I have a major in Philosophy. I ended up working as a software developer (I wasn't doing well economically, and being on a third world country without a strong philosophical community didn't help either), but I don't regret having studied it. It enriched my life and gave me many reasoning and problem solving tools that are helpful both inside and outside of my work. I'll do it again.
@Rizekrispy hey there. It was rough at the beginning. I managed to get into a tech company, but as a call center operative. That allowed me to pay for my online courses. When a dev job post opened at said company, I got in as a junior. I guess I was also lucky that this company valued the effort I put in, and liked their workers to ascend.
I majored in philosophy because after already getting an associate's degree in multimedia arts and technologies and failing to get a career off the ground with that in the half a year or so after I graduated that program, I started considering whether I should maybe look for work in a different field, and one thing that coworkers at my get-through-college job consistently told me was that I was a great teacher, so I thought "maybe I should be a teacher!" I wanted to teach a wide variety of subjects because my interests are very broad, so I figured I would target elementary school teaching since that's before classes specialize. I asked the career counselors at my community college where to begin with trying to become an elementary school teacher, and they said the first step was to get a bachelor's degree in pretty much anything, and then I could get a teaching credential after that and begin teaching, then later maybe get a master's in education if I wanted to too. So I had to pick a subject to study for that bachelor's degree, and since it could be anything I wanted for career purposes, I thought about what it was I would most enjoy studying. Out of all the subjects I had studied as electives and general education requirements while working on my earlier associate's degree, philosophy was the one that had jumped out at me the most. In my very first college class, an English class, we had been introduced to the notion of syllogisms, and I literally exclaimed with excitement "it's like algebra with words!" The term after that English class, there were two options for the follow-up class: a literature class, or a critical thinking / persuasive writing class. The latter was in the philosophy department, and was basically about informal logic and how to write a sound argumentative essay. I really enjoyed it, so when an option to fulfill one of my general education requirements later was the Intro to Philosophy class, I picked that. Right away from just the structure of the syllabus, I realized that this was the topic I had always kind of dreamed of. I had always had very broad intellectual interests, and was always searching for ever more and more fundamental principles underlying all of those interests. So over time I had increasingly focused my natural science interests toward physics, which seemed to underlie all of the natural sciences; and I likewise focused my social science interests toward something in the direction of economics or political science, looking for something underlying that cluster of interests as well. When I looked at the syllabus for that Intro to Philosophy class and saw it structured broadly into metaphysics and ethics, I thought that that was the field for me, the one investigating both the big questions of what is real or existent or factual or true (and how it did come to be), and what is moral or valuable or normative or good (and why it should come to be). So that's what I picked to major in for my bachelor's degree. And though I ended up deciding not to be a teacher after all, and falling back on my multimedia degree instead as a graphic designer and then software engineer (now making a lot more than I likely would be as a teacher, and in a much easier work environment too), I loved the subject so much that I had continued a project that had begun with a mandatory "thought journal" assignment in that intro class, documenting my own views on the various topics within philosophy, the combinations of strong points made by everyone on every side of every topic, the missing pieces still unaccounted for after that, and the symmetries and interrelations between them, tracing both all of my own views and all of those I found problematic back to small sets of very general principles. That became the foundations of a book on the subject that I've been continually reworking in my spare time ever since, which I hope against hope will some day be something that anybody cares about, and may pan out to have been a worthwhile effort that actually contributed something of value to posterity despite never becoming a real academic.
Thanks so much for sharing your story! I definitely empathize with the feeling of walking into a philosophy class for the first time a realizing that it is a discipline that studies all of the things I had thought about for years, (logic, epistemology, modality) but never realized they had a name. Let me know if you ever finish the book, it sounds like it would be interesting to read!
In high school, my peers keep recommending me that i should major in Philosophy, based on how much i engaged in various philosophical discussions. I didn't followed that recommendation on two basis, weak and strong one. Weak one was the "Major and Money" problem. Philosophy doesn't earn much in my native country, so i chose to go for a major that earn better. In addition to this, I had much bigger problem with going for a Philosophy Major and that's "They dont teach philosophy, they teach fallacy-shaped mental vomits to support their otherwise crappy worldview", this is what i actually said to myself. I live in a theocratic-run third world country in which academic philosophy is a tool to "prove" government-approved stances as "logical facts", which specifically wasn't what i wanted from philosophy. Fast forward to now. The weak problem is no longer applicable, but a modified version of bigger one is still valid: Formal philosophy have a tendency to turn already snobby individuals into full fledged psudeo-intellectuals. Anytime i check reddit's philosophy or askphilosophy subreddits, it just pains my how utterly meaningless word salad people can came up with just to look cool. No thanks, i prefer YT's comment section to discuss about hard problem of consciousness and Idealism.
It's hard to say if my nature (analytic, argumentative, and good at problem solving) led me to be able to excel in my philosophy degree, or if what I learned in my degree helped me to fortify my existing strengths. Honestly, something I would love to do would be to discuss philosophy and politics on UA-cam or Twitch (in more of a debate setting), and maybe even one day move towards a real political career. My background in science, ethics, and metaethics seems like a great base for these paths, but it's hard to start because of the initial capital needed, and the continuing need to make money now to be able to support myself and my family.
It is hard to start up something like that, and often takes time to get something like that started, time you may not have if you need to spend time making money to support a family. That said, if you are interested in politics, you can always go to work in government (a very good use of a philosophy degree) to get your feet wet. And, depending where you are, government jobs often pay well and offer good job security.
