A Chat with Senior Philosophy Majors Stephanie Wu, Laura Rodgers, Tao Zeng, and Shana Crandell

How did you become interested in philosophy?

Stephanie: I wanted to take a course to discover whatphilosophy even meant. I still don’t know what it is or means,but I think I don’t know in a more robust way.

Shana: Christia Mercer’s “History of Philosophy II”got me hooked.

Tao: It’s not Stats or Econ(my other two majors).

Which have been your favorite philosophy classes?

Stephanie: Professor Neuhouser’s “Hegel”lecture and “Phenomenology of Spirit” seminar.

Laura: “Phenomenology & Existentialism”with Taylor Carman & “Kant’s Ethics” with Patricia Kitcher.

Shana: “Hegel” with Neuhouser; “Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason” with Patricia Kitcher.

Tao: “Metaphyics” with Achille Varzi.

Which philosopher, dead or alive, would you most like to meet?

Stephanie: Wittgenstein.

Laura: Georges Bataille & Thomas Hobbes.

Shana: Leibniz.

Tao: Marx.

Which philosopher, dead or alive, would you least like to meet?

Stephanie: Schopenhauer?

Shana: Derrida, I guess.

Laura: George Berkeley,what a bore.

Tao: Engels.

How would you sum up your experience as a philosophy major?

Stephanie: Philosophy really helped me develop my closereading skills, which I’ve found useful for writing all sorts ofpapers and intrinsically enjoyable in my own leisure reading.

Shana: Philosophy students arrogantly claim that they cansuccessfuly venture into other disciplines because of theirtraining. I’ve found this arrogance to be quite well-founded.

Tao: Professors matter. The same class can be taught very differently by different professors.

What is your advice to aspiring philosophy majors?

Stephanie: Philosophy classes assign few pages of reading. Do lots of delicious close reading.

Shana: Take grad seminars early and often; one of my regrets is thinking I couldn’t take a seminar on the Phenomenology of Spirit when I was a sophomore. Fear not the G. You don’t have to write a thesis to be a serious student of philosophy.

Tao: Take classes outside your major.

What are your plans after graduation?

Stephanie: I am going to study German and Chinese for ayear, and hopefully hang out with my grandparents in China for a few months. Then, law school.

Laura: Moving to Washington, D.C. and looking for a job.

Shana: Taking a year to learn German and then heading tograd school, hopefully to end up studying Kant or Hegel for five or ten more years.

Tao: Peace Corps.

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