Some thoughts by students in the Reason and Persuasion (PH1101E / GEM1104) module:


- I'd just like to say that at the end of this module, I'm still hopelessly confused, that I feel I know nothing. In which, I think that Socrates has achieved something and made me wiser by realising that I know nothing.


- I would just like to add that it is true that at the end of this module, I too realised that I've ended up with feeling i know nothing and worse still, by confusing myself more by finding ways to reason and persuade. Every questions and answers just seem to go around in circles with no specific answers and no absolute solution. Should we settle for such or should we try to reason more and end up confusing ourselves more... Hmmmm.. I have to sit down and think again... this is adding to the workload for my brain... and to finish off, i do not deny the fact that my brain cells are dying... but nevertheless this is one interesting module.. warning, it's only for deep people... (anyone going to play Socrates here?)


- i feel utterly lost and wonder aloud what philosophy is all about. maybe this was what socrates and descartes all planned to accomplish.. confuse the aspiring individuals who wish to understand philosophy.. maybe that is the gist of philo.. to confuse and to be confused. :)


- how is philosophy practical in today's capitalist world?What would a Philosophy major do once he comes out into the corporate world?The fact remains that Philosophy is in danger of becoming an 'extinct' subject..much like the dead language of Latin.This is one reason why I definitely am not considering a major in this.Not because i am lost in it but simply because Philosophy is going to find it very difficult to pay my bills.Would any kind soul care to enlighten me?


- In china, the philosophy textbook tole me that "philosophy contains all kinds of sciences."
It is a kind of science which can make you more clever."
We learned 'dialectical materialism'.The contents are mainly the relationship between materials and consciousness, and how should we deal with the things in real life according to such kind of world view.
But now the philosophy is totally different. I think sometimes it is like sophism. It made me confused but not clever.
Why there is such a difference of philosophy between China and Singapore, since it is not related to politics?


- What I didn't like about this module was how it forced me to actually think and how, by that, made me realise how extremely dumb I am. I feel my positive freedom being limited here. Grrr...

One thing that I realised is that if you are looking for answers, philosophy is certainly the last place you should go. So far this module has made me aware of methods of discourse and arguments that I never considered before or knew of. I don't know if that's going to help me find those answers but heck, it's been a really interesting semster.

PS. I still hated how it made me feel dumb. Or maybe... I was already dumb and this module just brought that little fact into focus, helping me uncover the true "me", the dumb "me"? Aargh... See what PH1101E has done to me?!?


- My geo lecturer once told me that,in FASS,they dont teach us specific skills like accounting or medical skills..but one of the things that we will learn in FASS,is to think critically about things that you had never thought of in the past..Although you may find that you are getting dumber day by day but the fact that you know that there is something you dont know is a form of new knowledge... isn't it?


- I was made to chase the wind during every lecture whereby the profoundness of the lecture(including the lecturer) made it very hard for me to comprehend what was actually going on. I think it will be the most confusing and profounding module that i will ever take in my whole life.
Til the last few lectures, i was still unabe to figure out what good it will bring by reasoning and arguing our way through the situations.


- Well, I must, too, admit that I am all more confused after taking this module, with all those readings! ha!... For sure, I will never employ any of the arguments and reasonings that I have learnt in this module to my daily life (in my argument with friends, etc).. I just think that it would make us all just as confused.


- Frankly speaking, i took this module without knowing much about it. I was told by a fellow friend who took it that this module teaches you how to argue.

After 3 months of philosophy, i am still very much at square zero. Simply because, this module has done nothing but to bring me in circles and i felt i have accomplished nothing out of it at all. In short, it's too abstract for me.


There are many many more, but I don't care to read all the 115 (at last count) of them.