A note: I possess a doctorate in Germanics (USA), a doctorate in philosophy (Germany) and even more advanced doctorate in philosophy (Spain). During my life I have at least 17 years in at least 6 or 7 universities in 4 different countries--and I have never earned a cent, centavo or kopek. No one has as many degrees as I and earned naught for it all. Why do it? For health reasons, teaching was for long periods was not possible for me (and it was seldom my thing), so I was like the wandering Jew (only I am a gentile) moving hither and thither absorbed in the philosophical traditions of various countries, and in their language, and in their thought. But, what value was my time at so many universities in so many countries? How do I measure it? If, the absorption--after hard thinking--of of your understanding of knowledge that affects such that you feel you "are in God"/enthused by a knowledge, seemingly embracing it all (knowing that you never get that far), then clime aboard, you attracted by philosophy, we wanders await you. Particularly, if you can agree with Friedrich Schlegel (1800), a leading theoretician of German Romanticism that: "The consciousness of the infinite in the individual is the feeling of the sublime. ... And this feeling of the sublime is enthusiasm , which we have had ... as a factor in philosophy. The feeling of the sublime should be raised to science." And that "science" /"Wissenschaft" has philosophy as its crown of joy. If you are just interested, like the Cookie Monster, in crumbs, then follow in the boring path of the positivists, indeed, just about any type of nominalist, for you have missed to point and will cull no "wisdom" ("Know thyself", God and the cosmos--and finitude of death) as was reflected in Schlegel. (Check out Brand Blanshard's critique of logical positivism and you will understand my aversion to nominalism.) The point is--and only a few can really make it, even just want to make it a life's goal for one's own self--the knowledge is enthralling, the challenges are magnificent, but, you, if knowing is not the telos an sick, can easily end up repeating the words of Goethe's Faust at the beginning of the drama. (Look them up.) If you want money and have no real chance of obtaining a university professorship, then the business school is rightfully yours. Prof. L. P. Wessell (ret.) Bonn, Germany
Thank you, sir, for taking your valuable time to share your thoughts for the benefit of your fellow man. I only have a bachelor's degree in Philosophy, but graduated at the top of my class from a Princeton-clone university, The University if Tulsa, in 1987, and hold two other degrees. I've been pretty active in the subject ever since; serious enough to have written a two-volume trestise on the origin of law and religion. I have a couple of questions you might be able to help me with, if you wouldn't mind: The first is about a famous study Mortimer Adler said he did with colleagues on the progress of Ethics, since around the first century, I think it was. I've lost my notes on this about two decades ago. What is name of this study, if you might know? My second question is, What is a God? Never been able to find anyone who can answer this question without begging the question.
@@HegelsOwl Sorry for the delay. My main interest in philosophy, when not concerned with what I in the last analysis hold to be true, is for continental thinkers, with a penchant for idealism, my adopted mentor was Josiah Royce (died 1916 at Harvard and friend of James), I always enjoy Brand Blandshard in the US and the British idealists and have an ambiguous stance on German Idealism. I battle every now and then with different strands in the Anglo-world, quite influenced by some Spanish philosophers and, and, and ... In the end -- and I am at the end phase of my life - I ask what is in it for my understanding of the world. I am writing an introduction to "ontological idealism"--my ideal is to live long enough for that. I am a fan of Adler, possess 8 or 9 of his books, but have nothing on his ethics, though he indirectly sold me and a friend the Great Books series. Adler is a wonder, alas, he would scold me for my idealism. You cannot loose with him. Time and circumstances plus a bit of cognitive fanaticism will influence the course of your intellectual life. At least that was my experience, solid uni career, BOOM--destructive health, time free, love of languages and being a student at various universities in Europe---all that influenced my life. If I had not chosen Salamanca to visit eons ago, I would not have talked with a couple of fantastic profs. about seeking. a doctorate there. What I got from my time at the Universidad de Salamanca is precious beyond compare. My point--accident (or fate?) made my life, how I would love to repeat those years. I am going to sign off now. I did publish three books on the romantic/poetic origins of and influence upon Karl Marx' thinking that you might find on Amazon, should there be interest. I am pleased to have had contact with you and wish you the greatest success in adventures in philosophy.
@Leonard Wessell Didn't expect you to reply; so pleased that you did, but you overlooked my "cognitive fanaticism" in the two questions I asked. The university I attended, the University of Tulsa, was a Princeton-clone university, requiring undergrads to write a Senior Thesis. I wrote mine on Jean-Paul Sartre, and it took me every bit of the four years permitted. Most of that time was a real nightmare, and I had so many questions about the subject that even the Dean called me "The Phenomenologist." Btw, if you haven't seen the YT vid, "What is Phenomenology," by The Living Philosophy channel, you're sure to be tickled, because it's obvious that reduction methodology was used to reduce that huge subject into the tiny package it got mastered it into so perfectly. You know -- It's not about the What: it's about the How: Process alone is what makes Life meaningful, as Hamlet himself might have said. Yes, I'll have to get around to look at your books prefacing Marx, but presently I'm having to stay focused on getting caught-up on Kant with Robert Wolff's YT courses. Did a search on your books -- looks good. Thank you, again, for your valuable time. "Ye who call yourselves phlosophers: Dare ye live like one?" Um. No, it wasn't Hamlet's question.
