Physics or Physics and Philosophy?

I searched for this topic, but the thread was closed. Hope this is in the correct place :smile:

If not, I'm sorry, and could it please be used (call me a newbish ignoramus if you have to :p:

)

I got 6A*s adn 4As at GCSE, and am currently doing Physics, French, English Literature, Film Studies at AS level, and A2 maths (I started it a year early). As you can see, I do not do Philosophy and Ethics, and did not do RS for GCSE. HOWEVER, I have done a bit of philosophical reading (as well as borrowed some books from the library that the Oxford physphil site listed under 'suggested reading'), and enjoy thinking and discussing about various different philosophysical aspects. Because of my strong physics, and enjoyment in 'philosophising', I very much liked the sound of the Physics and Philosophy course. However, the 'details of the course' in the Oxford Undergraduate Prospectus are not all that detailed. The physics sound like good fun, but the philosophy was pretty vague. Sadly enough, I'm the kind of person who gets bored (or may well get bored) with some aspects of philosophy; I would not like to spend hours debating whether the chair that I see in front of me is actually there or not. In short, there are some areas of philosophy that I'm pretty sure I'd find tedious. Others, I'd thoroughly enjoy.

My question is this: Should I, at the risk of getting bored with some areas of philosophy, go for the Physics and Philosophy? If so, how much choice is there, in terms of what exactly can be done? OR, should I go for the perhaps 'safer' course of plain Physics, which, sadly enough, includes areas such as electromagnetis, which I currently (and since first doing it at GCSE) have a distaste for. Again, how much leeway is there in the plain Physics course, in terms of the areas covered?

I am considering applying to Oxford, but if e.g Bristol offers a better course for my needs, i would have no problem with ditching the Oxford choice. I am well aware that the courses vary slightly from Uni to Uni (Or less slightly. E.g. a physics teacher at my school read Physics and Philosophy at York, where it was more 2/3 physics and 1/3 philosophy. I think I would prefer a 50-50)

Also, any advice about the subjects (Further Maths, Film Studies...) to carry on / drop next year would be highly appreciated.

Thanks a lot! :smile:

Sir Esh

Reply 1

Sir Esh

OP

Oxford, Bristol and York offer Physics and Philosophy, but they are not all quite the same course, are they? For example, the course at York is a 2/3 physics, 1/3 philosophy course, whereas at Bristol and Oxford, it is moe 50-50, or so I have been led to believe.

I would be most grateful for any advice you can give me regarding the exact areas covered in the course at various Unis, and which one is better in your opinion, and why.

Thanks, a lot! :smile:

Sir Esh

Reply 2

F1 fanatic

16

Sir Esh

I searched for this topic, but the thread was closed. Hope this is in the correct place :smile:

If not, I'm sorry, and could it please be used (call me a newbish ignoramus if you have to :p:

)

I got 6A*s adn 4As at GCSE, and am currently doing Physics, French, English Literature, Film Studies at AS level, and A2 maths (I started it a year early). As you can see, I do not do Philosophy and Ethics, and did not do RS for GCSE. HOWEVER, I have done a bit of philosophical reading (as well as borrowed some books from the library that the Oxford physphil site listed under 'suggested reading'), and enjoy thinking and discussing about various different philosophysical aspects. Because of my strong physics, and enjoyment in 'philosophising', I very much liked the sound of the Physics and Philosophy course. However, the 'details of the course' in the Oxford Undergraduate Prospectus are not all that detailed. The physics sound like good fun, but the philosophy was pretty vague. Sadly enough, I'm the kind of person who gets bored (or may well get bored) with some aspects of philosophy; I would not like to spend hours debating whether the chair that I see in front of me is actually there or not. In short, there are some areas of philosophy that I'm pretty sure I'd find tedious. Others, I'd thoroughly enjoy.

My question is this: Should I, at the risk of getting bored with some areas of philosophy, go for the Physics and Philosophy? If so, how much choice is there, in terms of what exactly can be done? OR, should I go for the perhaps 'safer' course of plain Physics, which, sadly enough, includes areas such as electromagnetis, which I currently (and since first doing it at GCSE) have a distaste for. Again, how much leeway is there in the plain Physics course, in terms of the areas covered?

