对知识的热爱
Introductory Class Sparked Interest in a New Career Path
As a kid growing up in Montana, Trevor Woodward had not considered the nature of truth and knowledge, 自由意志的存在, 美丽还是幸福.
Metaphysics was not something he could define.
A superior science student in high school, Woodward enrolled at the 365滚球官网 with plans to pursue a law degree, but an introductory 哲学 course threw up a detour sign that changed his career path.
“I didn’t know what 哲学 was,伍德沃德说. “I really had no expectations.”
He entered Casey Johnson’s basic 哲学 class with a benign curiosity. By the end of the first hour, Woodward was questioning the nature of the universe and our place in it.
“哲学 asks the most general questions such as, ‘What is the good life?’”他说。. “I found those types of questions to suddenly be very important and challenging, and very exciting to think about.”
It’s popular to believe that 哲学 is useless or a waste of time, but that’s not what data shows. 伯特Baumgaertner, 哲学 Professor
Three years later, Woodward is the editor of 的铁杉, the university’s undergraduate journal of 哲学 and, 去年夏天, was one of 20 students worldwide invited to attend the distinguished Colorado Summer Seminar in 哲学, a three-week immersion for outstanding undergraduates who are considering 哲学 graduate school. It is modeled after graduate-level seminars requiring extensive readings, participation and analysis.
“The seminar is as prestigious as it gets,” said 伯特Baumgaertner, associate professor of 哲学 at U of I’s Department of 政治与哲学, for whom Woodward works as a research assistant.
研讨会解决了, dissects and illuminates philosophical issues and introduces students to well-known, 当代哲学家. This year’s topics included the ethics of automated warfare and the possibility of moral knowledge.
“You read the works of some of the biggest names in 哲学 and then, 第二天, they are in class explaining their theories and you can ask them questions,伍德沃德说.
对于伍德沃德, who graduates Spring 2022 with a bachelor’s in 哲学, the seminar was a chance to experience what it would be like to study 哲学 in graduate school.
Earning a 哲学 degree shows one’s prowess in critical thinking, 精读, clear writing and logical analysis, 说Baumgaertner.
“A 哲学 degree is really a gateway degree because it teaches you to think through problems and find solutions,他说. “It’s popular to believe that 哲学 is useless or a waste of time, but that’s not what data shows.”
哲学 majors compete with STEM majors for the highest scores on GMAT, the test used to assess applicants to management and business graduate schools. 哲学 majors rack up the highest LSAT scores, rank in the top percentile of GRE scores and see the highest mid-career salaries outside of STEM majors, Baumgaertner说.
Woodward’s bachelor’s in 哲学 reflects his love of knowledge. Metaphysics, he has learned, is the study of “being.” Aristotle considered it to be the foundation of 哲学.
“There’s always so much complexity hidden beneath seemingly obvious things.”
本文由 拉尔夫Bartholdt, University Communications and Marketing.
Photography by Joe Pallen, 365滚球官网 Creative 服务.
2021年1月出版.