@@HegelsOwl This will be my last reply. Should you wish further contact, inform me of your email address or some address (= physical one) and the conversation will continue. I would like to suggest various books for you to consult. Philosophy has more to do than texts on metaphysics. To understand Renaissance thinking and Luther's thinking as structurally the same you must seek its source in the theological birth of the modern world, i.e., in the nominalistic theology of Ockham. Indeed, in effect, without Ockham, no Hume and without Hume, no Kant, and without Kant, no German Idealism, and without German Idealism, no Marx' Marxism and, and, and, and .... I just asserted some connections that may sound dogmatic and superficial--I am willing to argue for them--but that is because I am summing up the "Here I stand, cannot do otherwise" (Luther's perhaps statement) of an 83 year old, not too far from death (oh, you must read Ernest Becker or you will never understand yourself). What X or Y thought is not central to me. My adventurous days in swimming in the great pond of ideas are past. The ideas that have to do with my overcoming of my encounter with Becker (= "death" and its structuring of "life"), they are the ones of fascination. You have asked many questions, I will only respond to one, GOD/the ABSOLUTE, the very juxtaposition flows from my experience, focused, exclusionary, in a sense gnostic mystical. You ask about "God" and of course His existence or not. First thesis: If God exists, God is not. Second thesis: If God is, God does not exist. What have I done? I have relegated "existence" to the realm of finitude only, and "Being" (= esse, Sein, être, ser, to be) to infinity and infinity with God. What am I doing when I pursue "deep, profound eternity" (Nietzsche)? I am seeking as Anselm wrote in the 11th century, namely "that about which nothing greater can be thought" and when I do so think, I quickly come upon Anselm's most important thesis, namely "that of which nothing greater can be thought" turns out to be "something which can not be thought"--and this is the history of thoughts on infinity until Georg Cantor supposedly solved the mathematical aspect--which I deny. I have just finished a draft on two concepts of infinity (took on Cantor and his "absolutum"); one concept is extrapolatory (= 1,2, 3, ...∞) and the other concept is "exclusonary", i.e., it follows Hegel's thesis: "The non-being of finitude is the being of the absolute". In other words, I exclude all reference to finitude in infinitude. Exclusionary infinity corrects the failings of extrapolatory infinity. If I may have an address of sorts for you, I will send or mail you a copy. The article, however, is only a prelude to a chapter I am going to write on the infinite consciousness (Bewußtsein) of God, viz., the Absolute For a response to a comment to a video, I think, that my words are too many, yet of necessity too little--and they all reflect my interest for self-knowledge within the context of "esse infinite" vs nihil. Good sailing, the seas will be rough, yet the port is a haven..
Philosophy is the bedrock of all disciplines. Seeking an ‘answer’ to something? Those sought have spawned Science, Mathematics, Ethics, Political Theory, and so on. Philosophy helps us understand the core questions being asked behind the methods used. Questioning the understandings of how and why we do seek Truth encourages innovation through dialectic participation. Philosophy also serves as a source for creative and critical thinking, problem solving, and a perspective on things beyond the tasks at hand for an inclusive look at a bigger picture.
Exactly. Everything used to be philosophy. Philosophy is the thing that invents other disciplines. Science may make cool stuff, but philosophy made science.
For myself, I found philosophy intriguing after I took a course in my community college. I ended up taking an ethics course with the same professor who really opened my eyes up to what I wished my other classes were; a flow of ideas and concepts with respect to opposing views. I have learned and read so much by myself since those classes. I think economically, that going to lower cost places to get an introduction to the beauty of learning more is a good idea when you don’t know what you want to do as a career. The insistence of college on a society that is much more indecisive is a destructive idea in the long run. I hope that the more philosophers that are created, the more we can spread ideas to people who wouldn’t be exposed to it. It could possibly save people lots of money too.
@@snippetsoflife1940 I’m glad to have been of some service or inspiration to someone even though I have not lived long in this world. We all will find our path and calling whenever that may be.
As much as I enjoyed studying philosophy, it has the potential to make you unhappy if you have the wrong personality. If you have a philosophy degree, let me congratulate you. It was a difficult journey; on par with engineering school, based on my personal experience You'll find yourself frequently question other people's ideas and analyze the usage of every word. Just as Socrates did. Remember the fate of that dude? If you paint people into the corner by exposing their contradictions, they would simply ignore you. At the same time, you would find yourself disgusted by the inability of your peers who can't make a logical argument or consider all the hypothetical situations, just like Descartes, and yet they would make the same or more than you do simply because they can sweet talk their way to their position. In fact, you may find them despicable when they hold sway of your career advancement. If you do care about how people perceives you or you are idealistic enough to be disgruntled by the incompetence of others who can't pursue a hard major that philosophy is, then I regrettably cannot recommend philosophy to you. I was both of those until I learn to become oblivious to the imperfections of life
I had an argument made for choosing philosophy course. I have laden out good reasons for choosing philosophy such as academic inflation that the hegemonic society requires today. But I do not advocate for pure philosophy if you want tons of cash on your table. Unless you want to dedicate yourself as a future-prolific writer or an outstanding lawyer which provides an excellent amount of monetary asset. I, myself, is well-versed to business. The judgments which I garnered and made expertise from philosophy are helpful to my business-related ventures. It really boils down to your purpose, the same sentiment from this video. But I can really contend that philosophy at its very core do provide a significant amount of monetary return when applied as a way of life, not just a mere label to the diploma which you will hold soon.
I agree that philosophy pairs well with other pursuits. It can be very helpful in the world of business, law, or government. Philosophy for itself (pursuing a PhD etc.) is a narrow road that few achieve and few make money in. Perhaps I need another video on "Should you get a PhD in philosophy?" since pursuing "pure philosophy" has a more limited audience.
As a econ major Phil minor I would argue you should not solely major in philosophy unless you want to go into law or go grad school. If you have a passion in philosophy please just study it on your own or get a minor in it
I am a strong advocate of double majoring if you can. Or studying philosophy on your own if you have enough background to get started. Though as you note, for folks going into graduate school, a philosophy major can help out, and if you don't treat it as a terminal degree (i.e. if you go on to get a JD etc., your career prospects are not limited.).
does philosophy go well with as a double major with like religion or religious studies? Since I'm also very interested in religion or theology but also philosophy so I'm wondering if I should double major but I don't know if it would go well together.
Yes! They do go well together. Philosophy pairs well with many majors, but religion/theology is very closely connected. Philosophy of religion looks at arguments about the existence of deities, the truth of holy texts, the properties of the divine, life after death, revealed religious experience, and more!
I'm convinced of the double with philosophy and an adjacent field that compliments the sub-field of interest: CS/AI/Psych with Phil. of Mind, Mechatronics/Psychophysics w/Phil. of Sci, etc. even if you want a career in philosophy, just because much as you say with philosophy being of use for scientists and artists, I'm convinced the converse relation is also true. Almost every field contains ideas that are fantastic philosophy, though not in name. You're always going to be missing out, but it's not wise to assume that one obtains all the philosophy out there from a strict philosophy education.
Agreed completely. The best philosophers of science are those that actually understand science. Folks who actually work in machine learning have a much better informed understanding of arguments around questions of consciousness and mind. So many disciplines of philosophy are half in something else, and your philosophical education is advanced by studying those things too (not to mention they will broaden your job prospects).