I am considering applying to Oxford, but if e.g Bristol offers a better course for my needs, i would have no problem with ditching the Oxford choice. I am well aware that the courses vary slightly from Uni to Uni (Or less slightly. E.g. a physics teacher at my school read Physics and Philosophy at York, where it was more 2/3 physics and 1/3 philosophy. I think I would prefer a 50-50)

Also, any advice about the subjects (Further Maths, Film Studies...) to carry on / drop next year would be highly appreciated.

Thanks a lot! :smile:

Sir Esh

Hey,

Well I do straight physics at Oxford, though don't know a huge amount about the Physics and philosophy option. The physics and philosophy clearly don't do as much stuff as straight physics, but they cover broadly the same areas. They do EM also, but later. They take the first year course in the 2nd year I believe.

This is the handbook for physics and philosophy:

Handbook

I hope you can access it but it may only be available if you are on the network, Im not sure. To be honest though, physics at A level is really nothing like physics at degree level. Its much more interesting, much more mathematical, and considerably more intuitive. Even EM can be interesting sometimes.

There is limited scope for philosophy on a straight physics course. The course is very heavily structured and you only get to choose one short option a year. Everything else you have to do. There is though a short option on the philosophy of science, but I doubt this has the level of philosophy you would like. It is only a very small part of the degree.

As for subjects to carry on, if at all possible carry on with further maths. It will be a huge help at degree level and you make your life very difficult by not doing it. Its not the end of the world if you don't, but I do highly recommend it. Obviously you'd also need to do physics and maths. After that its up to you.

I don't actually know, but I assume that they do take on people for the physphil course that haven't done philosophy before?

Hope this helps to some extent. Sorry can't give you more info

Edit: I assume you have seen these sites:

http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/courses/phph.shtml

http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/admissions/degrees/PhysPhil.htm

Reply 3

Ana

19

If you're wondering what happened, I merged both your threads, and edited the second so that it made sense in this thread (rather than leaving a recursive link) :smile:

Oh, and it's in the correct place now :biggrin:

Reply 4

Sir Esh

OP

Ah, ok, thanks a lot, Princess Ana!

F1 fanatic, thanks for the info. It sounds like a straight physics course would not be such an interesting/appropriate course for me in that case.

I've printed most of the handbook out, so i'll flick through that as well.

It says that the course is "a lot of hard work". For someone doing 5 AS subjects, will that be a problem?

Reply 5

F1 fanatic

16

Sir Esh

Ah, ok, thanks a lot, Princess Ana!

F1 fanatic, thanks for the info. It sounds like a straight physics course would not be such an interesting/appropriate course for me in that case.

I've printed most of the handbook out, so i'll flick through that as well.

It says that the course is "a lot of hard work". For someone doing 5 AS subjects, will that be a problem?

Any course at Oxford is very difficult. Its certainly a lot of work, more so than A-level. Certainly more challenging and stretching also. But it really depends how much time you are prepared to put into it. How much time you want to spend is really up to you, but obviously it will have an overall effect on your degree level.

Reply 6

Sir Esh

OP

Ok, I think I'll go have a read through the handbook, then. From what I've heard now, it seems like I will apply for the Oxford Physics and Philosophy course. Still need to find some others, though..
Thanks!

Reply 7

r0manticide17

3

I dont know much about philosophy. Seems like you'd be snowed under by loose papers and the sort. How could you ever get bored with physics?! <3

heh, just kidding. If it was me i would do straight physics (which is what I will be doing) but if you seem to like the philosophy, then id say go for it and do what you think will be most useful and enjoyable. Sorry i wasnt much help :frown:

Reply 8

FeralWolf25

I have just completed Philosophy and Physics at (Scottish) Higher (roughly AS) level and they are very interesting subjects. However, as someone who is good at physics, I found it particularily difficult to write superb essays. Obviously you must argue from a logical view in philosophy, but the language of mathematics is very different to the subtle language of English. My oral arguments were vastly superior to my written arguments, however you are obviously not I and may find the essay writing is a strength as well as mathematical ability, maybe it would be worth a try to write a philosophical argument and present it to a RMPS (Religious, moral and philosophical studies) teacher.

Physics or Physics and Philosophy?

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