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+---
+title: Philosophy
+date: May 2025
+---
+```
+Written by      Olivia I Griffin        Class of 2025
+```
+
+## Assumptions
+
+### (Assumption no. 1)
+
+The less you know going into Philosophy, the better. Philosophy is not
+the sort of course where your foreknowledge is as reliable and as easily
+leaned-upon as History or English. It's more often the case that when we
+read philosophers in high school or likened ourselves to Neitzsche or
+Camus prematurely, we had the wrong ideas about what Philosophy is and
+how to *read* Philosophy.
+
+### ((Assumption no. 2)
+
+Philosophy is a discipline unlike most others. Philosophy is about
+asking questions, the right questions, and at the right time. You need
+not know the answer, and in four years you might not find it. That's
+okay. That's encouraged. And that's how you know you are after some good
+Philosophy.
+
+## Premises
+
+### (Premise 1)
+
+There is no need to spend the summer before first year, or your free
+time in first year, reading Russell's "History of Western Philosophy" or
+anything of the sort. The department is structured such that the
+sub-honors courses give you the exposure you need to do well in honors.
+
+### (Premise 2)
+
+Let go of your preconceptions of Philosophy. Philosophy in academia is
+rigorous, and your essays will be marked based on structure, clarity,
+argumentation, and thoroughness. Broad stroke claims and jabs at
+existentialism or utilitarianism won't do. If you can corner a
+philosopher using their own assertions against them, you are doing well.
+
+### (discharge assumption no. 1)
+
+### (Premise 3)
+
+Think small and read close. No one is expecting you to prove Kantian
+ethics wrong. Point out inconsistencies, unfortunate outcomes, and gaps
+in the literature.
+
+### (Premise 4)
+
+Don't ask a question and pretend to know the answer when you don't. Lots
+of academics do this. You'll be reminded of this when you encounter a
+paper or attend a talk with the word "what?" in the question (e.g.,
+"What's it like to be a bat?" from Nagel,^[Nagel, T., 1974, 'What Is It Like
+to Be a Bat?', _The Philosophical Review_ **83(4)**: 435--50,
+[available
+online](https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Nagel_Bat.pdf).]
+"What is Creative Resistance?"
+from Torregrossa). You will mostly likely end up gesturing at the
+answer, offering three potential options, or outlining a couple clear
+non-options, but be up front about how much you *know* and how much you
+can *assert with certainty.*
+
+### (discharge assumption no. 2)
+
+## Conclusions
+
+### (Conclusion 1)
+
+Go to office hours as often as you can. Get to know your professors.
+This is a social discipline. The courses you choose in your honors years
+will have one or two lecturers running the course. You want to
+familiarize yourself with the people in the department to get the most
+out of your years here. Additionally, go to the Philosophy Society. Take
+any opportunity you can to articulate your ideas. Your peers are your
+friends and your resources. They've read the same material as you, if
+not more. They'll have helpful perspectives, and they'll find gaps in
+your argument before you will.
+
+### (Conclusion 2)
+
+Write a dissertation in fourth year. It is not required, but writing in
+long-form and taking time to craft an argument is what Philosophy is all
+about. It's daunting to sit with one topic for a whole semester or a
+whole academic year, but if you can manage that, you are a Philosopher.
+
+### (Conclusion 3)
+
+In discussion you have three options: you are either right, wrong, or
+don't have the answer at all. All three are the same stepping-stone that
+eventually leads to the right direction. If you know why Kripke's
+*necessary a posterioris* fail, but you can't explain it clearly or you
+can't precisify the outcomes of the failure (i.e., what does the failure
+mean for the metaphysical standing of Hesperus and Phosphorus? or
+Pierre's contradictory beliefs about London and Londres?), then you
+might as well not know at all. Likewise, if you are wrong in your
+defense of phenomenal properties, that's okay. A lot of people are. You
+learn from being wrong just as you do from being right. Identify where
+your reasoning went wrong and adjust. Philosophers are equal
+opportunists when it comes to such matters.
+
+### (Conclusion 4)
+
+Read and write. Read papers, read your friends papers, read the extra
+readings on the reading list. Go to talks other than your lectures. Ask
+all your questions in every Q&A. Write them down. Write down the answers
+that you get, think about them, write about them. Reading a book that's
+not taught in the department? Ask yourself why its not taught.