Nietzsche famously criticized modern philosophers by saying, "Ye who call yourselves philosophers: Dare ye live like one?" You maybe miss the object of Philosophy, that it was traditionally a way of living, to answer The Ethical Question, "What is the good life, and how does one attain it?"
I have been considering doing something more systemic on the pre-Socratics, which is where soemthing on Parmenidies would fit. I don't have a video on nothingness, but it is a good idea (though I do have a video on nihilism ua-cam.com/video/B9aMLkwpf0U/v-deo.html, and a video on holes ua-cam.com/video/5B9224txYNg/v-deo.html). I do have a video on brute facts (ua-cam.com/video/VDpGXVYEsxE/v-deo.html). We don't have one on Bradley's regress specifically yet, but we have some on tropes (ua-cam.com/video/xxMW30y6V7A/v-deo.html) and one on the bundle theory (ua-cam.com/video/JBkDNkJD7RI/v-deo.html). So many videos to make, so little time!
Yep. Philosophy is the thing that spawns other disciplines and connects them. Science may make cool things, but philosophy made science and the scientific method.
Bsc in Computer Science and Msc in Computer Science in progress. Currently a software developer / system analyist. Found this video after watching dozens of videos about Philosophy, and read a textbook (yep, textbook) and some lesure books a few years ago. Instead of considering its "universal" coverage, "getting a major degree" still applies: Do you benefited from making use of the knowledge already? Or do you need to advance and outstand in that particular area? For me, learining philosophy enrich my "logical thinking" / critical thinking for my career obviously, but it's already good enough for me to apply the knowledge to strengthen my arguement or propose uncommon idea. I don't need to obtain a "degree" for it. However, if there is organization do reconise the degree, I'd like to study (more like verify my knowledge) for it. Also, catorizing an issue is critical when my job duty is about managing stuffs, or even people (team leader *cough). is it really a technical issue? Or there is political / financial considerations a.k.a "drama" behind it? Should I value the "big picture" more than an individual? How should I answer it? That is not a "logical" question. This is really a philosophal question. It's sad to know that "(software) system" is always abused as a ambigous / abstract concept, but this is real. "As solid as a blown GPU"
being gay led to me to think about the world and social order. thinking about these led me to think about roots of our mind, reasoning and phsycial reality. so i decided to major in philosophy. my ba is sociology.
Given my understanding of the Autistic brain(Or at least what I've heard), people with Autism Spectrum Disorder probably should not study philosophy. There is neurological evidence that this is so (or so I've been told). Unless we are Feyerbendian or Foucaultian in some way about the facts/values of science and the authority of the clinic, I think this is the case. I think being a good skeptical empiricism and simply common sense would point someone in this direction. The center of mass in philosophy departments might be more Plato than Wittgenstein (is this a stretch).
I minored in philosophy and thus feel I rate dropping this joke (not to be taken seriously). “A philosopher is one who can argue forcefully for nearly any position, except higher wages”.
Often by getting you into a good graduate program for law or public policy. As we will see in the next video in this series, philosophers outperform many other majors by mid-career (including chemistry and business management), in part because philosophy is a great pre-law degree and lawyers and bureaucrats generally make a good deal of money.
There was a reason that I focused the "Definitely Yes" category on people that were going into a PhD program, or planning on it. Those are the people that really need a philosophy degree. That said, I don't think it is a bad thing for someone that is say going into law school to get a philosophy degree, and often it can be quite helpful.
A philosophy minor (or a double major with something else) is often a good choice since philosophy pairs well with other fields. The only people who might want to consider not just doing a minor are folks who want to go to grad school in philosophy specifically. That said, if you can swing a double major with philosophy and something else, I don't think there's any reason not to, or to prefer a minor over a major.
That's a strong claim. Why do you think that? You think there is no reason that anyone should study ethics? What is right and wrong? Whether God exists? Whether scientific claims are justified? No reason anyone should study justice? Seems a bleak world where no one tries to find out what is right or wrong, just or unjust. Philosophy invented science (which used to be called natural philosophy), you would not have computers to do CS on without the scientific method (which was created by philosophy). Not to mention the fact that computer science is based in logic (the T's and F's of logical truth tables were the first one's and zero's). From a practical point of view philosophers make more than chemistry majors by the middle of their career, should no one study chemistry?
Logic, which is the foundation of mathematics, had it’s start in philosophy. And studying philosophy helped me immensely as a math major. To some extent knowing how to think about the arts and sciences allows you to go beyond what exists and create new fields, and I’m inclined to say philosophy is an important tool in this regard. P. S: I mean actual philosophy not that edgy, pedantic mumbling some people tend to talk about.
You always say stay skeptical but why aren't you skeptical of a philosophy degree? Why aren't you skeptical of the rulers of this world? Why aren't you skeptical of being skeptical?
I am a philosophical skeptic (of the Pyrrhonian variety), which means I don't have any beliefs. I get by on weaker propositional attitudes like hypotheses and wonderings. I don't have any beliefs, including beliefs about the existence of the rulers of the world or philosophy degrees at all. I suspect that philosophy degrees may exist, but I don't believe that they do.
I have a major in Philosophy. I ended up working as a software developer (I wasn't doing well economically, and being on a third world country without a strong philosophical community didn't help either), but I don't regret having studied it. It enriched my life and gave me many reasoning and problem solving tools that are helpful both inside and outside of my work. I'll do it again.
Where are you from? And how you become software engineer?
@Rizekrispy hey there. It was rough at the beginning. I managed to get into a tech company, but as a call center operative. That allowed me to pay for my online courses. When a dev job post opened at said company, I got in as a junior. I guess I was also lucky that this company valued the effort I put in, and liked their workers to ascend.
" Ask not what philosophy can do for you - ask what you can do for philosophy." J.F. Kant
😂 lol
Haha! I love it.
