Please comment on at least several if not all of these questions -- use separate posts if you like.
What have you learned in this course that surprised you?
Would you take another course in philosophy if money/time weren't major barriers?
Do you have an understanding of the philosophical dimensions of the study and critique of science?
Have you developed an appreciation for the relevance of metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical questions in our daily lives?
Have you improved in your skills of analysis and critique, as well as in written and oral communication due to this course?
What have you learned in this course that surprised you?
Would you take another course in philosophy if money/time weren't major barriers?
Do you have an understanding of the philosophical dimensions of the study and critique of science?
Have you developed an appreciation for the relevance of metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical questions in our daily lives?
Have you improved in your skills of analysis and critique, as well as in written and oral communication due to this course?
What have I learned in this class? Well basically I have learned that everything that I learned about coming up through school and science is pretty much wrong or not proven which is very shocking because it was all presented to me with such certainty. Honestly I would probably not take another philosophy class because this class have really challenged me and a lot of the topics we have discussed in class I have had no idea what was going on. I have more of a mathematics mind and business mind than a philosophical mind. I have really developed an appreciation for people in the field of philosophy because I damn sure could not make a profession out of it because I am confused nearly 90% of the time and there is no way I could out think or provide information in this field of science. Although this post seems very negative, I do think that I have improved my critical thinking skills by taking this course because of how challenging it was for me and it really pushed me to my limits.
ReplyDeleteThis is very good simply because of the honesty that is put in this and I believe it is heart felt. I agree with you Blake. Especially with the last sentence in how this class really does make you think.
DeleteI have learned that many things I had previously thought to be scientifically true are not and are still being evaluated to this day. I would probably not take another philosophy course if I were not required to just because I feel like I don't understand how there can be so many different view about the universe and how we honestly don't know much about it. I feel like this course was hard for me because there wasn't one true answer for anything we talked about and I like learning about things that are set in stone. I feel like i have a little better understanding of the philosophical dimensions of the study and critique of science than I did coming into this course, but it is still very confusing to me. The cosmo's videos helped me to put some of these dimensions into perspective. I have definitely developed an appreciation for the revelance of metephysical, epistemological, and ethical questions in our daily lives and those who choose this course of study because in my opinion it is one of the most confusing and complex disciples you can choose. I would like to think I have improved in my skills of analysis and critique, as well as in written and oral communication due to this course. When we first started doing the critical thinking worksheet I was completely confused on what the questions were asking/how to answer them, but after doing a few of them I think I improved my answers.
ReplyDeleteThis philosophy course was different and slightly more challenging than other philosophy courses I can taken here. I think that this course was more challenging because of the content, I am not all that familiar with scientists and their studies/ accomplishments. The whole story of evolution is quite confusing, everyone wants to put their two cents in about evolution and ideas over lap but yet no one can agree. There are far to many theories of evolution too. Of course I am taking a few more philosophy classes, as I am pursing a philosophy minor. I think that presenting a chapter out of the Evolution book helps me better understand and learn what the author is trying to reveal. In doing the critical thinking worksheet / wheel, it helps line up ideas and to focus on the main topics instead of worry over the small stuff, though they might be important. The blog is a great way to express and share ideas that are relevant to class.
ReplyDeleteThis philosophy class was very different from my last one. I thought this class was going to be easier than it was. the field of science has quite a lot of philosophical questions going on throughout it. It made me think complexly about science which I've never done before. It's really interesting to see how many different perspectives there are about evolution, I honestly never knew about the different thoughts. I actually have to take another philosophy class, but if i didn't have to I probably wouldn't because it really forces me to be creative and go into deep thought about these topics, and i'm just not creative at all. I'm not quite sure I grasp the whole concept of the philosophy of science to be honest. The critical thinking worksheets really helped me with pulling out the most important key ideas and focuses. The blog is also a good way to make the students in the class communicate with each other and discuss any issues or questions they have with each other.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this course I have been surprised many times. The thing that surprised me the most is the different theories we learned about in the Fabric of the Cosmos videos. String theory has been the most complex thing I have ever heard of in my life and I often find myself thinking about the little strings that could possibly make up my steering wheel or my cell phone. AMAZING! I have always been interested in science and took my natural science get-eds last year and I think this class just fueled my love for the subject even more. I find this class way more interesting than any class I have taken all semester! So, yes! I would definitely take another philosophy class! I actually had the intention of taking death and dying but my work schedule got in the way of me taking it and I don't regret it one bit because this class was way more exciting than I expected! I think after taking this class and the Aesthetics class I took my sophomore year give me a better understanding of philosophy but I am well aware that there is a lot more out there in the world of philosophy! With that being said, I do think I have a much better understanding of the relevance of the different questions asked in everyday life. I find myself thinking more like a philosopher when I talk about deeper subjects. For example: I talk about the things I learned in philosophy and apply them to my theology class all the time. Overall, yes I think I have improved my skills to critique, analyze, write, and communicate better with this class. I already had a good understanding of how to critique and analyze art from my various critical thinking based art history classes but I learned how to apply it in a different way with the philosophy of science and philosophy in general. Last comment I would like to make is that this has probably been my second favorite class (Astronomy is first) I have ever taken at Thomas More so thank you for an awesome eye-opening semester!
