Compiled Q&A for Philosophy Department Freshmen

Recently I’ve been talking with many younger classmates, both on the forum and on QQ, and have accumulated a number of Q&As on different topics. I’m now organizing and listing part of them here for more students to refer to. What follows includes a great deal of my own subjective opinion; my subjective opinion is for reference only, so keep it in mind and don’t take it too seriously.

Q: What courses does the Philosophy Department require?

A: In the first semester, the required courses are two major courses: Introduction to Philosophy (2 credits) and Mathematical Logic (4 credits). In addition, you can choose either Classical Chinese or Advanced Mathematics, or you can take both, or neither and take them later. The university-wide required courses—Basic Computer Skills for the Liberal Arts (3 credits each for the first and second halves), politics, English, physical education, and so on—go without saying. In the second and third semesters there are required courses such as Introduction to Marxist Philosophy (first and second halves), History of Chinese Philosophy (first and second halves), History of Western Philosophy, and Modern Western Philosophy. Aside from these required courses, one could say all the other courses in the Philosophy Department are “electives.” What does “type-based electives” mean? In fact, it simply means that among a large number of courses in a certain category, you only need to choose enough credits to meet the specified requirement; there is no requirement as to exactly which courses you choose. The credit floor for these various categories adds up to what are called “major required” courses, and the remaining so-called “major elective” courses actually have the same range of choices as the “major required” ones. For example, if the credits you take in a certain category exceed the required floor, the extra credits are counted as “major elective” credits. The degree of freedom in choosing courses in the Philosophy Department is probably matched at Peking University only by the Yuanpei Program~. As for questions about philosophy major courses, once you reach your second year and have been assigned an advisor, and as you learn more about the department, things will naturally become clearer.

Q: What tracks or directions are there in the Philosophy Department?

A: According to the division into the eight second-level disciplines of philosophy in China, Peking University’s Philosophy Department is divided into eight major directions: Marxist philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Western philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of science, logic, and religion. The distinction among these eight directions is mainly reflected at the master’s level. At the undergraduate level, though you also have to choose a direction, the boundaries are not especially clear. In the second semester of your sophomore year, students are divided into three kinds: philosophy major, philosophy major (logic and philosophy of science), and Department of Religion. But recently I’ve heard that the way of dividing into liberal-arts and science philosophy majors may change, and I’m not yet clear about the details…

Q: What’s the story with choosing an advisor?

A: New students won’t run into this very quickly, but I’ll mention a bit of it first. As for advisors, the selection begins in the latter half of the second semester, can be changed in the third semester (the first semester of sophomore year), and is finalized in the second semester of sophomore year. The advisor’s role is to guide your reading, writing, and course selection in daily life, and to serve as the recipient of your future year paper. On the other hand, don’t expect an advisor who is busy with official duties to give you too much attention. I’ve just advanced to sophomore year and know very little about advisors; the only thing I want to point out is this: the advisor’s area of specialization is not directly related to your own area of specialization. It is not the case that choosing a Western philosophy advisor means you are choosing the Western philosophy direction (though usually that is indeed how it works); a teacher in Marxist philosophy can supervise your work in Western philosophy, a teacher in philosophy of science can supervise your work in religion. Moreover, choosing a certain direction does not mean that during your undergraduate years you must write a thesis in that direction. I think undergraduate study is not the time to do philosophical research. If you are intent on academic work, then the undergraduate stage is only for building a foundation. Since it is a matter of laying the foundation, it should not be narrow or biased; deciding too early on a single direction does more harm than good. Given limited energy, you do need to determine one main focus, but you need not limit yourself to that. In short, which teacher you choose, what thesis you write, and what direction you choose are not inevitably linked; they can be adjusted flexibly.

Q: Is the pace of college very different from high school? How should one adapt to college life?

A: The learning and living environment of college is very different from that of high school, and keeping the same pace of life as in high school is almost impossible. This is not to say that you will necessarily become lazy; even if you still insist on “hanging from the beam and pricking yourself with awls” (studying with extreme diligence), the way and rhythm of your diligence will have to change. Some people say that no matter where you are, you should stick to yourself and not be influenced by others. There is nothing wrong with that statement: one’s own convictions and perseverance really should not be disturbed by others. But why is it bad to let your own pace of life blend with your environment? Standing out as totally out of step with the people around you may preserve your studies, but college is not merely a place for studying, and in society you cannot get by by studying alone. In college you also need to learn how to融入 society! Besides, the ways of learning in college are far from limited to textbooks and classrooms. You should not casually follow others, but neither should you stubbornly refuse change. The proper measure between these two is something each person must grasp for himself or herself.

How does one adapt to college life? Many, many people will say: the first year of college (the first semester) is a transition period, and during this time one should gradually adapt to and integrate into college life, and so on… At first glance this sounds very reasonable, but if you think about it carefully, it is full of problems! What does it mean to have “a one-year transition period”? How many years are there in total in college? If the first year is a transition and the last year is also a transition, wouldn’t half the time be spent in transition? Is it necessary to give yourself half a year or a year to “adjust”? Imagine that in the future you go out to find a job and say to your boss: “The first year of work is a transitional period; give me a year to adjust myself so that I can gradually adapt to the pace of work…” Would that work? Whenever the environment changes you need to “adapt,” whenever the pace changes you need a “transition”—this is a sign of lack of confidence! Giving yourself more “transition” time often makes adaptation even harder. I suggest not talking about “transition” or “adaptation”; there is only a period of “connection” between the pace of high school and the pace of college, and one month is enough for that connection period. The key issue is mentality. The more you fear change, the harder it is to change; the more you hope for “gradual change,” the more intense the discomfort caused by change becomes. If you are prepared and take the initiative to enter the turning point, then even if it is a “sudden change,” it is easier to adapt psychologically; in fact, it will seem more natural than slow, gradual change.

Q: Is studying philosophy very difficult and very boring?

A: If you like philosophy and are interested in studying it, if you take pleasure in it, of course you won’t find it boring. If you don’t like philosophy and don’t need to delve deeply into it, then the Philosophy Department’s courses are not intense, and getting by is very easy—of course, you won’t find it difficult either. Only when you cannot find even a little interest in philosophy, yet insist on “learning it well,” insist on getting good grades, and force yourself to read books that hold absolutely no interest for you, will it feel boring.

Q: Is philosophy very profound?

A: When studying philosophy, one should put philosophy in its proper place. If you regard philosophy as too “deep,” so deep that it seems to have nothing to do with the human world, that is of course wrong; but neither can you regard philosophy as too shallow or vulgar. Then one should also put oneself in the proper place: since you are studying philosophy, you ought to be above superficiality and vulgarity, but you absolutely must not be self-satisfied. Finding the proper position is not easy. Fortunately, as undergraduates, we do not need to think too much about this. Once you enter the Philosophy Department and follow your teachers and classmates step by step, as long as you adjust your mindset properly, no matter which path you take in the future, you will always gain something.

Q: Can one double major in philosophy? Is there time for it?

A: Many students in the Philosophy Department do double majors (of course mainly in economics-related double majors). There is definitely time; the workload in the Philosophy Department is relatively light and free. But a double major inevitably takes up a great deal of energy. Many students have neglected their main studies because of a double major, and many others ended up dropping out halfway because they could not keep it up. Still others suffered psychological problems from excessive pressure, even to the point of wanting to kill themselves or being driven to desperate extremes… In short, before choosing a double major, you must seriously understand what the double major you are studying means, understand what you will learn, and think clearly about what you will gain and what you will lose. Do not blindly follow the crowd.

Q: What are the prospects after graduating from the Philosophy Department?

A: I am not an idealist (by the way, I’m also not a realist), and I do not want to say that as long as you follow your interests, you need not worry about prospects and money. Apart from one’s own enthusiasm, a person also bears responsibilities. My own family circumstances are not bad; I do not have to worry about my parents’ livelihood, nor do I have concerns about my hometown elders and neighbors, but I also need to think about my future family. Let alone those classmates from poor families: thinking about “prospects” and thinking about “money” is by no means something shameful! It is indeed possible that philosophy majors will face difficulties in finding jobs after graduation, and there is no need to evade this problem. But we should also see that college students’ employment difficulties are now widespread. As a humanities department, the Philosophy Department naturally cannot compare with departments such as engineering or economics, but it will not be all that bad either. At the very least, there is a guarantee that you will not lack food and clothing, so there is no need to be overly nervous. Of course, the path after philosophy is by no means limited to academia. There is a saying: “If one can even study philosophy, what can’t one study?” Only a minority of those who come out of the Philosophy Department continue to study philosophy. Students from the Philosophy Department are widely distributed across politics, business, literature, academia, and all walks of life…

Q: I studied philosophy in my second year of high school…

A: Don’t take the so-called “philosophy” in high school textbooks seriously! That was just a politics class. If you’ve already finished the exam, forget about it! To make an exaggerated comparison, the difference between high school “philosophy” and the philosophy studied in the Philosophy Department is like the difference between mathematics and English: both have abcxyz, but fundamentally they are different! If you think of high school “philosophy” as being “shallow,” and university philosophy as being more profound, that is also wrong! Calling it “shallow” gives the impression that the relation between them is like that between a tadpole and a frog—perhaps not alike, but still of the same kind. Yet even understanding it that way would still be inappropriate. In short, do not approach philosophy with any impression from high school “philosophy”—not little frogs and big frogs, not tadpoles and frogs, and not frogs and toads… cough… in any case, it doesn’t matter… I got a bit worked up over this question mainly because I’ve encountered this misunderstanding far, far too often. Being in the Philosophy Department is fine in every other respect; the hardest thing to bear is precisely this matter of “not being understood.” When someone looks down on the Philosophy Department, the impression of philosophy in their mind is often that old set of ideas. It is rare to encounter someone who says something good about the Philosophy Department, and then, alas, what they are talking about is still that old set of ideas………… Also, let me add: don’t assume that what is studied in high school textbooks is Marxism. Marxist philosophy is not a discipline that can be simply summed up by “dialectical materialism + historical materialism.” The Marxist philosophy we usually encounter has been so deeply influenced by the Soviet textbook system that its original face has been distorted. Marxist philosophy is far from being as simple as the Soviet textbook system made it out to be; the Soviet textbook system itself was already a misreading of Marx, and then our high school textbooks further “popularized” that misread so-called philosophy, naturally making it neither fish nor fowl. In fact, Marxist philosophy is a field that is still very much alive and vigorous internationally today. For example, many currents in contemporary Western philosophy—positivism, humanism, existentialism, pragmatism, structuralism, structuralism, Freudianism, environmentalism, feminism, and so on and so forth—almost every new current or school overlaps with Marxist philosophy. Marx’s wisdom and inspiration are an inexhaustible treasure house—but absolutely not in the way traditional textbooks present them as if they were theorems.