I majored in philosophy because after already getting an associate's degree in multimedia arts and technologies and failing to get a career off the ground with that in the half a year or so after I graduated that program, I started considering whether I should maybe look for work in a different field, and one thing that coworkers at my get-through-college job consistently told me was that I was a great teacher, so I thought "maybe I should be a teacher!" I wanted to teach a wide variety of subjects because my interests are very broad, so I figured I would target elementary school teaching since that's before classes specialize. I asked the career counselors at my community college where to begin with trying to become an elementary school teacher, and they said the first step was to get a bachelor's degree in pretty much anything, and then I could get a teaching credential after that and begin teaching, then later maybe get a master's in education if I wanted to too.
So I had to pick a subject to study for that bachelor's degree, and since it could be anything I wanted for career purposes, I thought about what it was I would most enjoy studying. Out of all the subjects I had studied as electives and general education requirements while working on my earlier associate's degree, philosophy was the one that had jumped out at me the most. In my very first college class, an English class, we had been introduced to the notion of syllogisms, and I literally exclaimed with excitement "it's like algebra with words!" The term after that English class, there were two options for the follow-up class: a literature class, or a critical thinking / persuasive writing class. The latter was in the philosophy department, and was basically about informal logic and how to write a sound argumentative essay. I really enjoyed it, so when an option to fulfill one of my general education requirements later was the Intro to Philosophy class, I picked that.
Right away from just the structure of the syllabus, I realized that this was the topic I had always kind of dreamed of. I had always had very broad intellectual interests, and was always searching for ever more and more fundamental principles underlying all of those interests. So over time I had increasingly focused my natural science interests toward physics, which seemed to underlie all of the natural sciences; and I likewise focused my social science interests toward something in the direction of economics or political science, looking for something underlying that cluster of interests as well. When I looked at the syllabus for that Intro to Philosophy class and saw it structured broadly into metaphysics and ethics, I thought that that was the field for me, the one investigating both the big questions of what is real or existent or factual or true (and how it did come to be), and what is moral or valuable or normative or good (and why it should come to be).
So that's what I picked to major in for my bachelor's degree. And though I ended up deciding not to be a teacher after all, and falling back on my multimedia degree instead as a graphic designer and then software engineer (now making a lot more than I likely would be as a teacher, and in a much easier work environment too), I loved the subject so much that I had continued a project that had begun with a mandatory "thought journal" assignment in that intro class, documenting my own views on the various topics within philosophy, the combinations of strong points made by everyone on every side of every topic, the missing pieces still unaccounted for after that, and the symmetries and interrelations between them, tracing both all of my own views and all of those I found problematic back to small sets of very general principles.
That became the foundations of a book on the subject that I've been continually reworking in my spare time ever since, which I hope against hope will some day be something that anybody cares about, and may pan out to have been a worthwhile effort that actually contributed something of value to posterity despite never becoming a real academic.
Thanks so much for sharing your story! I definitely empathize with the feeling of walking into a philosophy class for the first time a realizing that it is a discipline that studies all of the things I had thought about for years, (logic, epistemology, modality) but never realized they had a name. Let me know if you ever finish the book, it sounds like it would be interesting to read!
In high school, my peers keep recommending me that i should major in Philosophy, based on how much i engaged in various philosophical discussions.
I didn't followed that recommendation on two basis, weak and strong one.
Weak one was the "Major and Money" problem. Philosophy doesn't earn much in my native country, so i chose to go for a major that earn better. In addition to this,
I had much bigger problem with going for a Philosophy Major and that's "They dont teach philosophy, they teach fallacy-shaped mental vomits to support their otherwise crappy worldview", this is what i actually said to myself.
I live in a theocratic-run third world country in which academic philosophy is a tool to "prove" government-approved stances as "logical facts", which specifically wasn't what i wanted from philosophy.
Fast forward to now.
The weak problem is no longer applicable, but a modified version of bigger one is still valid: Formal philosophy have a tendency to turn already snobby individuals into full fledged psudeo-intellectuals. Anytime i check reddit's philosophy or askphilosophy subreddits, it just pains my how utterly meaningless word salad people can came up with just to look cool.
No thanks, i prefer YT's comment section to discuss about hard problem of consciousness and Idealism.
It's hard to say if my nature (analytic, argumentative, and good at problem solving) led me to be able to excel in my philosophy degree, or if what I learned in my degree helped me to fortify my existing strengths.
Honestly, something I would love to do would be to discuss philosophy and politics on UA-cam or Twitch (in more of a debate setting), and maybe even one day move towards a real political career. My background in science, ethics, and metaethics seems like a great base for these paths, but it's hard to start because of the initial capital needed, and the continuing need to make money now to be able to support myself and my family.
It is hard to start up something like that, and often takes time to get something like that started, time you may not have if you need to spend time making money to support a family. That said, if you are interested in politics, you can always go to work in government (a very good use of a philosophy degree) to get your feet wet. And, depending where you are, government jobs often pay well and offer good job security.
this is coming in clutch as a high school junior
Great! Glad to help. :)
A note: I possess a doctorate in Germanics (USA), a doctorate in philosophy (Germany) and even more advanced doctorate in philosophy (Spain). During my life I have at least 17 years in at least 6 or 7 universities in 4 different countries--and I have never earned a cent, centavo or kopek. No one has as many degrees as I and earned naught for it all. Why do it? For health reasons, teaching was for long periods was not possible for me (and it was seldom my thing), so I was like the wandering Jew (only I am a gentile) moving hither and thither absorbed in the philosophical traditions of various countries, and in their language, and in their thought. But, what value was my time at so many universities in so many countries? How do I measure it? If, the absorption--after hard thinking--of of your understanding of knowledge that affects such that you feel you "are in God"/enthused by a knowledge, seemingly embracing it all (knowing that you never get that far), then clime aboard, you attracted by philosophy, we wanders await you. Particularly, if you can agree with Friedrich Schlegel (1800), a leading theoretician of German Romanticism that: "The consciousness of the infinite in the individual is the feeling of the sublime. ... And this feeling of the sublime is enthusiasm , which we have had ... as a factor in philosophy. The feeling of the sublime should be raised to science." And that "science" /"Wissenschaft" has philosophy as its crown of joy. If you are just interested, like the Cookie Monster, in crumbs, then follow in the boring path of the positivists, indeed, just about any type of nominalist, for you have missed to point and will cull no "wisdom" ("Know thyself", God and the cosmos--and finitude of death) as was reflected in Schlegel. (Check out Brand Blanshard's critique of logical positivism and you will understand my aversion to nominalism.) The point is--and only a few can really make it, even just want to make it a life's goal for one's own self--the knowledge is enthralling, the challenges are magnificent, but, you, if knowing is not the telos an sick, can easily end up repeating the words of Goethe's Faust at the beginning of the drama. (Look them up.) If you want money and have no real chance of obtaining a university professorship, then the business school is rightfully yours.
