anyone else take philosophy in high school

[JohnKleeb]

I am and it seems great. Also this is the same guy who teaches political science and he seems nice, cool, funny, and liberal. Now heres the story. I went to the wrong room and believe it or not I saw a free republic pro war in Iraq banner, I looked at my schedule and saw that this was US/VA history not philosophy so I sighed a sigh of relief and went next door to what was paradise by comparsion. All kinds of historic magazine covers and presidential posters including DK. Plus the fact that my teacher has a signed picture of Dick Gephardt and some of the stuff he said makes me almost positive hes a democrat. Doesnt look like the kinda guy with a good sense of humor but he lol bet the redskins/cowboys game for wendys. I really think I am gonna like this class. BTW the action started immidentially, I picked an philosophical question from the hat and mine was should the poor and uneducated be able to be citizens I argued abosolutely, which according to my teacher was what Jefferson thought and he play devils advocate aka Alexander Hamilton. There are only a few juniors but it seems real neat. Did I mention I am right near the DK banner.

[XanaDUer]

1. I did, in high school

and as an undergrad.

[JohnKleeb]

2. cool this class is neat

I actually said i wanted to learn more about Marxism, :) heh I am not a marxist but it does interest me. I am so glad I didnt have the freeper for a teacher.

[XanaDUer]

3. Try reading

if you want to learn about socialism, anything by Herbert Marcuse.

Marxism is really an economic philosophy, socialism is essentially one of the stages in Marxism in which the assets of society and controlled for the benefit of society rather than individuals. There are variant forms of socialism. It's quite interesting-"social capitalism" may be something you want to look at too.

[JohnKleeb]

4. ok

sounds neat.

[Kamika]

5. i did

Like 5 years ago now. I forgot every damn thing about all those french guys.. except some guy who said if you lie the concept of truth vanishes.

Its pretty fun though

[JohnKleeb]

yea I like it

LOL a lot of the great philosophers are French, Voltaire, Rosseau, Montisqeu etc, theres one philosopher that I read in a RFK speech refered to, Erasmus I wanna learn a bit about him.

[Kamika]

7. yeah

we read all about voltaire and rosseau.. rosseau was that the religious one?

[JohnKleeb]

8. I dont know off hand

Locke was an english one and Hobbes lol I think you could call him a right winger.

[Kellanved]

9. you might call him that

But although he argued against seperating Religion and State, he wasn't too fond of the established churches.
In fact he argued against nations as well...

(This is AFAIR - so take it with a grain of salt)

[JohnKleeb]

6. yea I like it

LOL a lot of the great philosophers are French, Voltaire, Rosseau, Montisqeu etc, theres one philosopher that I read in a RFK speech refered to, Erasmus I wanna learn a bit about him.

[Pert_UK]

10. Took it at college (16-18) and a Bachelor's degree at Uni....

Loved it. Totally loved it.

Nothing (IMHO) will give you a better grounding in the development of thought, history or good argument using evidence and logical deduction.

People make fun of philosophy and used to say things like "Oh, you spent 3 years at university scratching your beard, did you?" but it has actually served me extremely well - got me onto the IT Graduate training scheme of a major blue-chip UK company, rapid promotion, decent wages.....and then I left and went to teach English in China.....and then left, and am working producing training manuals in Australia.

I don't know what it's like in the US, but in the UK it often doesn't matter what you study, provided you do well. It helps if you have extra-curricular activities and a life, and if you go to a good school, but employers generally want someone who can analyse, make decisions, justify them and learn new things - philosophy helps with all that.

The philosophy of mind is one of my favourite areas - my old professor was quite famous for his papers on the possibility (or otherwise) or philosophical zombies.

If you want a fantastic, fun, funny and decent collection of short stories with a Philosophical slant, get "The Mind's I" by Hofstadter and Dennett - it includes "What is it like to be a bat?", a famous paper on this topic, but lots of sci-fi like stories which are great.

P.

[ForrestGump]

11. I'm a Doctor of Philosophy

and I've never taken a single philosophy course. Can some philosophator explain that one to me? :D

Actually, I already know the answer, but it's still a bit strange.

Or is it? Do I really know the answer at all? If my life is a figment of my inner perceptions, then how can I formulate questions based on things without and, further, how can.....

Oops.

I burp, therefore I am.