I know I should be writing a true account of my life, complete with details and insights, but...there are some things I don't want to write about here. I'm usually totally open here. I've talked about sex, drugs, alcohol, everything. But right now there are some things I'm keeping to myself. I've talked about how I've struggled with bottling things up. Well, I guess this is proof. I'm not just omitting these thoughts and events from my blog. I haven't shared them with anyone including my two best friends, my sister, and my brother. And so I am just going to say that, I know it's unhealthy and I should talk to someone even if I can't write about it here but I'm just not ready right now.
Moving on. There are some things I would like to write about. Actually, I could probably write for hours right now because there are so many new things in my life that I'm excited about. But I'm just going to choose one thing - my Political Theory class.
Just out of interest, before writing up this blog post, which I planned on being very positive about the class and the teacher, I decided to check out Rate My Professor to see what others thought. Some interesting views on his class. I, for one, LOVE it.
I've written about it before because I was just so surprised and now, after my second "lecture," I only have more positive things to say. As I said in one of my earlier posts, I thought this class would be boring but it's a Political Theory class taught by a Philosophy professor. I don't care what a handful of previous disgruntled students (who probably did poorly in the class) said on a rating site, Professor Thomas appears not only to be funny and engaging but also extremely intelligent. [Note: Most of the reviews were indeed just as positive as my opinion but there were a few infantile responses that lead me to believe that they did poorly in the class and blamed the professor when they didn't keep up with the reading or participate in class].
Here are a few of the notes I took today:
-How do we come to have an interest in others, not in our gene pool (biological family), when from an evolutionary standpoint we only have an emotional investment in our own fates and the fates of our offsprings/biological family?
- Given that everyone is committed to his or her self-interest, does that mean we are committed as such at the expense of others? Can we be committed to our own self-interest without being selfish?
- What makes society viable? Basic Trust in each other enough?
- Can there be moral decency in a world where anonymity reigns supreme? Can society be stable if, when under the cloak of anonymity, most people would do nothing to help another?
We used the story of Kitty Genovese as an example to discuss these themes. Here is Kitty Genovese's story: When walking from the parking lot to her apartment in Queens, Kitty Genovese was attacked three times and eventually killed. The attacks took place in plain view of other apartments on the street and Kitty screamed for help. Lights turned on in windows, a total of 38 people witnessed the three attacks. Not one called the police, not after the first attack nor after the second. No call was made until after Kitty Genovese was already dead.
Why didn't those 38 people call the police? Are we all basically, biologically selfish?
It was a fascinating discussion, and I call it a discussion class even though it is a large lecture hall because Professor Thomas was constantly walking up and down the aisle calling on students for our opinions. He wasn't lecturing us at all but engaging in a lively discourse with us. And throughout the class he was joking and telling stories. I've come to the conclusion that he is just a little bit crazy because at several points he was yelling and jumping around. But it all somehow worked to make the class more engaged. Next semester I plan on trying to take his Philosophy 191 class because so far this single class has been the best academic experience of my life.
This is what college is all about.
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