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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)

#151

Post by vidrioglass »

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…

Too bad he wasn't "searching, exploring, wondering" in a field of science that matters.

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

#152

Post by cbgb »

pdabbadabba wrote: post #134
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)…

Philosophy/(Pure) Math double major here.

I would argue that my Math degree made me a "better" writer than my Philosophy degree did. Writing quality in philosophy is generally much poorer than other disciplines; you pretty much have to use passive voice everywhere, which is the first thing your college writing lab will tell you not to do.

On the other hand, in my Math classes, I had to turn in 5-10 pages of proofs every week/every other day for problem set work. It was this work that taught me how to write clearly and parsimoniously, much more so than my Philosophy courses.

Of course, YMMV.

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

#153

Post by nickpsecurity »

dpweb wrote: post #114
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 dismiss…

I agree with argonaut. I did have a philosophy class in college. However, most of my time on it was spent reading books, discussing such subjects with people of many views, looking at real-world events to see which philosophies hold up against them, doing thought experiments, and so on.

I bet this taught me way more than an academic program with a narrow focus run by one or more people probably within same or similar political leanings. Plus, I learned business and tech skills. :)

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

#155

Post by gbog »

dpweb wrote: post #114
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 dismiss…

The philosophy of the origins in the West and in the East did not care even a little bit about "man" or "God". It did care a lot about how to live together. It was mostly about morals and politics. I think today philosophy has sunk in metaphysics, and it is a shame because we need more than ever to learn how to live together.

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

#156

Post by saint_fiasco »

osullivj wrote: post #89

"Philosophy is the discipline whose adherents kick up a load of dust, then complain they can't see". Murray Gell-Mann. Mind you, I do have a degree in Philosophy from a faculty very firmly in the analytic school. Logic, metaphysics and ontology have been helpful in thinking about software problems. For instance, you can think of Russell's On Denoting ("the king of France is bald") as being about null pointers, or dan…

According to Dennet, "AI makes philosophy honest".

Philosophy benefits from the precision and enforced clarity of computer science and math.

I'm sure computer science can benefit from philosophy too, but not sure if the benefit is enough that it's worth it for a computer scientist to study philosophy in the time they would otherwise use to study computer science.

Of course it's always better to be proficient in both.

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

#157

Post by hartator »

IsaacL wrote: post #88
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…

I started a course in philosophy during my first year of university. I studied CS (in the UK, where you don't typically go far outside your major) but I'd always been curious about the humanities and thought it worthwhile to learn about all fields of knowledge. I'd also read about philosophy for laymen books as a teenager. In the first lecture, I remember being surprised at how rational and logical the lecturer was.…

Similar studies and experience, I also think that Objectivism is one of the strongest philosophies. It's kind of ironic that we have to talk about Objectivism without naming the main author for politic reasons.

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

#158

Post by coldtea »

danielam wrote: post #139
coldtea wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

As long as the inhabitants agree on a specific course of things and have found them to help the city, the "good of the city" as concerning its government is meant as just following that.

So, "good of the city" as in "doing what the city deems good", not as in moral.

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

#159

Post by RandomOpinion »

chestervonwinch wrote: post #112
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.

> 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…

>Because, like it or not, the majority of people's education is the means to obtain a job in a related field.

The community college system is more than enough for those who view postsecondary education as a mere vocational program and doesn't require going "tens of thousands of dollars into debt".

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