Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

mic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 219 posts

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

#111

Post by coldtea »

pavlov wrote: post #99
objectiveariel wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I'd be the Philosopher King in Plato's Republic. First thing I'd do is ban JavaScript programming.

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.

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

#112

Post by chestervonwinch »

lagadu wrote: post #104
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'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.

> why is there an assumption that what you study at university has to be in any way related to the job market?

Because, like it or not, the majority of people's education is the means to obtain a job in a related field. People don't go tens of thousands of dollars into debt for some l'art pour l'art interest development; they do it because they expect the benefit from the degree (i.e., as a ticket into the job market in a field related to the degree) to outweigh the cost.

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

#113

Post by irishcoffee »

lagadu wrote: post #104
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'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."

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

#114

Post by dpweb »

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…

It says more about our society that the person who chooses to study philosophy. Making more money is valuable and not making much is looked down upon. But, how happy are we? What philosophy can do is expand your mind beyond what society has told you. Consider these questions in looking at your existence,

What can I know? What must I do? What is man? What is God?

They're not to be scoffed at, waved away with a dismissive.. well how much do you make? You don't need much to live you'll find when you get into those questions in your life instead of how much more money can I make to buy stuff I don't need.

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

#115

Post by objectiveariel »

pavlov wrote: post #99
objectiveariel wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I'd be the Philosopher King in Plato's Republic. First thing I'd do is ban JavaScript programming.

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.

Decapitation. That'll teach you loose coupling.

Beware: Those lacking a sense of humour will be sentenced to impalement.

Besides, I'm not like Creon. Creon was into Delphi, and I'm not into Pascal.

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

#116

Post by FussyZeus »

lagadu wrote: post #104
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'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.

> why is there an assumption that what you study at university has to be in any way related to the job market?

Because you've borrowed an extraordinary amount of money, sometimes 2 or 3 years of what many Americans would consider a great salary, to attend said institution and the bank would like that money back at some point, they outline that fairly well in the documentation none of us read.

Honestly I think it's insane that one day, your given graduating high schooler has to raise his/her hand to go to the bathroom, and the next day they're entrusted to decide more or less how the next 70 years of their life will play out with incredibly little information at their disposal.

There's nothing wrong with philosophy or any of the classical educations, they are no doubt important. But priority #1 should be making sure your university's newest graduate doesn't starve to death in the street holding a $90,000 degree with "ANYTHING HELPS" written on the backside.

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

#117

Post by faktorialas »

saintzozo wrote: post #34
mablap wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Analytic philosophy has made my mind a razor. [...] Formal mathematical training (graduate) will do that to you too. I often find myself thinking with abstract algebra ideas (groups, vectors, vector spaces, commutation relations, etc).

I'm well trained in mathematics. It's certainly healthy. However, I often find that outside of their professional work, mathematicians are more willing to part with rigueur than the philosophers across the hall. Notice how most mathematicians aren't particularly interested in foundations of mathematics, for example.

I don't know about willingness. There's one way to back up your point though. Philosophers learn to apply rigor in very broad situations, getting used to usisng it everywhere.

Mathematicians apply it very rigorously, but mostly in math. Applying that to other areas without specific training is difficult. For this reason, academic philosophy makes a person more rigorous in life generally.

Until you meet a math problem, of course.

Not that learning anything as rigorous and precise as math won't teach you clearer thinking - of course it will.

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

#118

Post by imtringued »

lagadu wrote: post #104
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'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.

>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?

I think the problem is on the employer/recruiter side. They use college/university degrees as a signaling mechanism to weed out candidates. To make sure that everyone can get the signalling degrees the government offers student loans. The tuition costs rise for everyone including those who don't want a signalling degree. They end up paying more without reaping the benefits of the signalling mechanism.

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

#119

Post by impostervt »

I recently discovered an interest in philosophy, and found this book a great introduction. There's lots of different types of philosophy - maybe you're interested in what makes a government good, or maybe you're more into the whole "what is reality" part of it - and this book provides an introduction to the different types, as well as the major philosophers from the last 25000 years.

https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Book-Ideas-Simply-Explaine...

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

#120

Post by anotherarray »

I waited to have a established career and money to pursue a Philosophy degree just for the sake of it.

Many Americans obsess about graduating in their "dream field" before they're 22. It's much better not to worry about food, roommates, books, and so forth.

Post reply on HN