<p>"I actually wanted to be a psychologist, but I just think that philosophy serves as a basis (long explanation). "</p>
<p>Can you elaborate on that? I would love to hear your explanation : )</p>
<p>here’s my definition of being useful. let’s not talk money.</p>
<p>let’s talk, changing the world. if i design a new reaction for the synthesis of a drug, i’ve changed the world. but that’s big stuff. what if i’m the guy doing boring QC work and sitting in a cubicle writing QC reports (done that before)? i’m still changing the world because if even 1 defective drug shipment goes through, someone may DIE.</p>
<p>now, philosophy. who cares if you can prove something? The world will keep on spinning and no one will live, die, have their lives improved, or become miserable, because of that.</p>
<p>Why not just post “I’m stupid” instead of wasting our time with all those paragraphs?</p>
<p>@LastThreeYears</p>
<p>Political philosophy, moral philosophy, and philosophy of law all have huge impacts on the way societies function. Philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of neuroscience are ask and debate key questions revolving around science, and the mind/brain respectively. Moreover philosophy of science and phil of physics are driving forces for why we reject old scientific and physical theories. </p>
<p>Even epistemology and metaphysics have subject matter that has practical influences. The debates about freedom of the will in metaphysics have manifest themselves throughout countless societies in adjudication e.g. insanity either long before or shortly preceding the committing of a crime.</p>
<p>And lastly, a lot of people “care if you can prove something”. Of course, you (as well as most people) really do not have a clue about the practical results that have come about in the past from philosophy. Much of civil society for that matter has strong traces of philosophical influence on its development, and still today philosophy plays a key role in shaping society and science. </p>
<p>@JaneofLeiden</p>
<p>Lulz</p>
<p>Why do we need the philosophy of physics when we have subjects like Engineering Physics and Computational Physics to quantitatively analyze physical processes? Theoretical physics is not philosophy, modern theoretical physics = computational physics and is alot of computer programming. Whatever the equations say, if they’re the same as what actually happens, they’re right. Don’t need philosophy for that.</p>
<p>Why do we need the philosophy of neuroscience when we have biomedical engineering, chemistry and biology that quantitatively and experimentally determine the structure of the brain and quantify human actions? Don’t need philosophy to tell us what the MRI scans say, need a radiologist.</p>
<p>I agree with LastThreeYears. Philosophy of x shouldn’t really be a separate field with distinct significance, it should just be an integral part of x that experts in x are capable of dealing with. Philosophy isn’t a science; it’s all conjecture. </p>
<p>Personally, I think philosophy gives you certain skills (reading, writing, analyzing, debating, etc.) that are useful in life, but not in the workforce, save for law. I see it as more of a hobby than a career path. Even if you are discussing philosophical issues with Ivy League PhDs, it seems a bit ridiculous to spend $100 000+ on a philosophy degree that you could have earned with a library card (i.e. for free).</p>
<p>Yeah if only Plato had been an engineer.</p>
<p>@LastThreeYears</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, what’s driving your compulsion to post such ignorant comments? Do you feel that by trying to convince people of the holiness of hard science and the uselessness of liberal arts you’ll somehow save society from a more contemptible existence of thought and open-mindedness, one collegeboard thread at a time? </p>
<p>Get a life creep.</p>
<p>Don’t want to see others waste their lives on a useless degree.</p>
<p>I did. Now I’m struggling to catch up and get a useful degree.</p>
<p>So now you’re Plato?</p>
<p>You cannot get the equivalent of a philosophy degree with a library card. That is completely ridiculous. Philosophy instructors are very important in helping students to grow as philosophers. You cannot just simply pick up Heidegger’s Being and Time and completely understand it on your own.</p>
<p>" Don’t want to see others waste their lives on a useless degree.</p>
<p>I did. Now I’m struggling to catch up and get a useful degree. "</p>
<p>@lastthreeyears Please stop spreading your ignorance. Just because you failed doesn’t mean others will fail like you did. Looking at your earliest post, you majored in biology for undergrad and started thinking about switching to engineering. Are you saying biology is useless degree as well? Your have very flawed logic, something that philosophy can improve greatly, but of course you wouldn’t know that either since you seem to have little or no experience with philosophy.</p>
<p>May I remind you that philosophy was the creation of mathematics. If you had any background in philosophy you would know this. </p>
<p>@Iampos Getting a philosophy degree with a library card… another ignorant comment, I wouldn’t even have to explain why. I guess this topic really brings out the general population view of things, and you know what they say about the general population ;D.</p>