ReplyDeleteThis course was full of surprises, the cosmos videos intrigued me the most. I am still unable to wrap my head around the theory of multiple universes. I gained many insights on the theories of evolution though those did not surprise me. I had a general background on evolution in high school but this course gave me an in depth perspective and helped me make connections between theories. Not only did I learn the theories, i learned how to apply them. What surprised me the most was what really went into science. Scientist are not just computing robots, they can be passionate or even corrupt, It was amazing to see how scientists became what they were and why. This course definitely made me think more than any other course has and I still don't ave the answers.
ReplyDeleteI would definitley take another philosophy course if I could. It was a great learning experience and helped me contemplate deeper about the universe and how it got here. This philosophy course has done its job because it had made me think, a lot. If everything works together in harmony from the quantum level to the metaphysical level, it only makes sense that a God created it all. The chance that the universe perfectly fell into place on the first go-around is impractical. That's something that really stood out to me in the Cosmos portion of the course. This course also helped me critique the validity of sources and not to blindly accept ideas. Looking at things fairmindedly has helped me in more than just science related topic but political and social as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about how if everything works together in harmony from the quantum level to the metaphysical level that maybe a God created everything. I agree with that because i too believe there might have been a higher power that made everything the way it is, kind of gave everything a little push in the right direction to get the snow ball rolling. I really enjoyed the videos about the cosmos and the universe because it made me think alot more about what could really be out there, it really put a perspective on how small and little we are in comparison to the whole universe. I think we get so wrapped up in our day to day lives that we forget how little we are in retrospect to the entire universe, and how little we really know about what is really going on in the world around us.
DeleteOne thing that I think that I gained form this course was a deeper understanding of the concepts of String Theory and Relativity. I would definitely take another Philosophy course. I think that it is very interesting and important to look at science from an outside vantage point rather than just examining it for what it appears to be on the nuts and bolts surface. I think that the critical thinking wheel definitely helped in the process of doing scientific examination because it forces you to look at a number of factors that you might not normally think to examine, and at the same time combines them all together in a way that shows you the same or similar information multiple times so you can grasp the content you are examining. I think that through the employment of the critical thinking exercises, handouts, various papers, and Dr. Cate's notes that I have increased my ability to both critique and understand the various aspects of the scientific theories that we studied in class this semester. I also think that that the chapter summery presentation helped in both making us outline the section and present what we read to a group even through we might not have had a complete grasp on the material. In terms of science in our everyday lives, it was interesting to think about how much we take for granted in the world around us, and to think about the consequences that would arise should something not happen according to the "natural order." (Such as a car or computer exploding upon startup.) Lastly, I think that I have gained a deeper understand of what it is that Philosophers actually do, and the various branches and sub-groups that exist in field of Philosophy.
ReplyDeleteTo be completely honest with you I had no idea what I was going to get out of this class. I did learn that there really is no meaning of what is real or not. This class did confuse me a lot because it seemed as if there was never a right answer. Or the answer that might be given was never enough. It is a very challenging class that I now respect but I would love to not have to figure out what the philosophy of science is because it is very complicated. This class was very entertaining even though I believed it was one of my hardest classes I still had a lot of fun. I do believe that I have improved my critical thinking skills in this class. I have learned how to read complicated articles and get a better grasp of what the article is talking about. I do know that this class has helped me more than what I realize right now and I thank you in advanced for that!
ReplyDeleteI would take another philosophy class like this one since a lot things discussed in class are still relevant to this day. This is a nice change of gears than studying ancients Greek philosophy.
