Writer1999

Long story short, I have felt pulled towards Judaism for some time now. So far as I know, I don't have any Jewish ancestry but I'm ignorant about half of my family background for various reasons. My religion experience was nominally protestant, but as a teenager I rejected Christianity with a fury. I became an edgy Richard Dawkins type atheist, although technically speaking I identified as an agnostic atheist. (not knowing whether or not God existed, but not believing in her) Anyway, I met with a conservative rabbi long ago just to discuss Judaism. And last April I started attending a reform synagogue off and on. I even applied for membership and set up an appointment with a rabbi to discuss

In May I completed my first year of a two-year master's program in Philosophy. My undergraduate degree was in the same. But recently I find myself losing my passion for philosophy. I used to think about philosophy constantly. But right now I feel as if can barely care about it. It all seems lifeless, pointless and a chore.

I'm not sure if something is clouding my judgement, if the department isn't a good fit for me, or if philosophy itself isn't for me. The department is Analytic in nature, so I've been looking at PhD. programs in continental programs as well as programs in other departments (English, political science, etc.) I've also considered taking a break from school after the master

I am currently a student in a two-year master's program in philosophy in the states. I want to go on to do a PhD, but I'm not sure that philosophy as its done in the anglosphere is where I'm supposed to be. I've been looking at English departments because many (though not all ofc) seem to have professors influenced by psychoanalysis, Marxism, Foucault, Derrida, and other thinkers from continental philosophy/critical theory. I think that is very much what interests me. I want to think about ideas and philosophies in their historical, cultural and literary context rather than work out my own opinions on causation or something of the sort. I've also always loved literature, although as of late

I'm currently an American master's student in a philosophy program. The university doesn't offer a PhD. in the subject, so I'm searching for programs to apply to. I think the kind of philosophy that interests me the most, however, surrounds critical theory. I like Arendt, Foucault, psychoanalysis, Marxism and the like. However, I'm noticing that critical theory seems to have almost nothing to do with contemporary philosophy. It seems to rather be associated with English departments, comp lit departments, media studies departments, and the like. Throw some sociology and anthro in there as well. So what is your generally recommendation? Should I 'switch fields' for my PhD or are there philosop

Long story short, about a month ago I finished the first year of a two-year terminal master’s program in philosophy. I’ve been crazy about philosophy since my mid teens, which is how I ended up here. But now I’m having doubts. I’m struggling to find what drew me to philosophy in the first place. I don’t know if the program I’m in is just not the sort of philosophy that matters to me or if I’m simply having a mental health slump and projecting these negative feelings onto philosophy.

I’ve been wondering if I should pursue a PhD in something else. I’m studying Latin this summer on my own so I can eventually read those texts, so many something in that realm eventually? (after I make up the la

Long story short, I'm currently a grad student in a terminal master's program in philosophy who just finished my first year. I was unsure for quite some time what I wanted to focus on, but now I am confident that I want to focus on classical philosophy. I'm unsure how to do that, however, since my current master's program doesn't provide such a focus in the classroom. Do I need to consider a second master's in a more relevant program or do I just go for the PhD. If so, which one's?

I understand that the languages are a huge barrier, so I'm going to learn as much Latin as I can this summer. I will try to study some Greek as well, but next summer I'm planning on doing an intensive Greek cours

Apologies for asking such a crude and personal question, but I just don’t understand how my body works. I never did anything sexual before I started talking hormones. Since I started talking hormones, I’ve been trying to ease into it. But I don’t know how to properly touch myself. I’ve tried using a vibrator and my body seems to respond well, but it doesn’t do much for my mind. Anal play/sex terrifies me, but it’s something that I want to be able to do at some point. I have a lot of fantasies that I want to act out in real life. I’m not asexual. But I just don’t know how to get in touch with my own sexuality. My own sexuality terrifies me tbh. Any advice?

Other people make it look so effortless. They don’t have a problem finding meaning.

They don’t have a problem moving on from the dumb and shitty things they did in their past or that were done to them in their past.

I just feel like I carry this weight of guilt and shame and regret and self-hatred that never goes away no matter what I do.

Can anyone else relate?

My life just feels meaningless. I have practically no friends. I’m struggle to keep up with all my work in graduate school. I’m a trans woman but I’ll never pass in a million years and I’ll always just be super ugly. My nerves feel shot. I have been having episodes where I completely dissociate from my body and the world around me. Nothing feels real in those moments even though I know it’s real and I’m real. My room is a mess. I have a pile of laundry I haven’t gotten around to. I don’t exercise. My diet is terrible. I haven’t showered in God knows when. I just feel like a terrible terrible person. The worst. These feelings were triggered by an incident with a roommate that I won’t get int

 The question of free will, as I see it, is unanswerable. For starters, there is no agreed upon definition of free will. There are some people who argue that free will is the ability to do otherwise while others would say that a person’s acts can be free even if they could not have done otherwise. There are still other definitions that one can appeal to. How can we figure out the truth about something if we cannot even define our concepts with some precision? 
 Another difficulty that stems from lack of agreed upon definitions is how the empirical data relates to our definition. We do not know if the universe is, all in all, deterministic or indeterministic. We can provide definition