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Philosophy is not different from other areas of study in that respect. Post-grad physics is very different from undergrad physics too. A general way to conside

Philosophy is not different from other areas of study in that respect. Post-grad physics is very different from undergrad physics too. A general way to consider the difference between undergrad and post-grad flavors of an academic discipline is that undergrad is primarily about learning how to apply what is known, while post-grad is primarily about exploring the unknown to create new knowledge. These are very different mindsets; it's one reason that so many successful undergrads with great grades never make it to Ph.D. or beyond.

lmm 9y ago
> Philosophy is not different from other areas of study in that respect. Post-grad physics is very different from undergrad physics too. > A general way to consider the difference between undergrad and post-grad flavors of an academic discipline is that undergrad is primarily about learning how to apply what is known, while post-grad is primarily about exploring the unknown to create new knowledge. The practice of researching physics is very different from the practice of teaching physics, sure. But it's the same "physics"; graduate physicists would be happy for their discipline to be judged by undergraduate physics (and undergraduate philosophy does include Aristotle, Aquinas and all that).
- snowwrestler 9y ago
  I'm not sure what you mean by graduate physicists being "judged" by undergraduate physics, but most of what is taught in undergrad physics--Newtonian mechanics, optics, and gravity; Maxwell electromagnetism; the Bohr model of the atom, etc.--is sort of "wrong" in that it is an abstraction or simplification of the underlying theories that professional physicists spend their time considering and testing. If someone told you that they are a professional physicist and you said "oh, so you time pendulums and drop various objects from heights and build simple circuits," (common in undergrad physics labs) they would probably look at you funny. Undergrads simply don't have the math to do "real" physics. Even Feynman couldn't change that. He tried to build an intro to physics course around "real" physics, starting with the electron, but he ultimately judged his effort a failure.

lmm 9y ago

> Philosophy is not different from other areas of study in that respect. Post-grad physics is very different from undergrad physics too. > A general way to consider the difference between undergrad and post-grad flavors of an academic discipline is that undergrad is primarily about learning how to apply what is known, while post-grad is primarily about exploring the unknown to create new knowledge. The practice of researching physics is very different from the practice of teaching physics, sure. But it's the same "physics"; graduate physicists would be happy for their discipline to be judged by undergraduate physics (and undergraduate philosophy does include Aristotle, Aquinas and all that).

snowwrestler 9y ago
I'm not sure what you mean by graduate physicists being "judged" by undergraduate physics, but most of what is taught in undergrad physics--Newtonian mechanics, optics, and gravity; Maxwell electromagnetism; the Bohr model of the atom, etc.--is sort of "wrong" in that it is an abstraction or simplification of the underlying theories that professional physicists spend their time considering and testing. If someone told you that they are a professional physicist and you said "oh, so you time pendulums and drop various objects from heights and build simple circuits," (common in undergrad physics labs) they would probably look at you funny. Undergrads simply don't have the math to do "real" physics. Even Feynman couldn't change that. He tried to build an intro to physics course around "real" physics, starting with the electron, but he ultimately judged his effort a failure.