I am a philosophy major. I entered college knowing that I want to major in philosophy and the courses I’ve taken in the past academic year have solidified that decision. The question that very understandably follows is some variation of “WHY?” to varying degrees of politeness. Some people ask with curiosity which I appreciate and others ask with an audible scoff (umm rude). If I got a flex dollar every time I’ve been asked why I’m majoring in philosophy I seriously will not run out of flex for the rest of my college career, or the rest of my life actually. Just as a preface, I don’t try to convince people to major in philosophy because it’s not going to be the right choice for many. I do, however, try to open people up to the major as an option to consider or at least to taking a philosophy class.
So why am I a philosophy major? I feel like the question of why I’m a philosophy major is generally presented in such a way that is really implicitly asking what the heck I’m going to do with a philosophy major in the world ‘out there’ in terms of career options (as opposed to why I, personally, want to major in it). In other words, people are really asking, “What are you going to do with degree in it?”. I will answer this question by addressing the most common concerns.
Concern #1: The subject is just not relevant to everyday life because it is a bunch of theory.
Firstly, yeah there is theory involved but why assume that theory is irrelevant to life? Just for funsies, go on Wikipedia, go to a random article, click on the first hyperlinked word, do this a couple of times, and you’ll land on an article that has something to do with philosophy. Also, philosophy is directly relevant to everyday life in that it encourages people to literally questions everyday life raising questions such as what does it mean to live a good life, under what conditions are beliefs justified, what is the ethical thing to do.
Secondly, philosophy hones in its students the ability to write, think, criticize, and make good arguments about anything and everything. You learn to question assumptions, find weaknesses in arguments, think (almost automatically) of implications, and construct good arguments. The ability to analyze information and proposals in a critical and systematic way is incredibly applicable to fields including but not limited to politics, interpersonal relationships, business proposals, art critiques, big and small life decisions, EVERYTHING.
Concern #2: Okay but what can you do with a philosophy major besides being a professor or a philosopher by trade?
In short, you can do anything you want with it and I mean anything. Popular options include: lawyer, author, politicians, and journalism. Here is a comprehensive list of famous people in various fields who are philosophy majors.
The transferable skills such as communicating clearly, verbally and in written form, analyzing data, deconstructing arguments, and making good arguments are marketable and highly desirable. Rachel Maddow commented in her speech at Stanford that for her to be able to make an impact on the world she “needed to know how to convince others and how to make good arguments” and that she needs “people who are good at explaining facts, who are good at editing, and who can visualize things in creative ways. We need good artists and we need good writers”.
Personally, I’m going into social justice work but the major is open ended enough so that you literally can make what you want of it.
Concern #3: Money. What about the money? How are you going to make money with that?
Philosophy majors have the highest starting and mid-career median salaries of any of the humanities. I’m just gonna leave this here. Check it out, it’s actually kind of exciting.
In addition to all that, on a more personal note, the subject is just so interesting. It’s a super rewarding experience to interact intimately with an argument and have something to say with regards to the it. I make decisions, interact with reading materials in all of my other classes, and approach essays differently now. Philosophy classes challenges the way I think, my assumptions, and previously held beliefs. At the end of the day, yeah the skill set is great and yeah the job prospects look pretty good but, for me, I’m really majoring in it because the subject is just fun and I like it. Yeah, sometimes it gets to be really difficult *cough final papers and long complicated readings* but it’s so worth it.
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