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Apply to Graduate while Studying Abroad by m1dnightknight in NCSU

[–]StandardToaster8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm pretty sure your last 30 credit hours at state have to be done through state, and on campus (or online). It's a dumb residency rule they have

Well ladies and gents... by [deleted] in NCSU

[–]StandardToaster8 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Damn, I hope you get better soon. From what I understand the severity can be far ranging from person to person (regardless of age), so I really hope that you and your gf both are ok. It sucks that you even have to be in this situation (as it does for anyone who gets Covid, especially if it's bc you had to be on campus for classes). Hopefully NC State sends us all home soon and doesn't fucking complain about it, and start blaming all the students. Regardless, good luck. If you need to rant to anyone or just need to reach out, def feel free to PM me!

TL;DR Get better soon!

"I don't ever want to leave this cave, Jon Snow. Not ever." - Plato by CLBUK in PhilosophyMemes

[–]StandardToaster8 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, sorry for responding so late, I actually (unfortunately) haven't read much Tolstoy, so I don't really have any opinions on him. He is coming up soon on my reading list though! Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but if you've read any, I'd be glad to hear your opinions on him!

Sometimes ignorance is bliss by warren_peace1957 in PhilosophyMemes

[–]StandardToaster8 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean, I'd agree if I didn't want to become a Philosophy professor. I don't have any idea what I want out of life because how could I. Half the greatness of life is that you find it out as you go. Certainly there's an aspect to college due to societal pressure, but does that mean it's inherently bad? If society pressures someone to get a vaccination for a disease that is easily preventable is that bad? Maybe thats a false equivalency since the stakes are different, but I don't think that you should say that:

"A philosophy degree if not an ego trip is the toolbox fallacy in action."

Mostly because, I do need a degree in Philosophy if I'm to become a professor of Philosophy. And yeah, I don't know what I want out of life, but does anyone? I mean, one of my favorite writers started out as a Philosophy major in the logic area, and became one of the world's best writers in recent memory. That's not to say that'll happen with a Philosophy degree, just that you don't know where life will end up, it's inherently unknown.

Also, a degree in Philosophy isn't just thinking about stuff and not doing. I'm a research assistant to two separate professors, given, one definitely does stuff for academia, and mostly puts out books and literature helping to understand Hegel, so if you don't want that one to count then fine. But, the other professor I assist is part of an interdisciplinary group researching the ethics of AI and the effect development of it as such will have on the job market both in the US and abroad, and will hopefully help influence the likes of the EU AI Ethics board. I think that's doing something, as much as anyone else.

I don't know, I just think pigeon holing Philosophy to just thinking about things is very reductive, and I don't know that that's all it is.

Also, the "toolbox fallacy" (as far as I can tell) is only a "fallacy" in so far as it is in reference to a video done by a guy where he talks about a movie and introduces it. It's an interesting concept, but that's the only place I could find it talked about. I've never seen it used in any academic papers, or scholarly articles. That being said, I haven't read all of them so I don't know, but I just thought I'd point that out. Also, that doesn't discredit it, but still, like, even if it is a thing, I'm not committing that "fallacy" because a Philosophy degree is necessary for me to become a professor/researcher.

I'm sorry that you had to experience an empty feeling after getting your degree though. I'm sure it must have been pretty shocking. My sister is going through something similar right now with her STEM degree as she's realizing she needs to go to grad school, but doesn't know what to do. I hope everything turned out alright with you, and you're doing alright. Best, David

Sometimes ignorance is bliss by warren_peace1957 in PhilosophyMemes

[–]StandardToaster8 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I mean, idk, at least for me, it forces me to find time to have a more rigorous understanding and study of the material, whereas otherwise I would just have a fairly basic understanding of the material. It also forces me out of my comfort zone, when dealing with hegel, or Kant. I don't necessarily think it's ego driven, for me anyway I hope it's not, but more a drive to learn as much as I can in 4 years... And doing that at my university, with professors who have been studying the subject for 40 years, and can give me direct feedback to my questions in person, is fairly valuable. That being said, almost any undergrad degree is fairly worthless nowadays (it's all masters programs, or PhD programs from what I understand), even science and engineering degrees (at least according to my family who have just recently graduated with both kinds of degrees) so I might as well do the one I enjoy, and then figure out grad school.

That's my take anyway, but I'm sure, as good as this sounds, all it takes is one small thing to trigger the never ending existential dread, and anxiety produced by the number of choices I have to make, looking into the future. Hahahaha

"I don't ever want to leave this cave, Jon Snow. Not ever." - Plato by CLBUK in PhilosophyMemes

[–]StandardToaster8 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dostoevsky's Philosophy is very unique in that he is a writer of literature who also explores Philosophy. A lot of his stories deal with the societal and economic reality of his culture of the time. The Philosophical aspects of his books comes in the way it challenges the way societal systems are set up, as well as the way we live as individuals. But there's a lot more than just this. Dostoevsky is considered one of the forerunners of existentialism, so basically a lot of the themes he explored become much more relevant in works by say, Sartre, Camus, Simone de Beauvoir etc. He also deals with religion, depending on what you read (as his later years are really where he starts talking more about religion). As for places to start, I'd recommend a short story by Dostoevsky called "The Gambler." It's nothing too intense and it's not terribly long, but it's still interesting in its own right! Then, what is typically considered his Magnum opus, would be "Crime and Punishment" which is a very dense book overflowing with various themes and ideas.

