Couple Of Q's related to Socio/Phil and Irish.

SligoBrewer

I don't wanna seem like an annoying git but I'd like to ask are there any Socio or Phil students here?

You see I'm looking to take it up next year with Irish in the TSM but because I don't do any of the two for the LC, I'm lacking a bit of experience in both subjects. Also missed the talks on the open day too. I've read the prospectuses and tbh I think they (sociology and Philosophy) are interesting but there is a lack of detail about what the course actually demand of a student.

If there are any Irish students either who want to pass on their opinions on TSM Nua-Ghaelige, beidh sin go híontach fresin!

Oh btw, I did check the old sticky at the top but twas no info about it.

Cheers,
Chris

diluvial

Hey,

I thought i'd delurk to tell you about philosophy. I don't know how much the handbook tells you but if you're doing two subjects you'd take 2 modules in philosophy, and have to write 4 2,000 words essays in the year, as well as 2 exams. The workload is definitely manageable: quantitywise i'd say there's a lot less reading than say english or history, but in philosophy you have to read very closely and slowly, so it perhaps balances out. A good idea would be to have a look at some philosophy texts and see what you think. A common misconception is that in philosophy classes you spend all your time wondering how long a piece of string is, but it's really not like that, so have a look maybe at Russell's History of Western Philosophy (it's riddled with errors, but that doesn't matter at this point), or Descartes' Meditations, both of which could be got cheaply ( or indeed free online). If you're interested in the problems and the way these guys go about trying to solve them, then I would definitely recommend philosophy. I love it.

for-why?

Im studying Philosophy and Political science, and as part of Political Science I take Sociology, so I can give you a good over view of both. I took this course because I wanted to study Political Science and there's very few things it comes with, just this course, PPES (which is essentially the same), History and Political Science and BESS. By process of elimination I chose it, and really didn't know what I was getting myself in for with Philosophy, but its the best choice I ever made; I absolutely love it. I think people do think its thinking about how long a piece of string is and the like, but it is a hugely diverse subject to study. Of course its not all amazing, but some of it is absolutely riveting. If you've ever done debating in school, its quite like that in the sense that you may back any argument so long as you can defend your reasons why etc. It really makes you think deeply about things you've never really considered before.
The volume of reading to be done isn't immense but some of the stuff is pretty dense, some you'll fly through. If you're thinking about studying it just make sure you enjoy reading, you don't mind teasing out what it is that is being said in a text and that it may take a few goes before you understand what the philosopher is on about!

I didn't choose PPES because I didnt want to study Sociology of Economics, but ended up doing them anyway because theyr'e part of Political Science for first year. Sociology is grand, it is kinda interesting sometimes but it seems like general knowledge, alot of it. You do things like the inequalities in education, the construction of reality, making sense of cultural reality etc. Bit waffely really. It was interesting, but I'm not devastated to be seeing the back of it at the same time! Workload is totally managable, definately 1 chapter per lecture and usually one or two more; two lectures per week so you're not going to be under huge pressure at all!

SligoBrewer

Cheers, thanks for the replies. I think I'll be heading for Phil first over Sociology.

Pet

Sociology is something you either love or hate, I think.

My limited experience of it was through Geography, and some of it was insane - textbooks which were basically strings of buzzwords. The academisation [look! Made-up word!] of common sense, tbh.

jamesnp

I'm not TSM, I do Early & Modern Single honor and the Modern is pretty much the same as TSM modern. Greatest dept in college by far - great course too.

-jp