ReplyDeleteI've learned that science can be looked at in a different light (through philosophical point of views rather than the black and white views that science is).
ReplyDeleteI would take another philosophy class for sure, i like that way of thinking, but i would only take it if it didn't involve science or math (mainly because that side of my brain doesn't work as well)
To be honest I learn some things in this class such as underdetermination and falsifiable. I learned that if we do not have enough evidence for the experiment or observation it is underdetermination and if something can be proven wrong it is falsifiable. I would like to take another philosophy class because of how deep we have to think. It would not be science related, but I would consider taking a different philosophy class.
ReplyDeleteJust about all of the videos about the universe were surprising and very confusing to me. I would take another philosophy class but I think it would have to be a class that has something to do with something that is a little closer to my academic level, like sports. Although this class confused me at almost all times, I appreciated how it changed my thinking process.
ReplyDeleteI learned that everything in the world can be questioned to some degree. everything i had once thought of as fact is actually in question because we dont know for sure. i would take a philosophy class again because i view things in a weird way and in philosophy that is ok. I have a great appreciation for people who work in the field of philosophy because it is extremely confusing, but all in all i love how everything seems to work its way back to a bigger picture kind of thought. this class definitely helped me with my patience to try and understand things before rejecting them immediately, it also helped me look at certain aspects of life differently and dam sure made me think... alot
ReplyDeleteI have learned that there are different, more in depth ways of thinking especially in science. There arent many definitive answers in science and that is why it continues to grow throughout time. It is fun to think differently like this even though im not a huge fan of science but I am happy that i took this class because i have gained a lot more knowledge throughout this subject and it has definitely helped me with my critical thinking skills. There is some vocabulary that I still dont fully understand and i probably will never understand but this class has helped me grow as a student in many ways!
ReplyDeleteI learned how to analyze and read articles, books, etc. in a more in depth way. The critical thinking worksheets helped out a lot when it came to that. I would enjoy taking another philosophy class because i would like to expand my knowledge on the subject. I didn't expect to learn a lot coming into this class but found many things interesting like feminism in science. I found it interesting because i never thought that there would be feminism in science labs. I think i have improved my written and oral skills while in this class. The critical thinking worksheets helped my written skills tremendously.
ReplyDeleteI believe I have improved my skills of analysis and critique along with my oral communication because of this course due to all of the different critical thinking activities and the different text we read. The different text we read made you think more about the reading and analyze it before you can understand the material. All the different articles and books really made you think more about what you were reading.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I learned in this class is that science is falsifiable in many different ways and coming from an array of viewpoints. Also, I learned that a law is a theory, but a theory isnt necessarily a law haha.I would take another philosophy class, but maybe of something less complex. I have definitely improved my critical thinking skills. As much as i dont like the critical thinking worksheets, I believe they taught me an essential skill to break down complex text. I have also developed a respect for questioning science because their ethics and values need to be kept in line from time to time.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the more confusing classes that I've taken. A lot of the topics we discussed in class confused me, but I also learned a few things. I learned to think about science on a deeper level. Also that there are different dimensions to science, some that we can not see. That was one of the more confusing topics to for me to understand. I wasn't sure how to believe certain theories if there was no actual proof of them. Over all I thought the class was interesting and have gained a deeper understanding of science and the Philosophy of it.
ReplyDeleteThis class was enjoyable to say the least. Philosophy has opened up my mind and has taught me that we can't just take things for granted like time or dimensions. There is something to learn behind everything and I think that's what has opened up my mind so much while taking this class. I was confused almost everyday, but it kept me thinking which I think is the most important thing. I would definitely suggest this class in the future just to get a different understanding of what science really is.
ReplyDeleteThrough this course I have learned more about the shifting and ever evolving nature of scientific theories and the nature of science itself. I have also learned how the theories of evolution and religion can coexist and are actually a false dichotomy when they people are forced to make a decision between them. The term paradigm shift made a different in so that the helped explain the wishy-washiness of science. I would definitely take another course in the area of philosophy because I makes you think and actually use your brain, I enjoyed the philosophical questions that we asked, even through there wasn't a definitive answer to most of them. I have a better understanding about the critiques of science through this class such as the role of subjectivity and objectivity in science and the greater androcentric view of science. I think my writing and speaking skills have improved through this class the critical thinking sheet were extremely helpful my understanding of the feminist article and the evolution book. I think the vocal corporation throughout the classmates allow for improved comprehension of core principles.
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