Philosophy Degrees

**colcifer** · #1 08-25-2011, 04:23 PM

If I were running a school, they would only be available as a double with physics or advanced maths. Anyone else have thoughts on the topic (I didn't give you much to respond to, I know; I'm trying for a very open ended discussion)?

Mark Latimour · #2 08-25-2011, 04:25 PM

I have one as a double with my law degree. In some countries they are worthless. In the UK they can be worth more than physics or advanced maths to any employer. I don't think that any single rule can be applied.

CapnSev · #3 08-25-2011, 04:48 PM

I think it would be a fun degree to pursue, but what kind of work do you get with it? The crappy paying kind, that's what.

Ziltoid · #4 08-25-2011, 04:55 PM

My mom is vice-dean at this university, was a teacher before and also works on the medical board for hospitals as ethic consultant. PhD in philosophy who then specialized in research and "practice" in medical ethic.

theNoseBleedKid · #5 08-25-2011, 05:37 PM

I don't think there are many fields that will teach you the type of critical thinking philosophy would encourage/train to you to use.

Seriously, if you can read 'Limited Inc.' by Derrida and be able to understand half of what he is writing you are an amazing person and an asset to the world.

Don't let people with comments about work dissuade you, there are always opportunities for intelligent, capable, well-rounded critical thinkers no matter what their background, and if your philosophy component is combined with physics or maths I think there would be plenty of opportunities out there.

**nutdog** · #6 08-25-2011, 07:14 PM

A Standup Philosopher - YouTube

Perhaps NSFW

fmoore200 · #7 08-25-2011, 07:33 PM

I loved philosophy in college and feel that math courses compliment philosophy really well (and vice a versa). The pure logic is beautiful imo...

stratovani · #8 08-25-2011, 08:59 PM

A couple of months ago when I got my Amazon Kindle I started downloading a bunch of free books, all of which are pretty old and in the public domain. A number of them were philosophy books, Such as Aristotle's Ethics and Plato's Republic. I'm hoping that once I retire in 8 years' time I'll be able to return to college and pursue a history degree. I'm thinking there will be a few philosophy courses I'll have to take. Should be very interesting and I'm looking forward to it.

iamlowsound · #9 08-25-2011, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmoore200

I loved philosophy in college and feel that math courses compliment philosophy really well (and vice a versa). The pure logic is beautiful imo...

Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein both started as mathematicians and are, arguably, the two most influential philosophers of the last 100 years. Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations was rated as the most important book of the 20th century. Math and philosophy go hand in hand.

lowsound

UnsungZeros · #10 08-25-2011, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

I have one as a double with my law degree. In some countries they are worthless. In the UK they can be worth more than physics or advanced maths to any employer. I don't think that any single rule can be applied.

Care to elaborate a bit on this? I'm genuinely interested in the value of such a degree in the UK. Besides using it to advance to a law degree, I can't see much practical value in it.

Ben Lesser · #11 08-25-2011, 10:25 PM

Philosophy is critical thinking. Critical thinking always has practical value. While it may not hold a lot of clout as a singular specialization, pairing philosophy with just about any other discipline is an excellent choice.

LiquidMidnight · #12 08-25-2011, 10:32 PM

Like any humanity major, your opportunity at having a financially stable career is going to greatly increase if you go to graduate school. I've noticed that law schools seem to really appreciate philosophy undergrads (and history majors too).

I'd love to have double-majored in philosophy, but my plan as an undergrad was to get in, get out, and get onto grad school in the shortest time with the least amount of debt possible. Math and philosophy as a dual-major would be killer. I'd also add that philosophy as a minor for science students would be cool, since all science is grounded in epistemology and ontology (and obviously metaphysics). Understanding those things is very important. It even gets more complicated in social science: Modern psychology for the most part has been, throughout its history, a fairly positivist science (though in my experience, most psychologists are actually probably post-postivists) - probably a result of psychologists trying to replicate the methods of the natural sciences moreso than other social scientists. On the other hand, sociology has a history of jumping between positivism, antipositivism, post-modernism, quantitative methods, qualitative methods, and back again. Plus, some sociological theory really skirts the sometimes fine line between science and philosophy (e.g., critical theory, post-structuralism).

...but that's a discussion for a whole 'nother thread.

flypejose · #13 08-26-2011, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

I have one as a double with my law degree. In some countries they are worthless. In the UK they can be worth more than physics or advanced maths to any employer. I don't think that any single rule can be applied.

+1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ziltoid

My mom is vice-dean at this university, was a teacher before and also works on the medical board for hospitals as ethic consultant. PhD in philosophy who then specialized in research and "practice" in medical ethic.

I love to hear that!

Philosophy influences virtually every other science one way or the other. Plus philosophy shapes our daily life probably more than we can imagine. It deals with ideas; ideas seduce and then pervade the mind and start to shape behaviors. Talking about mind control!

If you don’t do philosophy, philosophy will do you!

Mark Latimour · #14 08-26-2011, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnsungZeros

Care to elaborate a bit on this? I'm genuinely interested in the value of such a degree in the UK. Besides using it to advance to a law degree, I can't see much practical value in it.

In the UK a classics degree (fine arts, philsophy, history) from a good university is generally regarded much more highly than a specialised degree in business fields. You will find many of the bankers, lawyers, politicians etc actually have a classics degree from Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews etc rather than something more specialised like commerce, economics, science etc. Obviously if you are going into a field that requires a specific degree (engineering) then you need to do that degree. However, I was quite shocked to find this in the UK because in Australia an arts degree isn't worth very much (if anything) in the business fields.

fmoore200 · #15 08-26-2011, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein both started as mathematicians and are, arguably, the two most influential philosophers of the last 100 years. Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations was rated as the most important book of the 20th century. Math and philosophy go hand in hand.

lowsound

Don't forget about Reneé Descarte :-D

Strohsx · #16 08-26-2011, 05:07 AM

Personally I think everyone with a degree should also be required to train in some sort of skill trade that way, you know, they'll be useful when they graduate.