# My Courses for 2009-10



## Reformed Thomist (Jul 15, 2009)

The final year of my Honours B.A. -- majoring (specializing) in Philosophy, minoring in Book and Media Studies -- at the University of Toronto (St. Michael's College) is right around the corner, and a couple of days ago I chose and keyed in my courses. Below is what I'll be enjoying, and pulling what's left of my hair out over, come September...

FALL (Sept-Dec):

**Aquinas* (PHL308; Prof. Deborah Black)

**Introduction to Ethics* (PHL275; Prof. Thomas Hurka)

**Seminar in the History of Philosophy* (PHL401; Prof. Willi Goetschel)

**Elements of Material Bibliography and Print Culture* (SMC228; Prof. Yuri Cowan)

**The Newspaper in Canadian Society* (SMC315; Prof. Michael Valpy)


WINTER (Jan-April):

**Augustine* (PHL307; Prof. Peter King)

**Individual Studies* (PHL495; Thesis paper, under the supervision of a yet-to-be-named professor, on a yet-to-be-determined topic... but most likely in the Philosophy of Religion, dealing with some aspect of natural theology)

**Medieval Theology* (SMC359; Prof. Joseph Goering)

**Readers and Readerships* (SMC229; Prof. M. Dickens)

**Religion, Media and Culture* (SMC; Prof. Michael McGowan)


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## SolaScriptura (Jul 15, 2009)

That's great! Most cannot fathom all that goes into getting an Honors BA. 

What are your plans for after college?


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Jul 15, 2009)

Good stuff. Good Providence in your learning!


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## Zenas (Jul 15, 2009)

I'm going on my last year of law school too. Hooray senioritis.


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## CharlieJ (Jul 15, 2009)

*My courses*

My courses:

Reformation Church
Independent Study (Thesis)


not sure I can handle it! Be strong brother, and don't forget to read the Scripture and pray (academics have a way of tricking us out of that sometimes).


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## Reformed Thomist (Jul 15, 2009)

SolaScriptura said:


> That's great! Most cannot fathom all that goes into getting an Honors BA.



It has definitely already been the most work I have ever put into one 'thing'. A great joy and a great pain. But the rewards have been worth the pain.



SolaScriptura said:


> What are your plans for after college?



Ah, I am glad you asked. Currently, I have narrowed it down to McDonald's or Burger King. (Obligatory philosophy major's joke... which, in this economy, isn't all that funny.)

Four avenues are on my plate at present: (1) a Master's degree in Philosophy at whichever Canadian university will take me and fund me, with an eye toward a PhD program; (2) Teacher's college, with an eye toward teaching philosophy -- now a subject which Ontario's public high schools must provide, thanks in large part to the activism of one of my philosophy professors; (3) a degree in Library Science, with an eye toward a career as an academic librarian at one of the theological colleges at my university; or (4) hitting up my family and other sources for capital for a business venture, either something really average (like a pet food/supplies store, independent but with the 'look' and 'feel' of a franchise, because people like that) or -- my impractical dream -- a small Christian publishing company (w/ some friends).


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## Wayne (Jul 15, 2009)

Reformed Thomist said:


> The final year of my Honours B.A. --
> FALL (Sept-Dec):
> **The Newspaper in Canadian Society* (SMC315; Prof. Michael Valpy)



Here's a suggestion: Do a paper for that course on William Stanford Reid and his efforts in journalism (e.g., _Reformation Today_, which ran from 1951-1953 as his bully pulpit).

See A. Donald MacLeod in Channels, vol. 19, no 1 on "Canadian Independent Journalism" [http://renewalfellowship.presbyterian.ca/channels.html] 
or the relevant sections in MacLeod's biography of Stanford Reid.


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## steven-nemes (Jul 15, 2009)

Cool beans!

I'm a philosophy major too, but not in the Honors school. Any tips for me?


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## Reformed Thomist (Jul 15, 2009)

steven-nemes said:


> Cool beans!
> 
> I'm a philosophy major too, but not in the Honors school. Any tips for me?



Avoid spending too much time on Continental philosophy. Too many Christians who are philosophically inclined (or want/need to study some philosophy in preparation for seminary studies) tend to spend the bulk of their time on modern Continental thought (Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Levinas, Camus, Derrida, Habermas, et al), and come away from their philosophical education with the impression that _this_ is what philosophy is, when it is just a recent (and, I might add, fundamentally _anti_-philosophical) movement or way of doing philosophy. Christians gravitate toward these thinkers because they, like theologians, ask the 'Big Questions' and are in general more 'open' to religious ideas than are their Logic-and language-driven Anglo-American or Analytic counterparts. Inevitably, though, they are left dissatisfied.

Don't _ignore_ the Continental philosophers, but leave lots of room for the study of (_a_) the giants, like Plato and Aristotle, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes and Spinoza, Kant, Hume and Locke, et al; and (_b_) Anglo-American or Analytical thought, in particular, the advances in Logic and, in general, the emphasis on 'scientific' precision in defining concepts and analyzing problems. I believe that our theologians today could use less Habermas and Foucault, and a lot more of this spirit.

A very important article: 

Theology's Continental Captivity by R.R. Reno (_First Things_, 2006).


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## steven-nemes (Jul 15, 2009)

Thanks for the tips!


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## Curt (Jul 15, 2009)

Zenas said:


> I'm going on my last year of law school too. Hooray senioritis.



Thanks for the cheering up we seniors need.

Oh, did you mean...?


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## CharlieJ (Jul 15, 2009)

Reformed Thomist said:


> Avoid spending too much time on Continental philosophy. Too many Christians who are philosophically inclined (or want/need to study some philosophy in preparation for seminary studies) tend to spend the bulk of their time on modern Continental thought (Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Levinas, Camus, Derrida, Habermas, et al), and come away from their philosophical education with the impression that _this_ is what philosophy is, when it is just a recent (and, I might add, fundamentally _anti_-philosophical) movement or way of doing philosophy. Christians gravitate toward these thinkers because they, like theologians, ask the 'Big Questions' and are in general more 'open' to religious ideas than are their Logic-and language-driven Anglo-American or Analytic counterparts. Inevitably, though, they are left dissatisfied.
> 
> Don't _ignore_ the Continental philosophers, but leave lots of room for the study of (_a_) the giants, like Plato and Aristotle, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes and Spinoza, Kant, Hume and Locke, et al; and (_b_) Anglo-American or Analytical thought, in particular, the advances in Logic and, in general, the emphasis on 'scientific' precision in defining concepts and analyzing problems. I believe that our theologians today could use less Habermas and Foucault, and a lot more of this spirit.



I wholeheartedly agree. Of course, I've studied philosophy on the outside of my college/grad curriculum. Aristotle is a great study because he gives you the introduction both to logico-grammatical philosophy and your broader systems. Learning symbolic logic is also a major advance in your ability to reason.


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