teacher student dynamic and philosophy class

[greenfairy]

One reason I like my INTP philosophy professor is that he forces me to write good papers. I'll say something vague and profound sounding, and he'll question me and dissect my concepts until I can explain my theories as clearly, exactly, and completely as possible. I'll raise a really good question which I have ideas about, and he'll challenge me to answer it. Often the question seems impossible to answer, so he challenges me to try to do the seemingly impossible. And the cool thing is that I end up writing really good papers, about things I didn't think I could figure out. So I think we have a good teacher-student dynamic, because it's productive and creative. I'm kind of hoping I can work with him in graduate school.

Another reason I like him and we work well together is that our thought processes are very similar. I'll always know what he's getting at when he brings up discussion topics or asks a question to the class, and I'll always be one or several steps ahead to interesting conclusions.

There are several other students who bring up a lot of interesting points, and I enjoy being in class with them as well. I like our group discussions; I feel like they are very fruitful. I would like to have some group work, where more brainstorming could lead to greater conclusions than would be reached individually, and we could write some really good papers together, and share the ones we have written. I guess that's kind of what happens at a conference or symposium or something; but I think it should happen at lower levels as well. That's more in the spirit of philosophy as it has historically been practiced.

 

[greenfairy]

I just got finished producing an outline for a theory, and had to stretch my brain capacity to the limit in order to do it. I hope it produces some sort of good result and wasn't just rigorous intellectual exercise. We'll see what he thinks and whether it is worth writing an essay about. At least it makes some progress toward the impossible-seeming assignment he gave me for the last paper.

 

[JAVO]

My philosophy prof was one of my favorites also. He was the only one who actually enjoyed it when I argued an exam question with him.

The only way he could've been better is if he were female and I had a dream about making out with her!