It is nice of our university and school to provide us students with such a precious opportunity to attend the tutorial course organized by University of Cambridge. As is known to all, University of Cambridge is one of the top universities around the world, famous as an academic pioneer both in sciences and humanities, both in education and research. Almost every student majoring in philosophy is longing to be accepted by Cambridge, especially who is obsessed with ancient philosophy, since the study of classics and ancient philosophy in Cambridge is prestigious. So, I am excited about the tutorial course, in hope of having a glimpse of ancient philosophy.
My tutor, Christian Keime, is a great scholar in this filed. He pays close attention to Plato and other ancient philosophers. In the course, what he taught us includes the origin of ancient philosophy, Socrates’ dialogues, Plato’s idealism in the Republic, and Aristotle’s philosophy. The fact that I had known some knowledge of ancient philosophy did not prevent me from enjoying the course, since the perspective on such knowledge can be different. Context books in China always ignore the detailed information of thoughts before what we call ancient philosophy. Whereas my tutor began the description by introducing such thoughts reflected in Iliad and Odyssey, which I was impressed with.
My tutor is not only good at teaching, but also has a pleasing character. He is patient and humorous, always keeping smile during classes. He collected our questions about philosophical texts and answered them clearly, always with vivid examples. After reading my essay draft, he pointed out the problems existing in it, and told me how to correct my essay and polish up it. I really appreciate his direction.
All in all, I have learned not only knowledge but also skills that a scholar should have from the tutorial course.
