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Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

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Re: Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

#131

Post by spacehome »

Chinjut wrote: post #67
andkon wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this satire? This is pretty much the perfect expression of all the most insufferable moments and people I knew during my own analytic philosophy education. It's even wrapped up in the fondest delusion of philosophy undergrads: that you, through the sheer strength of your intellect, rose above your surroundings. Your shit ain't that great, man. If anyone goes through four years of philosophy and is talking about th…

Huh. Their website ( http://soixante-neuf.homosexual.horse/veritas/ ) does seem at least somewhat satirical, and yet, if they are trolling, they are quite committed to it. They do seem to post a lot on reddit about Brown: https://www.reddit.com/user/saintzozo . Although those posts seem like a lot of trolling as well. Ah, I dunno. It's difficult for me to figure out exactly the dynamics of trolling vs. other forms of…

I spent some time reading his reddit posts. I'm pretty sure it's not satire.

Re: Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

#132

Post by organsnyder »

irishcoffee wrote: post #113
lagadu wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm proud of it, but I'd never boast about how poorly it prepared me for the job market. This is what I don't get: why is there an assumption that what you study at university has to be in any way related to the job market? You study something because you have an interest in developing it further, being able to get a job doing it is just a secondary perk.

"See the sad thing about a guy like you, is in about 50 years you’re gonna start doin' some thinkin' on your own and you’re gonna come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life. One, don't do that. And two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin’ education you coulda' got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library."

If you approach college as a consumer of the information fed by professors and books, the Public Library approach is probably a great value proposition (though I'd question whether that $1.50 provided any value at all... :-) ).

However, a good education is much more than this. It includes the opportunity to engage in back-and-forth discussions with professors and classmates, building social and professional networks that can pay innumerable dividends, and to pursue experiences that aren't immediately related to career advancement.

College shouldn't merely be about vocational training. While that's one valuable outcome, there is much more that can be gained. Of course, many colleges (and individual students' experiences) fall far short of this—I wish I thought this way when I was in school, and didn't just see it as another hurdle to full adulthood—but that doesn't mean that the concept is flawed.

Re: Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

#133

Post by norea-armozel »

I like some parts of philosophy like Whitehead, Dennett, and Rachels but beyond them I really find most philosophers to be intentionally too murky. So, I'm impressed when someone dares to slog through philosophy and come up with something of substance from it. But honestly, I think people are better served by majoring in math and only taking a minor in philosophy if they weren't hard set on any given field of study.

Re: Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

#134

Post by pdabbadabba »

objectiveariel wrote: post #75

I love this bit: "I prefer to spend my college years searching, exploring, and wondering, as opposed to training to become an "asset" in the file cabinet of a "human resource" department. Rock on fellow baristas, rock on." Translation: "I'll come out of university with no transferrable skills whatsoever. Dreadfully unintellectual dead-end jobs are where I'll be able to keep pursuing my love of knowledge". Dude. The a…

> I'll come out of university with no transferrable skills whatsoever

I think this reflects a common misunderstanding about either philosophy or what constitutes a "transferable skill." Philosophy teaches writing (quite intensively, in a good program) and abstract analytical skills. I have a philosophy degree and not only have I found it valuable, prospective employers have too. This especially true in my field (law), but I have heard it is true in others as well.

Of course, your experience will vary depending on the type of jobs you're looking at. Some industries will expect specific concrete skills that a philosophy degree will not teach you. And others will tend to be less populated, largely for cultural reasons, by people who understand its value. But this is no different from any other area of study: you have to have some idea of what you want to do in order to determine what field of study would be helpful.

Re: Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

#135

Post by throwaway729 »

timwaagh wrote: post #95

Most of the criticism i have regarding the humanities and philosophy in particular does not apply to the american situation as people there pay for their own education. if a private individual wants to spend some time developing as a human being, reading classic texts, admiring thinkers of past ages and polishing his rhetoric and is willing to pay. then i say that's a good choice and power to him. if a government pay…

So how do you square that with the fact that a lot of secondary education is not remotely "useful" for most jobs?