Prof. L. P. Wessell (ret.)
Bonn, Germany
Thank you, sir, for taking your valuable time to share your thoughts for the benefit of your fellow man.
I only have a bachelor's degree in Philosophy, but graduated at the top of my class from a Princeton-clone university, The University if Tulsa, in 1987, and hold two other degrees. I've been pretty active in the subject ever since; serious enough to have written a two-volume trestise on the origin of law and religion.
I have a couple of questions you might be able to help me with, if you wouldn't mind:
The first is about a famous study Mortimer Adler said he did with colleagues on the progress of Ethics, since around the first century, I think it was. I've lost my notes on this about two decades ago. What is name of this study, if you might know?
My second question is, What is a God? Never been able to find anyone who can answer this question without begging the question.
@@HegelsOwl Sorry for the delay. My main interest in philosophy, when not concerned with what I in the last analysis hold to be true, is for continental thinkers, with a penchant for idealism, my adopted mentor was Josiah Royce (died 1916 at Harvard and friend of James), I always enjoy Brand Blandshard in the US and the British idealists and have an ambiguous stance on German Idealism. I battle every now and then with different strands in the Anglo-world, quite influenced by some Spanish philosophers and, and, and ... In the end -- and I am at the end phase of my life - I ask what is in it for my understanding of the world. I am writing an introduction to "ontological idealism"--my ideal is to live long enough for that. I am a fan of Adler, possess 8 or 9 of his books, but have nothing on his ethics, though he indirectly sold me and a friend the Great Books series. Adler is a wonder, alas, he would scold me for my idealism. You cannot loose with him.
Time and circumstances plus a bit of cognitive fanaticism will influence the course of your intellectual life. At least that was my experience, solid uni career, BOOM--destructive health, time free, love of languages and being a student at various universities in Europe---all that influenced my life. If I had not chosen Salamanca to visit eons ago, I would not have talked with a couple of fantastic profs. about seeking. a doctorate there. What I got from my time at the Universidad de Salamanca is precious beyond compare. My point--accident (or fate?) made my life, how I would love to repeat those years.
I am going to sign off now. I did publish three books on the romantic/poetic origins of and influence upon Karl Marx' thinking that you might find on Amazon, should there be interest. I am pleased to have had contact with you and wish you the greatest success in adventures in philosophy.
@Leonard Wessell Didn't expect you to reply; so pleased that you did, but you overlooked my "cognitive fanaticism" in the two questions I asked.
The university I attended, the University of Tulsa, was a Princeton-clone university, requiring undergrads to write a Senior Thesis. I wrote mine on Jean-Paul Sartre, and it took me every bit of the four years permitted. Most of that time was a real nightmare, and I had so many questions about the subject that even the Dean called me "The Phenomenologist."
Btw, if you haven't seen the YT vid, "What is Phenomenology," by The Living Philosophy channel, you're sure to be tickled, because it's obvious that reduction methodology was used to reduce that huge subject into the tiny package it got mastered it into so perfectly. You know -- It's not about the What: it's about the How: Process alone is what makes Life meaningful, as Hamlet himself might have said.
Yes, I'll have to get around to look at your books prefacing Marx, but presently I'm having to stay focused on getting caught-up on Kant with Robert Wolff's YT courses. Did a search on your books -- looks good.
Thank you, again, for your valuable time.
"Ye who call yourselves phlosophers: Dare ye live like one?" Um. No, it wasn't Hamlet's question.
@@HegelsOwl This will be my last reply. Should you wish further contact, inform me of your email address or some address (= physical one) and the conversation will continue. I would like to suggest various books for you to consult. Philosophy has more to do than texts on metaphysics. To understand Renaissance thinking and Luther's thinking as structurally the same you must seek its source in the theological birth of the modern world, i.e., in the nominalistic theology of Ockham. Indeed, in effect, without Ockham, no Hume and without Hume, no Kant, and without Kant, no German Idealism, and without German Idealism, no Marx' Marxism and, and, and, and .... I just asserted some connections that may sound dogmatic and superficial--I am willing to argue for them--but that is because I am summing up the "Here I stand, cannot do otherwise" (Luther's perhaps statement) of an 83 year old, not too far from death (oh, you must read Ernest Becker or you will never understand yourself). What X or Y thought is not central to me. My adventurous days in swimming in the great pond of ideas are past. The ideas that have to do with my overcoming of my encounter with Becker (= "death" and its structuring of "life"), they are the ones of fascination.
You have asked many questions, I will only respond to one, GOD/the ABSOLUTE, the very juxtaposition flows from my experience, focused, exclusionary, in a sense gnostic mystical. You ask about "God" and of course His existence or not. First thesis: If God exists, God is not. Second thesis: If God is, God does not exist. What have I done? I have relegated "existence" to the realm of finitude only, and "Being" (= esse, Sein, être, ser, to be) to infinity and infinity with God. What am I doing when I pursue "deep, profound eternity" (Nietzsche)? I am seeking as Anselm wrote in the 11th century, namely "that about which nothing greater can be thought" and when I do so think, I quickly come upon Anselm's most important thesis, namely "that of which nothing greater can be thought" turns out to be "something which can not be thought"--and this is the history of thoughts on infinity until Georg Cantor supposedly solved the mathematical aspect--which I deny.
