While students may expect organic chemistry at the California Institute of Technology and advanced topics in quantum mechanics at Stanford University to be among the hardest college classes in the country, Boston University’s Introduction to Philosophy class is also ranked among the top 10 most difficult college courses, according to a
March 28 article on HerCampus.com.
The philosophy class ranks among the hardest classes in the country because it “covers topics including ‘the relationship of mind and body,’ ‘the foundations and limits of human knowledge’ and ‘the nature
and structure of morality,’ doing so with heaps of reading and memorization,” according to the article.
Difficult exams and an unclear professor were also given as reasons for the class’s presence on the list according to the article.
BU’s Introduction to Philosophy professor Walter Hopp said that while he does not think his class is as hard as organic chemistry, philosophy does come with its own challenges.
“I was a bit surprised to find PH100 on the list,” Hopp said in an email. “Although I think it’s quite difficult, I would be surprised if it competed with the other courses mentioned.”
Hopp said his class challenges students to think in a way that many incoming college students are not used to.
“It is not an easy course. The readings, even the clearest, can sometimes be agonizingly difficult,” Hopp said. “Thinking philosophically is not something we do naturally. You have to unlearn the unconscious connections you’ve drawn between concepts.”
Hopp added that the subject matter of his philosophy class is inherently difficult.
“Who, after all, is prepared to provide an analysis of free will?” he asked. Hopp said the average grade in his class was usually in the B range, but generally very few students earned an A.
“It’s even harder to learn philosophy for oneself,” Hopp said. “Constructing decent arguments is the ability that separates the A students from the B students.”
Students currently enrolled in the course had mixed feelings the ranking.
Arielle Egan, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, thought philosophy was too subjective to be that difficult.
“My understanding of philosophy is that there is no wrong answer,”Egan said. “Intro to Philosophy isn’t on the same level as those other courses.”
Maryanne Sutton, a freshman in the School of Hospitality Administration and current student in Hopp’s class, agreed with Egan, but said it also depended on the professor.
“If you have a good professor who is passionate about the subject,then you should do fine,” Sutton said. “My professor makes things interesting and really knows what he’s talking about, so it’s relatively easy. To me Principles in Sociology was harder than Intro to Philosophy.”
Nirali Shah, a freshman in the College of General Studies, said she thought philosophy did belong on the list.
“I’ve never taken it, but it could be that difficult,” Shah said. “It makes you look inside things instead of just at the surface. It forces you to think deeper.”
CAS freshman Manasi Gaje agreed with Shah.
“Philosophy is pretty challenging,” Gaje said. “Thinking abstractly can be more difficult than thinking concretely.”
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I am actually offended by this article. Ive sat through two philosophy classes here at BU (Core Curriculum, not PH100, but still philosophy all the same). I’ve analyzed Plato, Aristotle and Socrates, and written several papers on these philosophical giants. And however interesting this topic may be, the thought that it is being put in the same sentence as “Organic Chemistry” is very frustrating to me. As someone who has taken three years of chemistry classes here at BU (including general chemistry, organic chemistry as well as biochemistry), I cannot even begin to describe the difference in these two types of classes; not because it isn’t possible, but because it is just too frustrating. No one is ever going to convince me that the number of hours spent in lab, the number of hours learning reaction mechanisms and learning how to apply mathematical theories to explain chemical and biological concepts is anywhere close to the level of intensity of a philosophy class. In my experience, anything could be correct when one composes philosophical arguments, so long as the logic makes some sort of sense. You cannot “make things up” in a chemistry lab (unless of course you enjoy being accused of a serious breach of academic and scientific integrity).
I certainly do not mean to bash anyone who studies philosophy. I happen to find it very interesting and I love learning about Plato’s thoughts on government, and I see the importance of how this applies to today’s social and political problems. I just get very annoyed when the clock strikes 10 pm and I am still in lab, and I cannot leave until I get some reaction to work just right, so that I can successfully complete the post lab, which will take about an ADDITIONAL 7 hours of work. Then I can continue studying for the lecture exam two days later. When I get back to my apartment I hear my friends who are liberal arts majors tell me all I do is work, and they don’t understand why their GPA is so much higher than mine.
Chemistry and philosophy demand different kinds of effort from us. I find chemistry extremely difficult in that the mass of detail seem arbitrary and endless. My energy to complete chemical understanding flags when faced with the voluminous knowledge available and my very limited facility to comprehend/remember the pertinent facts.
Philosophy is different because the student must draw on his own self. The answers are not given (though positions are presented). It is not an empirical study and cannot and should not involve much rote thinking and memorization. It involves introspection and the ability to judge what is important and true: and to make cogent arguments to convince others of the truth we see.
We are used to decision making for ourselves but in philosophy we are asked to make judgments about the world (or even the nature of reality itself) with basically our own mind as the final arbiter of truth.
Philosophy is a discipline that forces us to confront the need to put things in proportion and confront the meaning of our lives in a fundamental way. No other discipline does this as thoroughly as philosophy and most students would benefit from the challenge.