he learns to crave; Whence, willingly, the comrade him I gave, Who works, excites, and must create, as Devil. But ye, God's sons in love and duty, Enjoy the rich, the ever-living Beauty! Creative Power, that works eternal schemes, Clasp you in bonds of love, relaxing never, And what in wavering apparition gleams Fix in its place with thoughts that stand forever!
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On September 08 2013 20:57 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2013 15:23 sam!zdat wrote: what does 'own humanities' even mean? Is it a wrestling match? Maybe we just study different things,
physics owns geology!!!! I do prefer this hierarchy Its funny cause its true. 
Although I'd put physics way closer to math.
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One day it might turn out that physics is the same as maths. As Einstein once asked: "Did God have a choice in creating the universe?"
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As always, philosophy is missing on the rightmost extreme of that picture.
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On September 08 2013 23:41 Abominous wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2013 20:57 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:On September 08 2013 15:23 sam!zdat wrote: what does 'own humanities' even mean? Is it a wrestling match? Maybe we just study different things,
physics owns geology!!!! I do prefer this hierarchy Its funny cause its true.  Although I'd put physics way closer to math.
On September 09 2013 00:06 GhastlyUprising wrote: One day it might turn out that physics is the same as maths. As Einstein once asked: "Did God have a choice in creating the universe?"
On September 09 2013 00:10 Roe wrote: As always, philosophy is missing on the rightmost extreme of that picture.
I'd put philosophy next to math, as logic is the cousin of both.
But while physics certainly has some abstract elements to it, I don't think it'd ever be as "pure" as just mathematics.
::shrugs::
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On September 09 2013 00:13 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2013 23:41 Abominous wrote:On September 08 2013 20:57 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:On September 08 2013 15:23 sam!zdat wrote: what does 'own humanities' even mean? Is it a wrestling match? Maybe we just study different things,
physics owns geology!!!! I do prefer this hierarchy Its funny cause its true.  Although I'd put physics way closer to math. Show nested quote +On September 09 2013 00:06 GhastlyUprising wrote: One day it might turn out that physics is the same as maths. As Einstein once asked: "Did God have a choice in creating the universe?" Show nested quote +On September 09 2013 00:10 Roe wrote: As always, philosophy is missing on the rightmost extreme of that picture. I'd put philosophy next to math, as logic is the cousin of both. But while physics certainly has some abstract elements to it, I don't think it'd ever be as "pure" as just mathematics. ::shrugs::
Math is symbolic logic. Math is also just a priori statements. It's clearly a derivative of philosophy. You're never going to get to "the place" where there's only math and no a priori claims or philosophy.
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im pretty sure some phd's make a dimple in this circle, and not a bump. Education isn't always in a progressive direction.
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I hope you realise the joke here, is that there is no such thing as purity of thought. Purity does not exist in the comparative, but is the immutable truth of an absolute extreme in nature, it is the absence of mixed or opposing states. In the Platonic-Socratic tradition, Purity lies beyond the state of mortal knowledge, and is reserved for the gods. Each branch of the sciences regards itself as the pure vehicle of intellectual inquiry, and estimates the legitimacy of the others by that relation.
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I find philosophy a hobby...the non-metaphysics stuff is mostly about the stance on the matter and the metaphysics stuff is almost all the time out of our reach, so there's only speculation...
And math is way more abstract than physics, but physics itself is very challenging and demanding, math is more pure, but there's more correlation between physics and math than chemistry and phyics in my opinion, hence why I'd put it closer.
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Political Sicence should be renamed Machiavellian Studies, no?
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