I have just finished a draft on two concepts of infinity (took on Cantor and his "absolutum"); one concept is extrapolatory (= 1,2, 3, ...∞) and the other concept is "exclusonary", i.e., it follows Hegel's thesis: "The non-being of finitude is the being of the absolute". In other words, I exclude all reference to finitude in infinitude. Exclusionary infinity corrects the failings of extrapolatory infinity. If I may have an address of sorts for you, I will send or mail you a copy. The article, however, is only a prelude to a chapter I am going to write on the infinite consciousness (Bewußtsein) of God, viz., the Absolute
For a response to a comment to a video, I think, that my words are too many, yet of necessity too little--and they all reflect my interest for self-knowledge within the context of "esse infinite" vs nihil. Good sailing, the seas will be rough, yet the port is a haven..
This comment is a caricature of why you shouldn't do philosophy.
Philosophy is the bedrock of all disciplines.
Seeking an ‘answer’ to something? Those sought have spawned Science, Mathematics, Ethics, Political Theory, and so on. Philosophy helps us understand the core questions being asked behind the methods used. Questioning the understandings of how and why we do seek Truth encourages innovation through dialectic participation. Philosophy also serves as a source for creative and critical thinking, problem solving, and a perspective on things beyond the tasks at hand for an inclusive look at a bigger picture.
Exactly. Everything used to be philosophy. Philosophy is the thing that invents other disciplines. Science may make cool stuff, but philosophy made science.
For myself, I found philosophy intriguing after I took a course in my community college. I ended up taking an ethics course with the same professor who really opened my eyes up to what I wished my other classes were; a flow of ideas and concepts with respect to opposing views. I have learned and read so much by myself since those classes. I think economically, that going to lower cost places to get an introduction to the beauty of learning more is a good idea when you don’t know what you want to do as a career. The insistence of college on a society that is much more indecisive is a destructive idea in the long run. I hope that the more philosophers that are created, the more we can spread ideas to people who wouldn’t be exposed to it. It could possibly save people lots of money too.
Thank you for this. I needed to read this
@@snippetsoflife1940 I’m glad to have been of some service or inspiration to someone even though I have not lived long in this world. We all will find our path and calling whenever that may be.
As much as I enjoyed studying philosophy, it has the potential to make you unhappy if you have the wrong personality. If you have a philosophy degree, let me congratulate you. It was a difficult journey; on par with engineering school, based on my personal experience
You'll find yourself frequently question other people's ideas and analyze the usage of every word. Just as Socrates did. Remember the fate of that dude? If you paint people into the corner by exposing their contradictions, they would simply ignore you.
At the same time, you would find yourself disgusted by the inability of your peers who can't make a logical argument or consider all the hypothetical situations, just like Descartes, and yet they would make the same or more than you do simply because they can sweet talk their way to their position. In fact, you may find them despicable when they hold sway of your career advancement.
If you do care about how people perceives you or you are idealistic enough to be disgruntled by the incompetence of others who can't pursue a hard major that philosophy is, then I regrettably cannot recommend philosophy to you. I was both of those until I learn to become oblivious to the imperfections of life
I had an argument made for choosing philosophy course. I have laden out good reasons for choosing philosophy such as academic inflation that the hegemonic society requires today.
But I do not advocate for pure philosophy if you want tons of cash on your table. Unless you want to dedicate yourself as a future-prolific writer or an outstanding lawyer which provides an excellent amount of monetary asset.
I, myself, is well-versed to business. The judgments which I garnered and made expertise from philosophy are helpful to my business-related ventures.
It really boils down to your purpose, the same sentiment from this video. But I can really contend that philosophy at its very core do provide a significant amount of monetary return when applied as a way of life, not just a mere label to the diploma which you will hold soon.
I agree that philosophy pairs well with other pursuits. It can be very helpful in the world of business, law, or government. Philosophy for itself (pursuing a PhD etc.) is a narrow road that few achieve and few make money in. Perhaps I need another video on "Should you get a PhD in philosophy?" since pursuing "pure philosophy" has a more limited audience.
As a econ major Phil minor I would argue you should not solely major in philosophy unless you want to go into law or go grad school. If you have a passion in philosophy please just study it on your own or get a minor in it
I am a strong advocate of double majoring if you can. Or studying philosophy on your own if you have enough background to get started. Though as you note, for folks going into graduate school, a philosophy major can help out, and if you don't treat it as a terminal degree (i.e. if you go on to get a JD etc., your career prospects are not limited.).
does philosophy go well with as a double major with like religion or religious studies? Since I'm also very interested in religion or theology but also philosophy so I'm wondering if I should double major but I don't know if it would go well together.
Yes! They do go well together. Philosophy pairs well with many majors, but religion/theology is very closely connected. Philosophy of religion looks at arguments about the existence of deities, the truth of holy texts, the properties of the divine, life after death, revealed religious experience, and more!
I'm convinced of the double with philosophy and an adjacent field that compliments the sub-field of interest: CS/AI/Psych with Phil. of Mind, Mechatronics/Psychophysics w/Phil. of Sci, etc. even if you want a career in philosophy, just because much as you say with philosophy being of use for scientists and artists, I'm convinced the converse relation is also true. Almost every field contains ideas that are fantastic philosophy, though not in name. You're always going to be missing out, but it's not wise to assume that one obtains all the philosophy out there from a strict philosophy education.
Agreed completely. The best philosophers of science are those that actually understand science. Folks who actually work in machine learning have a much better informed understanding of arguments around questions of consciousness and mind. So many disciplines of philosophy are half in something else, and your philosophical education is advanced by studying those things too (not to mention they will broaden your job prospects).
Nietzsche famously criticized modern philosophers by saying, "Ye who call yourselves philosophers: Dare ye live like one?" You maybe miss the object of Philosophy, that it was traditionally a way of living, to answer The Ethical Question, "What is the good life, and how does one attain it?"
