Reply to Fermin well, if you're enrolled in a philosophy class, your philosophy lecturer would be one obvious option. Another would nowadays be ChatGPT and other LLM's although use them critically. But getting the attention of an 'expert in philosophy' outside those options might be a challenge. Perhaps you could lay out some of your theses here for feedback. Don't make them too long - like posting an entire paper, or a link to a paper. Maybe have a look at How to Write an OP on this site.
Reply to Fermin That, and a lot more besides. Ive been bouncing ideas off it since day 1. ChatGPT will definitely proofread, also make suggestions. But dont get seduced by it, its scarily easy to get it to just do the work for you.
I just finished pasting a section of a writing assignment into ChatGPT. It improved the language, but I'm not sure how it responds to content. What's your experience? If I explain a philosophical theory wrong for example, will it catch the mistake?
Reply to Fermin Probably, although it does make errors sometimes. ChatGPT is known to guess, sometimes - like it seems to want to impress. But overall, my experience with it has been positive - have a look at some examples - Kant's Unity of Cognition, Linking Physical and Logical Causation. There's also a very good contributor here, @Pierre-Normand, who has posted a number of dialogues with ChatGPT and numerous other models. Again, though, I feel it's easy to get sucked in by how good they are. There's a lot to be said for just being able to read perceptively and write clearly, in fact that's a large part of philosophy. if chatbots help with that, well and good, but I wouldn't want to be overly reliant.
Pierre-NormandApril 20, 2024 at 07:02#8978850 likes
I just finished pasting a section of a writing assignment into ChatGPT. It improved the language, but I'm not sure how it responds to content. What's your experience? If I explain a philosophical theory wrong for example, will it catch the mistake?
It will not point out reasoning or attribution mistakes that you made unless you explicitly prompt it to do so. And then, it will also tend to provide the most charitable interpretation of your point of view rather than attempt to convince you that your conception is wrong. In the case your are attributing ideas to a well known philosopher that clearly misrepresents their thinking, it may point it out. Be aware that ChatGPT can refer to GPT-3.5 (the free version) or to GPT-4 (the version available through a ChatGPT Plus subscription to OpenAI, or through third-party services like Poe or Perplexity). GPT-3.5 has a much lower level of understanding and a much higher proclivity to "make things up" (hallucinate) than GPT-4.
Thanks. I have a lot of experience with reading comprehension and note-taking, but I need an editor who is also kowlegable in philosophy. I have very limited experience with ChatGPT, but I will play with it a little more and see how it can help me edit essays.
It sounds like you want a reviewer, not a proof reader. There are several youtube channels by youngish ex-academics (eg Jared Henderson, Nathan Hawkins at Absolute Philosophy). One of them might help for a fee, especially if you can find one who shares your philosophical interests.
Well, I don't know why some would use ChatGPT - or other AI - to proofread a philosophical paper or essay. If I am not wrong, @Fermin wants a review by an expert. I recommend you to try to get in contact with Kelley Ross: Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. I usually have exchanges with him. He always answers back. Yet I don't know if he will be willing to review your essays. I think it is worth a try, anyway.
On the other hand, regarding the quality of proofreading by ChatGPT, I must say I am disappointed. I am non-native, and I used this AI to proofread the grammar of my posts before posting here. But, what it did, was changing the sense of my text, rather than just checking the grammar. I mean, the AI rewrote all the text...
Proofreading is checking for grammar and spelling usually, not really content. It sounds like you are looking for feedback on your ideas. If so this forum might be useful. A certain thickness of skin helps here but it's not too bad. Most people are helpful. If you want someone to read your whole essay and offer detailed feedback you may have to pay someone. But you can get it for free if you post up interesting snippets to the forum and it grabs people's interest.
I decided that I will contact the philosophy professor at the local college and ask him if he can be my mentor.
I hope that works for you. I was a math prof for many years, and at large universities senior faculty might simply give an unsolicited paper to a grad student as an assignment to critique. It may be the same in philosophy.
I was a math prof for many years, and at large universities senior faculty might simply give an unsolicited paper to a grad student as an assignment to critique
Agreed. From my own experience contacting faculty, it highly depends on the individual.
OP will have a better shot if what he has written has some connection to the professor's publications.
Comments (14)
I just finished pasting a section of a writing assignment into ChatGPT. It improved the language, but I'm not sure how it responds to content. What's your experience? If I explain a philosophical theory wrong for example, will it catch the mistake?
It will not point out reasoning or attribution mistakes that you made unless you explicitly prompt it to do so. And then, it will also tend to provide the most charitable interpretation of your point of view rather than attempt to convince you that your conception is wrong. In the case your are attributing ideas to a well known philosopher that clearly misrepresents their thinking, it may point it out. Be aware that ChatGPT can refer to GPT-3.5 (the free version) or to GPT-4 (the version available through a ChatGPT Plus subscription to OpenAI, or through third-party services like Poe or Perplexity). GPT-3.5 has a much lower level of understanding and a much higher proclivity to "make things up" (hallucinate) than GPT-4.
Thanks. I have a lot of experience with reading comprehension and note-taking, but I need an editor who is also kowlegable in philosophy. I have very limited experience with ChatGPT, but I will play with it a little more and see how it can help me edit essays.
You can try Claude too.
On the other hand, regarding the quality of proofreading by ChatGPT, I must say I am disappointed. I am non-native, and I used this AI to proofread the grammar of my posts before posting here. But, what it did, was changing the sense of my text, rather than just checking the grammar. I mean, the AI rewrote all the text...
Thanks for the response. I had the same experience with ChatGPT. However, it is a good tool for exploring essay topics and developing outlines.
I decided that I will contact the philosophy professor at the local college and ask him if he can be my mentor.
I hope that works for you. I was a math prof for many years, and at large universities senior faculty might simply give an unsolicited paper to a grad student as an assignment to critique. It may be the same in philosophy.
Agreed. From my own experience contacting faculty, it highly depends on the individual.
OP will have a better shot if what he has written has some connection to the professor's publications.