In an effort to practice the egotism which im having to write about, i will now share personal opinions about things ive encountered in college which i will probably still have by the time i finish this semester. Im making the list public because it wouldnt be egotistical if i did force it upon others, but ill take a break from being egotistical to warn you that the list might go on: -Wish i would have taken more STEM classes -wish i would have taken more psych classes -wish there was a way to take a class in empirical social science methods without having to touch the rest of social science. -methodologies other than individualism seem goofy to me. -history will probably continue to be synonymous with a kind of pure metaphysics to me. -not knowing the history of your area of study is inexcusable. -sociology has, so far, just been applied political theory with (if you are luck) more quantitative methods thrown in. -most every subdiscipline in political science is political theory with varying degrees of quantitative methods. -my prejudices regarding most departments are not accurate reflections of their merit. Most every discipline-related prejudice i have is founded in ignorance. Luckily learning isnt something that ends with formal education and i hope to hold better prejudices in the future. -philosophy, at its most exciting, has been concept creation. If someone in another discipline outlines a concept or mechanism by which experience can be better ordered, that person is a philosopher of sociology/biology/math/politics. All of the most inventive people in your area of study are philosophers. Deal with it. -The function of philosophy, of concept creation, is resistance in the face of stupidity. -a lack of interest in political affairs marks you as an idiot, but being an idiot doesnt mean you are a dunce. -learning, on its own, is an ideologically neutral process. Learning is simply encountering new information. Educational institutions (along with pretty much all other institutions) provide an ideological tint to learning by structuring what information you are presented with during classes. It is possible to be a learned conservative, liberal, radical or reactionary. -every political movement and every group with at least semi-definite borders which wishes to survive can accurately be categorized as supremacist, colonial, and egotistical. Groups are categorized as such due to their effects on other groups throughout the process of surviving and not due to their stated aims/goals. -formal education has, at different points, stunted my curiosity and opened up paths for my curiosity to flourish. -im not sure if ill ever be able to enter a poetic headspace, or if i even want to, but good poets seem to be pretty good at capturing pre-rational, semi-conscious forms of personal reflection and deserve respect as serious psychological enquirers. -every discipline which ive encountered at wooster (phil, poli, psych, wgss, etc) has relied upon an differing degree of assumed objectivity. Most every historicaly influential work ive read in each of these classes has assumed an impressive degree of objectivity. -claiming, without qualification, that there can be no objective truths is a good way to contradict yourself right off the bat. -macaroni and cheese is still unbeatble.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 22:25:08 +0000
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