Philosophy, Day 1

Yesterday was my first philosophy class. As I've said before it's one of the last gen ed classes I have (thank goodness!). I considered taking a philosophy class that actually sounded interesting but worried that since I hadn't taken it before it would be hard and confusing so I decided to just go with the good ol' intro course.


When I went to buy my book I noticed that all of the other intro classes had to buy a huge book plus a ton of little ones. Mine only required the huge book. I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, but I bought it happy with the fact that at least it only cost $40.

So I went into class last night - I was about 10 minutes early - and there were about 10 other people there already. They all looked the same - cute, skinny, and YOUNG. OMG. I never thought that I'd feel so old, but there I was. The oldest by 10 years. The class ended up having about 25 people in it and thank goodness a few people my age and one older woman arrived.

So it was shortly after 6 when this guy came walking in (short, plump, and curly hair. He looked like he stepped right out of a cartoon. Hilarious.) and said "is this philosophy?" A few people murmured that it was indeed. He walked up to the board and wrote "what is truth?" Then he asked "so what is it?" Silence. He finally started talking and then asked what makes us believe something. Silence. OMG. Seriously, people? Talk. So finally I said something about science and proof. He was thrilled.

After about 45 minutes he finally said "Hi, I'm Mr. X and I'm the instructor." No kidding. I thought you were just a lunatic who came in off the streets. Anyway, so he said we were in Philosophy 1000. Which was interesting. Interesting that he waited for 45 minutes to say that since Classical Greek Philosophy was also held last night and people kept coming in thinking that's what it was. You would have thought he would have cleared that up right away, but no.

Anyway, so then we spent the next while going around the classroom answering questions about ourselves (I HATE that part). I couldn't believe how many brand new freshman were taking philosophy. We had to say why were taking the course, and he had said it was fine to say "because it's a requirement" so that's basically what everyone said. He said he would try to make it as painless as possible on us. He also said he had us in mind when he only ordered one book for the class - cheap. So that was nice.

He finally handed out the syllabus. Seems easy enough. Read a ton of stuff, write little about each, write 2 long (even though he called them short) papers, take 2 tests...I can totally do that. He seems really easy going, and knowing from my Theology experience that the teacher can make all the difference, I appreciated my stroke of luck in getting him.

As for philosophy itself? I can't decide if I like it or not. Most people have told me that I'll either love it or hate it. I just kept thinking last night, as we talked about Descartes, that philosophers are insane. Seriously. Lock them up. Get them help. Something.

We read a few pages of Descartes' Meditation where he's basically saying who knows what is real and what's not - what's a dream and what's not...he questioned everything because he said he didn't want to be wrong again. That seems a little egotistical to me. And it seems like it would be a depressing journey to question every single thing about the world around you. So by the end of the night I found that I wasn't fascinated by the questions or by the process but by Descartes himself. Perhaps that's why I'm going into social work and not philosophy? :)

Anyway, the class should be okay - after my Spanish experience I figure anything taught in my native tongue has got to be fine. :)