The most common argument I've heard for universal secondary education is that some amount of liberal education is necessary for a functioning democracy. Which I think is definitely true, and the only question is where to draw the line. It's clear to me that we shouldn't draw the line prior to literacy and basic numeracy, but it's not clear why the current position of the line -- right between secondary and higher education -- is more meritorious than any other position.

Re: Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

#136

Post by bbctol »

norea-armozel wrote: post #133

I like some parts of philosophy like Whitehead, Dennett, and Rachels but beyond them I really find most philosophers to be intentionally too murky. So, I'm impressed when someone dares to slog through philosophy and come up with something of substance from it. But honestly, I think people are better served by majoring in math and only taking a minor in philosophy if they weren't hard set on any given field of study.

Philosophy's got a lot of different schools, and there are plenty of people who major in it and still stick to the dry and analytic (confusing because it uses way too many numbers and greek letters) and avoid the continental style (confusing because it uses way too many made up words and rambling anecdotes.)

Re: Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

#137

Post by bbctol »

jraedisch wrote: post #73
johan_larson wrote: post #72

I studied some philosophy in college, and found the experience pretty disappointing. The field addresses some really fascinating problems, but I'm not too impressed with their answers. A typical assignment in philosophy consists of thinking about a really hard problem with no good solutions, picking one, and arguing for it. And since there are so few fixed points, almost anything is arguable. Really, it's a debater's…

The rules of logic should be applied in philosophy as in physics. If you don't do that, or there is no competent judge (e.g. teacher) things tend to get out of hand, especially with people studying philosophy because they "can't do math".

But how do we decide what "the rules of logic" are? And here we go...

Re: Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

#138

Post by Aqueous »

pjc50 wrote: post #77
Chinjut wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. Their website ( http://soixante-neuf.homosexual.horse/veritas/ ) does seem at least somewhat satirical, and yet, if they are trolling, they are quite committed to it. They do seem to post a lot on reddit about Brown: https://www.reddit.com/user/saintzozo . Although those posts seem like a lot of trolling as well. Ah, I dunno. It's difficult for me to figure out exactly the dynamics of trolling vs. other forms of…

> Their website ( http://soixante-neuf.homosexual.horse/veritas/ ) does seem at least somewhat satirical How far through the URL did you read before realising that?

Honestly? Still not sure myself. The "leave a comment for my secretary" form is either some Grade-A douchebaggery or trolling perfected. But if this whole thing is intentional satire then it's too many layers deep to make its point.

Re: Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

#139

Post by danielam »

coldtea wrote: post #111
pavlov wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Under what penalty? Such a capriciously specific command makes it sound like you'd be more of a run-of-the-mill tyrant à la Creon.

Creon wasn't a run-of-the-mill tyrant -- he was a respected monarch who put the good of the city over moral/religious concerns. His dispute with Antigone is about law vs personal/religious ethics, not about him being a capricious tyrant (besides in the end he relents). Her brother was a traitor.

"put the good of the city over moral/religious concerns"

Now there's a statement. The "good of city" is itself a moral concern.

Re: Why I Majored in Philosophy Despite Everyone Telling Me Not To (2013)

#140

Post by user731955373 »

slfnflctd wrote: post #121
pmoriarty wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Science can certainly be an interesting pastime, can provide lots of interesting and intellectually stimulating results, is arguably responsible for the technical advances we see around us, and you're likely to make more money and get more respect as a scientist than as a professional philosopher, but how much we're learning about the wold through science is very much open to debate. For one, the scientific study of…

I noticed you failed to mention utilitarianism, which asserts that there is no better guiding principle for ethical choices than the greatest potential well being (or happiness) of all affected sentient individuals. [This is the one Sam Harris gets accused of 'ripping off' without mentioning it by philosophy types who dislike him.] I've heard and read a whole lotta bluster from people who have nitpicky issues with it…

http://static.existentialcomics.com/comics/peterSingersBasem...
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