<p>Also please consider the person’s passion for this major, just cause you dislike or think this major is useless doesn’t mean you have to bash it and convince people to think its useless with your onesided comments.</p>
<p>Hell yes I’m saying Biology is a total waste. It’s a worthless premed prep major just as philosophy is a worthless prelaw major. Despite being so bad at it, I still have a >3.3 GPA, not too good overall but for someone that can’t memorize for crap, good enough. Guess my math and chem classes boosted my GPA enough. There’s no intellectual challenge or learning anything useful, it’s just tedious memorization in every single class. The average salary of biology majors is the lowest among all hard sciences (biology shouldn’t be a hard science, but then it’s better than psychology, so I’ll put it with hard sciences for now). In fact, it is barely higher than psychology. Why would anyone study this? 99% of doctors are in it for the money, if you only cared about money, finance finance finance is the way to go. If you cared about intellectual enrichment, physical sciences or engineering, they’ll make you a far more thoughtful person than any philosophy degree can. Philosophy is even worse, they don’t even have the opportunity of taking useful classes.</p>
<p>I just don’t want others to fall into the same trap. What is your problem with that? Some things are useful, others are useless, I’m providing objective information filtered free of the BS that counselors give you.</p>
<p>@lastthreeyears Well I don’t have a problem with you “not wanting others to fall for the same trap” but I do have a problem when you use EXTREMELY BIASED reasoning. If you actually used legit sources to back up what you say then maybe you won’t seem so ignorant. Not only do you use extremely vague statements, you also make false statements. Biology major is not useless just because you couldn’t apply it to anything. Biology majors are the most common majors that are accepted into medical school, tell me how is that useless?</p>
<p>Philosophy majors usually score the highest on the LSATs which is statistically proven, thus increasing their chances to get into a better law school.</p>
<p>99% of doctors are in it for the money? Another thing you pulled out of your bsing. But I must say you are a successful ■■■■■.</p>
<p>You ARE providing BS information.</p>
<p>Have a nice day ;D.</p>
<p>"Don’t want to see others waste their lives on a useless degree.</p>
<p>I did. Now I’m struggling to catch up and get a useful degree."</p>
<p>Perfectly exemplifies the close-mindedness and ignorance of your thought process.
Life is not entirely about how well one can market themselves or land a well paying job. Of course, upon reading your comments it seems like you would think so (and that’s probably the source of much of your life’s regret and dejection).</p>
<p>Just because you’ve wasted your life doesn’t mean someone else will be subject to the same fate. Open your eyes.</p>
<p>L3Y, you’re not objective. You’re basing your entire belief on your experience. That in itself is NOT objective. Who are you to say that a major is useless and not intellectually stimulating to another person? All I see is a bitter person who failed at creating fruition and wants everyone to jump ship. Well guess what, what you failed to do is what another might achieve. Grow up.</p>
<p>my brother majored in Philosophy and Classics.</p>
<p>He went to Uni. of Pittsburgh even though he liked his professors he just didn’t feel it was a right fit for him and transferred to a Uni. in Florida…which he hated even more.</p>
<p>He doesn’t regret his majors at all, just the schools he chose.</p>
<p>He’s now in law school.
His philosophy major has really helped him get into the law school of his choice and with doing well in that school.</p>
<p>@LastThreeYears… The reason that universities exist and a HUGE foundational basis for the current country in which live and all derivational laws has extensive backgrounds in philosophy, rooting all the way back to Plato. Of course, according to your logic, by proxy democracy and the country you live in are also useless, as they not “hard sciences” and rooted in philosophy which as, as you speculate, no foundation in intellect. If this true, I suggest you move out of all governments and societies, as they are philosophically based in some way. =)</p>
<p>Space15,</p>
<p>I highly suggest you try and find older, adult people to ask this question to. You’re only going to get two responses here: The people who wish they chose a different more applicable major, or people choosing a humanities/liberal arts major trying to validate it. In both scenarios, both haven’t entered the work force, and thus have as much practical insight as you do.</p>
<p>If you REALLY want to hear from us, I’d definitely recommend against philosophy as a major. It sounds great now, and will help your logic for sure, but now a days, any college education is going to hone those skills. You need to learn a skill that cannot be learned just through books. You need a marketable skill to stay competitive in the work environment. Minor in philosophy if you must, heck, that’d even make you a double threat when it comes to getting a job.</p>
<p>My two cents, I’ll let the English/Sociology/etc. majors eat me up.</p>
<p>CollegeTransfer: This isn’t a politics board, so I won’t discuss my thoughts about the government. I’ll just say - it was the misfortune of the people of Iraq that Bush didn’t know math.</p>