哲学申请文书——斯坦福和阿姆赫斯特（Stanford and Amherst）

Often I lie awake in my bed at night, not moving, too exhausted even to read. The ceiling fan turns slowly overhead, the sheets are smooth and comfortable, and the house lies in the quiet stillness of night, yet I do not sleep. For hours, I am lost in contemplation, my mind incessantly weaving threads of thought together in strange patterns. I silently drift in the darkness through a landscape of intangible ideas, groping for meaning behind the shadow of existence. What is it to be? I have spent years with this question, privately turning it over, searching for its nature, for the form of its answer. I have truly been haunted by Being.

Thus philosophy for me was at first a personal matter, a dream that forced its way into my head during the night. The thoughts arose as from a vacuum, unprovoked, and persisted in their senseless hold over my mind. Yet slowly I learned that others had faced these same questions, that they had spent their lives searching for the answers, and that, most importantly, they had left a written record of their search for meaning. Great minds throughout history had left a legacy which I could follow, turning my insoluble reflections into a legitimate, potentially lifelong exploration. As time permitted, I studied philosophy, reading whatever I could find, and my quest for the nature of Being took on a more tangible presence.

Last year I joined the Humanities Forum, a program in which philosophy professors from Emory University and other Atlanta area colleges offer informal courses on a variety of themes. The classes permitted me to make a more systematic and rewarding study than my private readings allowed. Each class meets for two hours once a week, and is composed of undergraduate students, graduate students, and professionals from virtually every field. I am the youngest participant. I began the program with a twelve-week course called "Our Civilization, " with primary readings from Alexis de Tocqueville, Adam Smith, and Friedrich Nietzsche, in which we evaluated what modern culture has lost in comparison to ancient Greek and medieval value systems and social structures. Later, in "Plato vs. Descartes: Ancient and Modern Philosophy, " we explored the distinctive natures of the two philosophical eras by examining the thought of an influential thinker from each period. I am currently enrolled in "Heidegger, Metaphysics, and Nihilism." We are examining Heidegger's thesis that nihilism is the culmination of Western metaphysics by reading and discussing a variety of his works. Heidegger is the most profound thinker I have encountered; I often find myself forced to reread passages to grasp the meaning hidden within. In Heidegger, I have found the closest approach to the truth of Being, the truth I still contemplate alone at night.

Occasionally I come upon a familiar concept in my philosophical reading, one which I recognize as my own. To see my private musings, which seemed only ephemeral and abstract, expressed in the writings of a great thinker excites me to pure exhilaration. That this elusive creature Being has haunted others gives me hope; I now look forward to the setting of the sun and the sleepless night ahead.

点评：

这篇申请哲学课程的文章，如果换成申请其他科学课程，比如数学或是传媒，那么就是很普通的构思和结构：对某学科感兴趣，自己进行私下主动的学习，然后参加了科学或广泛论题的课程，水平得到科学系统化的提高，最后发现自己的进步，决心更进一步学习或是奉献给这一学科。而能体现水平与否，就看自身掌握技能高低了。

但是，就因为本文申请的是哲学，不会有扎扎实实的技术展示，因此对思想的转变和认知深度展示就成了重点；因此，申请人致力于展示一个追逐哲学终极命题，在思想上不断接近先辈，追随前人脚步的同时有自己的看法的形象。结构的简单安排没有减轻表达效果，反而更能凸显申请人朴实动人的学术热情。精致的开头引人入胜，整篇文章语言流畅，表意充分；虽然在哲学研究上申请人并不能展示过于深刻的专业研究，但是他成功的让录取委员会为其情其语感染，认识到他独有的思考和学术潜力。再次证明了文科、社会学科申请文书的一大要点：做了什么并不重要，重要的是清晰的想法和坦诚的专业热情。

译文：

斯坦福和阿姆赫斯特

我时常在夜半时分醒来，躺在床上一动不动，累得连书也不想读。天花板上的电扇缓慢地转动着，片片扇页划出轻盈的弧线，整个房间沉浸在静夜里，然而我睡不着。几个小时以来，我陷在沉思里，试图编织着思绪的丝线，编成种种奇怪的式样。黑暗中神思漂流在无形的意念之景中，试图抓住“存在”背后的真实。“存在”到底是什么，我花了许多年去寻求这各问题的答案，私下反复思考，探寻其本质以求得某种形式的答案。我真的被“存在”迷住了。

因此，对于我来说哲学首先是一个私人问题，是一个我在夜里竭尽所能追寻的梦。那些想法仿佛毫无缘故地就从真空中升起，持续占据着我的头脑；然而我渐渐认识到，还有其他人也和我一样面对同样的问题，穷尽一生来寻求其确实的意义，最重要的，还是留下了许多亲笔记录。伟大的头脑穿越历史，留下了我能够追随的宝贵遗产，让我不得所解的随意思考变成了有迹可循的终生探索。只要有时间，我总会阅读一切可以找到的书籍来学习哲学，而我对于存在本质的疑问开始有了更切实的成果。

去年的人文论坛中，我参与了来自Emory大学和其他亚特兰大学校的哲学教授们针对不同主题讲授的非正式课程。这些课程使我能进行比私下阅读更为系统和有助益的哲学学习。每一班级一周碰面两小时，由本科生、研究生和各个领域的专家组成，我是其中最年轻的一名。我们从一个十二周的课程—“我们的文化”开始，主要阅读了从Alexis de Tocqueville，亚当.史密斯到佛雷德里克.尼采的各类作品，从中发现现代文化与古希腊和中世纪价值系统及社会结构已经失去了可比性。稍后，在“柏拉图对笛卡尔：古代与现代哲学”这个课程中，我们考察了这两位大思想家的理论轨迹，从而探究两个哲学世纪与众不同的特点。我现在进行的课程是"黑格尔, 形而上学和虚无主义" 。在阅读和讨论黑格尔多个研究成果的过程中，我们验证了他关于虚无主义是西方形而上学顶点的论题。黑格尔是我迄今为止遇到的最有实现的思想家，因为我常常禁不住重新阅读他的作品来捕捉那隐藏在字里行间的真意。在黑格尔身上，我发现了接近“存在”的最近路线，而那正是我在每一个夜晚所追寻的真相。

偶尔在阅读中我会发现一些熟悉的概念，有一个仿佛就是我曾经自创的。个人的思考似乎短暂又抽象，然而看到它被伟大的思想家表达出来实在让我欣喜若狂。原来难以捉摸的“存在”也曾这样使他人着迷，这给了我莫大的希望；现在，我开始盼望太阳落山后的另一个不眠之夜了。