What I think of Spring '05:


I wrote the following on 4/17, between midterms and finals:

World Cultures: Russia
I still like this class very, very much. My professor tends to teach from the viewpoint that Stalin was an abberration in Soviet history, not a continuation of Bolshevism — which is certainly a viewpoint worthy of consideration. At the same time, though, Stalin had an incredibly enduring impact on the Soviet system (read my argument here), and pretty much anything anyone did after him was in response to his incredible changes. In any case, we are reaching Gorbachev and "living history" — we reached living history for my professor a while ago, but now this is living history for me — and I must say, I wish I could remember the dissolution of the USSR. I remember there being a USSR, but I don't remember its actual breakup. My discussion section is still great, and the lectures are excellent. I do believe this could be the best class I've yet had.


Russian II
I love it. That's about all I can say, actually, because there aren't many new specifics, but I feel like I kind of know Russian all of a sudden, and it's very cool.


Modern Philosophy
We've been doing the empirical philosophers lately (i.e., Locke, Berkeley, and later we'll do Hume). I really like them. In fact, I used to be all about Platonistic rationalism, but Berkeley and Locke have some very good points. Perception is subjective, they say, and we can never know ideas in themselves without subjectivity. The format of the class is 100% lecture, but I enjoy them because the subject matter is so interesting.


Calc II
Hmm... what to say? I like math. I think I will like Calc III more. I like some of the stuff we've been doing lately (limits, infinite series, Taylor expansions).


Violin Lessons/Orchestra
These have both been downright awesome this spring.




I wrote all this on 2/4, which marks the end of Week Three of this semester.
(scroll down to see my schedule)

World Cultures: Russia
What can I say? Best class ever. I've heard wonderful things about it from almost everyone who's taken it, and they were all right. Stephen Cohen, my professor, has incredible first-hand experience with Soviet Russia. He knows Mikhail Gorbachev, and President Bush, Sr., asked him for advice about the USSR in the early 1990s. This class is the biggest at NYU — a full 420 students. This sounds like it would be a very bad thing, but it isn't in the least! Cohen has to be one of the best lecturers I've ever encountered, and listening to him talk (while I frantically take notes) for 1.25 hours twice a week is great. We have a lot of reading to complete each week, but it is all very good. So far, most of the readings have been short essays by Lenin or about Lenin, and we have also read about half of a relatively short — yet very dense — history of the Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick (called simply The Russian Revolution, and I highly recommend it). Because of the great size of this class, each student also enrolls in a small weekly "recitation" section: mine is on Friday morning at 9:30 (why? I can't say!), and it's very good also. My preceptor is a good discussion leader, and my whole group of about fifteen participates a lot. Overall, I have nothing but exclamations of joy regarding my Soviet Russia class!


Russian II
This class picks up right where Russian I left off — same professor and all! — and so it's really nothing new. At the same time, though, I've noticed that we are indeed moving more quickly than we did last semester. So far we have been focusing mainly on adjectives and possessive pronouns in a variety of cases. Russian, after all, has six cases; English has one (except that there are couple pronouns with an accusative case). We sometimes try to translate real Russian advertisements and I realize just how limited we are in our powers; however, we're getting better and it's a lot of fun. Russian is an incredibly beautiful language, both in sound and in structure. The language itself is very difficult, but the class is enjoyable and not stressful. Many of my classmates from last semester are back, which is nice, and my professor is superb.


History of Modern Philosophy
My first philosophy class! When spring semester registration began, everyone flocked to the Philosophy Department; by noon on Day 2, this class had closed. I didn't register till Day 5. Luckily, I had already declared my major! For this reason, John Richardson (the head of the Phil Dep and my new academic advisor) was able to get me in. I was thrilled. So far I like this class a lot — the subject matter is fascinating, of course, and it also makes me feel as if I am progressing towards a goal (my philosophy degree, naturally). We have only been focusing on Descartes so far, but we will eventually see the works of seven major philosophers from the "early modern" period: Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Hume, Berkeley, Leibniz and Kant. These philosophers do not by any means constitute all of modern philosophy, but they do represent the rationalist/empiricist split and then Kant's "solution," as it were, to that difficulty. I don't know yet what Kant's solution is like (or even if "solution" is an appropriate word to use), but I will in a couple months. The format of this class is lecture; there are about fifty to sixty students, and mostly we just listen to the professor, Wayne Waxman. I am especially interested to hear what he will say later on, because he is an expert on Kant and holds Kant in the highest esteem.


Calculus II
I'm taking this class because I love math and especially calculus, and because I might decide to minor in mathematics. I can't say, really, what I think of this class so far. It's been both over my head and ridiculously simple at different times, and so I need to work some things out on my own. I think, though, that what I will like most about Calc II will not be the class in its own right (unlike my Soviet Russia class, which is simply a joy to attend), but rather the fact that it's a reason to keep numbers and their mathematical perfection at the forefront of my mind for a few months. This is my first math class since last spring's AP Calc at Anoka, and I'd forgotten a lot since then. Not the underlying philosophy of the math — how could I forget that? — but the techniques and properties of integration. It's coming back, though, and I still love calculus. These are all good things.



Monday
11:00-12:15: History of Modern Philosophy
12:30-1:45: Russian II
2:00-3:50: Calculus II
6:45-8:30: Orchestra rehearsal

Tuesday (a.k.a. "Russian Day")
12:30-1:45: Russian II
2:00-3:15: Russia since 1917

Wednesday
11:00-12:15: History of Modern Philosophy
12:30-1:45: Russian II
2:00-3:50: Calculus II

Thursday
12:30-1:45: Russian II
2:00-3:15: Russia since 1917
6:10-7:30: Scholars Seminar (every other week)

Friday
9:30-10:45: Russia recitation
4:00: Violin Lesson


If I could, I would have morning classes. This was simply not possible, except for my recitation, which (as you can see) I did indeed schedule for the earliest possible time.