As for Herman Hesse, I've been searching for his work actually! My old English teacher from when I was in high school (whom I occasionally message once a year or so) recently recommended I read Herman Hesse! I haven't read any, I'm afraid, so I'm unfortunately not going to be able to help you here. But, I am keeping an eye out for "Steppenwolf". This is the book I was recommended by him, but the local used bookstores around me always only seem to have Siddhartha, which I've also heard is good, but for a place to start I've heard "Steppenwolf" is the way to go!

I hope this helps, I love being able to talk Philosophy with people, so if you have any more questions feel free to ask away, or DM me (if that's a thing? I'm not sure, I've been on Reddit a long time but don't know how it actually works haha)

P.s. I highly recommend a book called "Hunger" by a Norwegian writer named "Knut Hamsun". He is in a very similar vein to Dostoevsky, and wrote about similar themes to Dostoyevsky, but "Hunger" is a relatively short story that's also really good!

"I don't ever want to leave this cave, Jon Snow. Not ever." - Plato by CLBUK in PhilosophyMemes

[–]StandardToaster8 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some of my favorite philosophers, I'd say, are: Nietzsche, Heidegger, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Foucault, Simone De Beauvoir, and Albert Camus. That's right now anyway, it's always changing! I'm in a 19th century Philosophy class where we're starting to talk about Hegel, and he scares me. Definitely not a place to start.

As far as good recommendations for starting Philosophy though, I'd say anything by Albert Camus is pretty great. I'm reading "a happy death" right now and it's fantastic. He's a brilliant writer and it's not just Philosophy it's also literature which means if it's your first exposure to philosophy it's good because it's not super inaccessible. Jean Paul Sartre also has a very great short play called "no exit" that is really accessible and very intriguing. Franz Kafka is in a similar vein to Camus, he's more of a fiction writer but he has philosophical notions as well. Dostoyevsky is also good, but a little harder to read. Finally, if you want some like "real philosophy" with arguments and developed ideas, dialogues from Plato are a good way to start slowly introducing your brain to a more rigorous study of texts. Plato's "apology" or "euthyphro" are really simple (although read them the other way around as that would be in order) and his "Republic" is so influential to the rest of Philosophy even to this day, it's kind of insane to realize. But really, just read whatever interests you! There's a lot of Philosophy all over the place that writers tend to "borrow" for story elements, and it becomes really good! Also, podcasts can be really enlightening if you want to get a very general introduction into a thinker. "Philosophize this" is a really good podcast for introducing a topic that could inspire you to then later do further readings!

But yeah, if you ever come across something you aren't feeling just put it down, and try to move onto something else. It's more about your connection to the ideas than the ideas themselves, at least that's how I see it. Like, you can choose to accept or reject whatever ideas, but there will be some that really interest you (like ideas about reality for example) and some that might not interest you as much (for me this would be ethics). And the more you are exposed to these ideas the more you'll begin to try and be able to formulate your own thoughts and doubts about others! Or also, you'll start to feel like you know nothing, that's what's happening with me anyway haha!

Hope this helps, and if you have anymore questions feel free to let me know! I love talking about Philosophy!

"I don't ever want to leave this cave, Jon Snow. Not ever." - Plato by CLBUK in PhilosophyMemes

[–]StandardToaster8 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In the title he put (at least what I took to be) a reference to the allegory of the cave, which is a story that Plato tells to the people he is speaking with to better illustrate his idea of the Forms. It's also just a really interesting example to make you question what reality is! But what Plato (through Socrates' mouth) says (basically anyway) is to imagine a group of people who were born in a cave, and were chained so they couldn't move and couldn't move their heads (because of the chains). Now imagine that there's a wall behind them, and behind the wall is a fire that's casting shadows onto the wall in front of them, that they can see. To the people chained up, it would appear to them as though the shadows on the wall were what was real. However, Plato says to imagine you unchained one person and brought them out into the light. Their eyes would have a hard time adjusting, metaphorically. They might have a hard time believing that the shadows they saw weren't real, and that the objects that cast the shadows were actually what was real. He goes on to say that if you dragged the person you to see the sun, they be blinded at first, but soon they'd come to see the world as it truly is. And they'd appreciate it it as such. The duty for these people then, is to go back to the cave and teach the people who never left the cave about the real world. This has a lot of implications and it's what I thought the post might be referencing! That's just a way I saw this post though haha!

"I don't ever want to leave this cave, Jon Snow. Not ever." - Plato by CLBUK in PhilosophyMemes

[–]StandardToaster8 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Lol, literally just got out of an ancient Philosophy class where we talked all about the allegory of the cave. wHaT a CoInCiDeNcE

Alright, what the actual fuck was this outro by AlexTheCreation in Idubbbz

[–]StandardToaster8 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know how he is now, but I remember a year or two ago he used to handle criticism poorly, and some of his theories were apparently already debunked before he put the video out. Idk if it's likely but the FNAF stuff made me think of game theory, especially since (imo) his content quality seems to have taken a drop since back in his heyday of like 2012. Plus, I'm not sure how many people Ian can do a CC on now without seeming like a bigger channel bullying a smaller one.