Q: Alas, before entering college I knew nothing at all about philosophy…

A: Perhaps some classmates read many philosophy books and thought about many questions while in high school. That only means you have saved yourself one stage—the stage of cultivating an interest in philosophy—and it does not mean you necessarily have much of an advantage over other classmates. In fact, the whole undergraduate stage is not the period for doing philosophical research. If you aspire to philosophical research, then at the very least you should not begin talking about it until the master’s stage. All four undergraduate years are time for cultivating interest and laying foundations. This includes many of our department’s teachers: many of them did not major in philosophy as undergraduates, but later did philosophy very well, so that little bit of philosophy you learned in high school counts for even less. You will not thereby stand out in any way compared with those classmates who only began encountering philosophy at university. Students who have never encountered philosophy before need not be anxious; just approach philosophy slowly and steadily.

Q: How does one cultivate an interest in studying philosophy?

A: Cultivating interest is the most important thing. Reading is the most important way of learning, but in the stage of cultivating interest, reading is not for deep study, but for “going in.” You can start by finding some easy introductory books to philosophy, general survey books, or some books on the history of philosophy. Or, according to your own interests, you can choose books in a particular philosophical field, or even some cross-disciplinary works. There is no need to jump right into so-called pure philosophy. Philosophy covers a very wide range and intersects with mathematics, physics, politics, history, and so on; so if you cannot work up interest in philosophy directly, you can also find a field in which you do have interest and enter philosophy from that side. The first year’s introduction to philosophy is not about being comprehensive, nor about being profound. What matters is finding a breakthrough that brings you close to philosophy. You can enter by browsing the history of philosophy, enter through a particular question (topic), enter through an edge discipline, or of course enter by reading one famous classic in depth. How exactly you enter depends on each person’s own preferences, but the key to beginning philosophy is to find a sense of closeness to philosophy; then, step by step, you will no longer find it difficult. Also, cultivating an interest in philosophy does not mean you must set your sights on an academic career in philosophy. In fact, very few of the students in the Philosophy Department ultimately engage in academic research; more will spread out into careers that have no direct connection with philosophy. But one’s future occupation need not, and should not, be tied to one’s current academic interests. If you absolutely need to cultivate your interests well before choosing to do something, or if, because you have an interest in a certain field, you feel you must do work in that field, then your life and your adaptability are truly quite worrying. Since you are in the Philosophy Department, loving philosophy is only natural. (See **** this post)

Q: What role do teachers play in philosophical study?

A: Although they are quite important, teachers are not the most important. If you study philosophy, teachers are always there only to point you in a direction and shed light on certain questions; the greater effort lies with yourself, in your own reading, thinking, and exchange with others. Teachers will of course help you understand philosophical texts and ideas, but each teacher may tell you his or her own understanding, and you will find that different teachers tell you different understandings. Therefore, how to understand things in the end still depends on yourself; teachers are only there to provide reference and inspiration. But then again, teachers have always spent a long time thinking and delving into what they teach. As a beginner, you and the teacher are absolutely not in an equal position. You may keep your own opinions and then explain your own different views, but all this has a premise: you must be clear about your position. You are not equal to the teacher, and even less so to masters and ancient sages. To think independently, you must first learn respect and listening.

Q: What is philosophy of science…

A: Philosophy is often misunderstood, and philosophy of science is even more unfortunate. Between science and philosophy, it has a somewhat “neither side appreciates it” feeling. Here I’ll just say a little: philosophy of science is neither using science to guide philosophy nor using philosophy to guide science. I have not delved deeply into this field, so I cannot give a clear explanation; I can only point out what philosophy of science is not. This is similar to my not being able to clearly say what philosophy is and only being able to say what philosophy is not. Students interested in philosophy of science are welcome to contact me…

Q: Who is Xiao Gu?

A: If you don’t even know who Xiao Gu is, how can you make it in the Philosophy Department!? Hehe, just kidding. It seems that both my real name and my online name are not very easy to read… so just call me Xiao Gu. I am from the class of 2004; male; from Shanghai; an old-timer; a national science-track recommended entrant; planning to focus on philosophy of science, and also fond of ethics, Marxist philosophy, logic, and religion; a book-buying maniac; a computer hand (not an expert), and eagerly hoping for a successor in computer typesetting…

Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.