Hello! My name is Cal Shin, and I am a '27 double-majoring in Economics and Philosophy. When I'm not studying or writing a blog post, you can find me drawing as the Design Editor for The Dartmouth, hosting my radio show at WebDCR, or spending time with my friends. And if I'm not doing any of those, I'm probably watching cat videos. Follow along as I share the moments that make Dartmouth feel like home!
I took this course with Professor James Binkoski and loved it! I had never taken a philosophy course prior to Dartmouth, so this introductory course in the department was perfect! After all, it combined my interests of philosophy with time and time travel — at least, how time and time travel are depicted in the media. This course may initially seem to be on the more technical side, but Professor Binkoski made sure to break down the various time travel theories — various ways scientists and philosophers think of time and its supposed movement — in a manner that’s easy for anyone to understand. A very popular course overall; I am fortunate to have been able to take it during my first term here!
I took this course with Professor Ha Yan Lee and it was absolutely amazing! I had my initial reservations about this course, mainly because I knew a lot of my classmates would have had some background knowledge while I had none. Professor Lee did a wonderful job of breaking down concepts in a manner that, as she often put it, is easy for even “your grandparents to understand”. Even beyond the course, the level of care Professor Lee exhibited towards her students is significant. She’s one of the most popular professors at Dartmouth, and for good reason! I ate lunch with her at The Pine through the Take a Faculty Member to Lunch program, and she gave me tremendous insight and advice! Because of this course, I have been inspired to explore more courses within the Econ department and potentially major in Economics.
I took this course with Professor Jasmina Savic and examined how the vampire figure evolved over time, starting with Slavic literature, going through Dracula and Twilight, and ending with “vampire” political figures. I realized what the portrayal of vampires could tell me about the thoughts of that society, including the fact that the early notions of vampirism are akin to modern-day diseases. For my final project, I wrote a research paper comparing the gumiho (the Korean nine-tailed fox) to several Western vampires.
SummerNew York City, New York
I had the opportunity to visit New York City for the summer! I met up with a good friend of mine, explored the city itself, and went to a networking event with other college students.
ECON 10 is one of the required courses for the Economics major. Based on my stellar experience with Professor Ha Yan Lee during ECON 1, when I saw that she was teaching ECON 10 this term, I immediately jumped at the chance to take the course with her. Once again, Professor Lee did an amazing job of breaking down concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. (The fact that her slideshows were colorful and featured various pictures of cats helped.)
My main interest in philosophy lies in normative and applied ethics, so when I saw the opportunity to take a class on the former, I didn’t hesitate! The class focused on consequentialism, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. I enjoyed the ample opportunities for discussion, including discussion posts about the readings, as well as the table-wide conversations. My table, in particular, had lots to say, and there was one reading in particular where we ended up diving into discussion, not once, but twice! In fact, we had so much to say that all of us coincidentally chose to write our essay on this reading — and none of us knew until after we started talking about our papers!
While not explicitly required for the Philosophy major, you can choose to take this (and many other Philosophy courses!) as one of your four electives. Prior to taking this class, feminist philosophy was completely new to me. I had traditionally been exposed to “traditional” European philosophers, and taking the class helped me realize that my lack of exposure to other philosophers outside of this demographic was a product of epistemic injustice. The class consisted of weekly readings and discussion posts, some reflections, guest lectures from the authors of several readings, and a final project of pretty much any format about any topic of our choice! I walked away from the class with a much more nuanced understanding of agency, commodification, and labor; the harms that are a result of the very nature of women tailoring themselves under male desire seemed much more insidious.
Lots of Economics majors choose to take this class during their sophomore summer, myself included! This fast-paced class was both particularly rigorous and quite fulfilling. I walked away from every lecture feeling like I learned a lot, and by the end of the term, I realized I had gained a solid foundation in statistical knowledge, research, and best practices — all of which will be useful in my higher-level Economics courses. I particularly enjoyed working on the hands-on data exercises, where we got to handle real data through Stata!
One of the perks of being a Dartmouth student is that your Dartmouth.edu inbox becomes filled with various events from a variety of departments and student organizations that are free and open to campus! Once I declared my double-majorin economics and philosophy, I started to receive emails from these departments offering a variety of free opportunities to engage with these disciplines further! One of these emails made me stop in my tracks:
The email I received inviting me to a Philosophy talk about ethical jokes.
This talk seemed timely given the fact that so many things people say in the world that could be perceived as offensive are brushed off as "just a joke." The burden then falls on the recipient of the "joke." If you react in a way that implies you found it funny, you risk opening yourself up to more "jokes." On the other hand, if you make it clear that you did not find that funny, the blame shifts to you, as you're implying their sense of humor is bad, or you're "too sensitive." While some jokes are clearly jokes that are light-hearted (even if their funniness is subjective), others toe the line between humor and offense.
This was how I found myself sitting in Dartmouth Hall 105 on a Friday afternoon, listening to Professor Kierna Setiya from MIT explain jokes in a philosophical manner. He went over what he called the "idea of basic mirth" — that is, a joke plays on the mistake of some kind of structure or being, i.e. by making fun of ourselves or making fun of others. The core nature of jokes is that they violate some type of norm. Professor Setiya then claimed that in order for a joke to be funny, the joke must violate norms in a way that warrants ethical amusement. In short, in order for a joke to be funny, one must ethically be able to be amused. If that pleasure is not warranted or ethical, then the amusement then becomes vicious. I then realized the distinction between finding something funny, amusing, and laughter as a result of either of those two. Just because a joke isn't "funny" by these terms doesn't necessarily mean that people won't find them amusing, or that they won't laugh. By the time the talk ended, I found myself thinking back to my experience with seeing other people make offensive remarks under the guise of "jokes" and how there were always some who agreed (and probably found it amusing), while others claimed offense, in a new light. In a way, our humor is indicative of our values as well.
Before my internship in Italy, I spent two terms studying in Rome. How did those experiences help prepare me for my current position? Well, let me explain!
As I begin my junior year, I feel my time at Dartmouth shifting from exploration to deeper focus, with my studies, experiences, and passions beginning to take clear shape.
One of the most unique traditions at Dartmouth is sophomore summer, where students stay on campus to take classes the summer before their junior year. My sophomore summer has been an incredibly special experience!
Senior Fall brings an eventful and diverse courseload, taking up almost all of my time! Find out what I am involved with this term and the incredible variety of classes that Dartmouth has to offer!