Can you do a video on Parmenides strict neutral monism? Or a video on nothing? Or Bertrand Russell on brute facts? Or Bradley's regress?
I have been considering doing something more systemic on the pre-Socratics, which is where soemthing on Parmenidies would fit. I don't have a video on nothingness, but it is a good idea (though I do have a video on nihilism ua-cam.com/video/B9aMLkwpf0U/v-deo.html, and a video on holes ua-cam.com/video/5B9224txYNg/v-deo.html). I do have a video on brute facts (ua-cam.com/video/VDpGXVYEsxE/v-deo.html). We don't have one on Bradley's regress specifically yet, but we have some on tropes (ua-cam.com/video/xxMW30y6V7A/v-deo.html) and one on the bundle theory (ua-cam.com/video/JBkDNkJD7RI/v-deo.html). So many videos to make, so little time!
My perspective of philosophy is the basis of all academics.
Yep. Philosophy is the thing that spawns other disciplines and connects them. Science may make cool things, but philosophy made science and the scientific method.
Bsc in Computer Science and Msc in Computer Science in progress. Currently a software developer / system analyist. Found this video after watching dozens of videos about Philosophy, and read a textbook (yep, textbook) and some lesure books a few years ago.
Instead of considering its "universal" coverage, "getting a major degree" still applies: Do you benefited from making use of the knowledge already? Or do you need to advance and outstand in that particular area?
For me, learining philosophy enrich my "logical thinking" / critical thinking for my career obviously, but it's already good enough for me to apply the knowledge to strengthen my arguement or propose uncommon idea. I don't need to obtain a "degree" for it. However, if there is organization do reconise the degree, I'd like to study (more like verify my knowledge) for it.
Also, catorizing an issue is critical when my job duty is about managing stuffs, or even people (team leader *cough). is it really a technical issue? Or there is political / financial considerations a.k.a "drama" behind it? Should I value the "big picture" more than an individual? How should I answer it? That is not a "logical" question. This is really a philosophal question. It's sad to know that "(software) system" is always abused as a ambigous / abstract concept, but this is real. "As solid as a blown GPU"
being gay led to me to think about the world and social order. thinking about these led me to think about roots of our mind, reasoning and phsycial reality. so i decided to major in philosophy. my ba is sociology.
Sociology connects with philosophy in many ways, from the philosophy of the mind to how social structure give rise to varied ethical norms.
I wish to major in philosophy and attend law school after !
I don't want philosophy. I need philosophy.
Given my understanding of the Autistic brain(Or at least what I've heard), people with Autism Spectrum Disorder probably should not study philosophy. There is neurological evidence that this is so (or so I've been told). Unless we are Feyerbendian or Foucaultian in some way about the facts/values of science and the authority of the clinic, I think this is the case. I think being a good skeptical empiricism and simply common sense would point someone in this direction. The center of mass in philosophy departments might be more Plato than Wittgenstein (is this a stretch).
I minored in philosophy and thus feel I rate dropping this joke (not to be taken seriously).
“A philosopher is one who can argue forcefully for nearly any position, except higher wages”.
The answer is yes.
Should I become a chef because I like to eat good food? Well...
Took 8 philosophy courses didn’t even count for a minor, rip transfer credits
That's a pain! Thanks for sharing your story. But hopefully you got some skills and information from those classes?
I cannot edit my own comment.
How does philosophy put food on my table?
Look up the statistics for yourself. They do better than average.
@@havenbastion bro, those are missing leading.
If everything was about food we wouldn’t have suicidal people, would we?
Often by getting you into a good graduate program for law or public policy. As we will see in the next video in this series, philosophers outperform many other majors by mid-career (including chemistry and business management), in part because philosophy is a great pre-law degree and lawyers and bureaucrats generally make a good deal of money.
No, unless you're fully planning on being and academic.
Yes if you want learn philosophy in an academic settings.
There was a reason that I focused the "Definitely Yes" category on people that were going into a PhD program, or planning on it. Those are the people that really need a philosophy degree. That said, I don't think it is a bad thing for someone that is say going into law school to get a philosophy degree, and often it can be quite helpful.
No. You should minor in philosophy.
Or do whatever you want.
A philosophy minor (or a double major with something else) is often a good choice since philosophy pairs well with other fields. The only people who might want to consider not just doing a minor are folks who want to go to grad school in philosophy specifically. That said, if you can swing a double major with philosophy and something else, I don't think there's any reason not to, or to prefer a minor over a major.
Major in math or CS. There is no reason why anyone should major in Philosophy.
There is no reason for getting any degree. Its up to you what you do unfortunately.
That's a strong claim. Why do you think that? You think there is no reason that anyone should study ethics? What is right and wrong? Whether God exists? Whether scientific claims are justified? No reason anyone should study justice? Seems a bleak world where no one tries to find out what is right or wrong, just or unjust.
Philosophy invented science (which used to be called natural philosophy), you would not have computers to do CS on without the scientific method (which was created by philosophy). Not to mention the fact that computer science is based in logic (the T's and F's of logical truth tables were the first one's and zero's).
From a practical point of view philosophers make more than chemistry majors by the middle of their career, should no one study chemistry?
Logic, which is the foundation of mathematics, had it’s start in philosophy. And studying philosophy helped me immensely as a math major.
To some extent knowing how to think about the arts and sciences allows you to go beyond what exists and create new fields, and I’m inclined to say philosophy is an important tool in this regard.
P. S: I mean actual philosophy not that edgy, pedantic mumbling some people tend to talk about.
You always say stay skeptical but why aren't you skeptical of a philosophy degree? Why aren't you skeptical of the rulers of this world? Why aren't you skeptical of being skeptical?
I am
Everyone is.
I am a philosophical skeptic (of the Pyrrhonian variety), which means I don't have any beliefs. I get by on weaker propositional attitudes like hypotheses and wonderings. I don't have any beliefs, including beliefs about the existence of the rulers of the world or philosophy degrees at all. I suspect that philosophy degrees may exist, but I don't believe that they do.