---
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.