Allison Farrell
- What do you like about studying philosophy at Harvard? Philosophy trains you how to think like no other discipline. In fact, I would say that philosophy is more a way of thinking than a subject with its own domain; government, economics, sociology, anthropology, physics, and many more disciplines study similar questions at times. What sets philosophy apart for me is its focus on the arguments themselves. It has provided a place to ask questions that might be seen as extraneous or pedantic elsewhere. In philosophy, the smallest consideration matters. This has taught me to be a better thinker and taught me new ways of thinking; this way of thinking is characterized, for me, as a kind of radical inquisitiveness, equality, and openness. The best lectures, seminars, and readings leave me with a profound sense of curiosity, wonder, and excitement. Just as important to me, however, has been the community I have found in philosophy at Harvard. The faculty in the philosophy department are also some of the most encouraging, open-minded, and caring people I have ever met. Every single one with whom I have taken a course or even simply had a conversation has taken a genuine interest in my academic (and sometimes even personal) successes and growth. This year, I am also serving as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Review of Philosophy; for me, this is the center of the undergraduate philosophy community on campus, and through it, I have made meaningful personal and intellectual connections that I cherish deeply.
- House: Leverett House
- Concentration: Philosophy
- Other Concentrations Considered: Government and Social Studies
- Courses Taken: Phil 8 (Self and World: Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy), Phil 178Z (Inequality), Phil 4 (Logic I), Phil 169W (The Philosophy of Bernard Williams), Phil 129 (Kant's First Critique), Phil 97 (Causation and Explanation), Hist 1323 (German Social Thought), Hist 1324 (French Social Thought), and Gov 63 (Topics and Resources in Political Theory)
- Thesis: Since I am a rising junior, I have not yet decided on my thesis topic but plan on writing one in my senior year. Currently, I anticipate writing somewhere in the domain of either social/political philosophy or the history of 20th-century European philosophy, but I am open to seeing where this year takes me and exploring new interests!
- Other Interests / Notes: Social Thought, Normative Political Philosophy, the History of Post-Kantian European Philosophy (Particularly Heidegger and Foucault), the History of Early Modern Philosophy, and the Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality.