<p>Ummm... What do you do?</p>
<p>I'm flirting with the prospect of majoring in philosophy, but I don't really have a concept of how a typical class would go or what kind of work would be assigned.</p>
<p>If you are majoring in philosophy, or at least know more than I do about the major, I'd appreciate it if you could explain what the experience is like.</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>Philosophy majors, well…</p>
<p>Here are some things that apply to a number of them:</p>
<ol>
<li>Rich daddies</li>
<li>Fur coats, leggings</li>
<li>listing “existentialist things” in the interest section of facebook</li>
<li>booze booze booze</li>
</ol>
<p>There are a few of them who lock themselves up like Descartes and try to figure things out, but they’re in a minority.</p>
<p>Oh god…</p>
<p>Here we go…</p>
<p>I got a degree in philosophy at UCLA before medical school. The lower division requirements tended to be seminar-type classes. There were three core classes that covered the history of philosophy from the ancients to the modern philosophers in very broad terms. Other lower divs were general classes about the philosophy of ethics, religion, language, science, etc. You also had to take intro to logic (a very cool class). </p>
<p>Upper divs were much smaller courses (10-40 people) obviously much more oriented to one specific area of philosophy or even one work from one philosopher (I remember one class was devoted to just a few pages out of one work by Hegel… who is one tough b*stard). You have to take a certain number of upper div classes from various disciplines (like ethical theory, logic, language, history, etc.).</p>
<p>It was a great major. Everything is very much based around logic and determining the validity of arguments. I thought it was great fun. We would discuss one philosopher or one topic from philosophy and then go through the various arguments for and against that philosophers views, and basically rip them apart (the polite term is “philosophical rigor”). :D</p>
<p>Assignments are always essay format. I can’t remember a single multiple choice or short answer test in any of my philosphy classes. The exception being logic, where you had to do derivations of logical sentences. Otherwise, you’ll be doing a lot of writing. Most of the time, they were take-home assignments, but sometimes you had to do in class essay exams.</p>
<p>For example, here are some course descriptions from current philosphy courses at UCLA:</p>
<p>Phil 184 - Topics in Metaphysics:
Intensive investigation of one or two topics or works in metaphysics, such as personal identity, nature of dispositions, possibility and necessity, universals and particulars, causality. Topics announced each term.</p>
<p>Phil 21 - Skepticism and Rationality:
Can we know anything with certainty? How can we justify any of our beliefs? Introduction to study of these and related questions through works of some great philosophers of modern period, such as Descartes, Hume, Leibniz, or Berkeley.</p>
<p>Phil 101A - Plato’s Earlier Dialogues
Study of selected topics in early and middle dialogues of Plato.</p>
<p>Phil 153A - Topics in Value Theory: Normative Ethics
Study of selected topics in normative ethical theory. Topics may include human rights, virtues and vices, principles of culpability and praiseworthiness (criteria of right action). </p>
<p>So you can see, topics vary widely. You can definitely find something that interests you each term.</p>
<p>That sounds extremely interesting!</p>
<p>How was your education at UCLA? I have heard that a high quality undergrad education in philosophy is most attainable at a small school. Did having a large student body pose any setbacks in your experience?</p>
<p>UCLA actually has a very strong philosophy department, and I thought I received a great education. There are quite a few very famous faculty (at least in the world of philosophy haha). Tyler Burge is a very well known philosopher of the mind. David Kaplan has been very influential in the philosophy of language and logic with his works on demonstratives and making corrections to Frege’s ideas on language.</p>
<p>These professors are following in the very large footsteps of the likes of Hans Reichenbach, Rudolf Carnap, and even Bertrand Russell, all of whom were philosophy professors at UCLA.</p>
<p>So in that respect, it is a very strong department, but I think this applies moreso to the graduate students who work closely with these professors for their PhD. The rest of the faculty are also very good, and I had quite a few great professors in my courses there.</p>
<p>Well, I’m kind of planning on making Philosophy my second major, or a minor.</p>
<p>The only pre-major course here is Logic… this kind of stuff: [Power</a> Of Logic Tutor – not logged in](<a href=“http://www.poweroflogic.com/cgi/menu.cgi]Power”>Power Of Logic Tutor)</p>
<p>I took a (lower-division) class on the history of philosophy last quarter. We mainly read excerpts from Augustine, Anselm, Boethius, Descartes, Locke, and Hume, along with some modern commentaries on those philosophers. I think our first essay was about comparing philosophers’ approaches to the problem of evil, our second essay was about comparing Aquinas’ and Anselm’s approaches to proving the existence of God, and our final was basically a series of short and long essays about everything we had done before with some essays about the political theories of Locke and Hume (one of the prompts asked something about comparing the differences in how Locke and Hume justified the political state).</p>
<p>Right now, I’m in a class called “Theory of Knowledge,” so we’re reading essays about how different people think we know (or don’t know) the things we know. We’re not too far into the class, so I can’t give you too much of a feel of what it’s like.</p>
<p>One upside: philosophy professors here often have us use a reader that they put together, and it’s usually a lot cheaper than most of the textbooks I buy.</p>
<p>I was going to take some philosophy classes but then I realized that the more you think about philosophy the more negative outlook on life, at least for me anyways, so I took german instead.</p>
<p>It sounds interesting, but is it really a strong major going into law school? Are employers at all impressed?</p>
<p>It would be, if there was such a thing. Statistics show that philo majors are more likely to scrore high on the LSAT. I plan on going to law school, but that is not why I am going to major in philo.</p>
<p>Don’t pick a major based on LSAT performance, that’s an illogical and idiotic thing to do.
but yep, Philosophy majors do very well. Math/Physics majors do the best on the LSAT on average, followed by Philosophy majors, followed by Econ. the LSAT focuses heavily on logic and philosophy is good for that.</p>
<p>In my opinion, philosophy is a bunch of opinion’s that can never be justified or proved. I mean I could come up with some random crap and have it published in one of the philosophy textbooks I have read. Case and point, my philosophy teacher is a grad student looking for a job, and a student asked “what can you do with a philosophy degree?” His only reply was that he could become a professor…If you love philosophy, then far be it from me to tell you to find something else. But in my opinion, it has very limited use in the modern world. I have an econ professor this semester who explained to our class that his wife (a professor in poetry), has limited options with that degree and thus makes less money than a person with a professional degree in economics (who has a lot more options). It is also true that the job market is shrinking right now. People who have specializations like engineers, architects, etc. will most likely not have trouble finding suitable jobs out of college. But people who have more general degrees like history, sociology, criminal justice, etc. will have more trouble finding a job. My brother just graduated last semester with a degree in history, and is contemplating joining the military because his job prospects are so low. It may hurt some people to say this, but some degrees just don’t have a great use in today’s world (not to say that those degrees are completely worthless, but the options are far more limited).</p>
<p>I think you have it backwards…</p>
<p>Someone with a more general degree can apply for a larger number of jobs (when compared to someone with a specialized degree).</p>
<p>Philosophy teaches (among others) problem solving, logic, and expression of idea; knowledge that can be applicable to just about any field.</p>
<p>
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<p>Nothing can ever truly be proved or justified. Only patterns can be recognized.</p>
<p>That’s quite a philosophy ;)</p>
<p>If you have a particular skill that no one else has, you can apply to jobs that want and need your skill. If you have a degree like philosophy, then you don’t have a particular skill in the same sense. Other people can “think outside the box” or can form logical arguments that aren’t Philosophy majors. Are you going to bring more to the table because you know how to structure an argument than the english major who knows how to write well? Having a skill does limit you to a certain job, but you will have a better chance of landing that job. Having a broad skill with little tangeable use will limit your chances of actually landing the job. I would know, I am a poli sci major, and I am well aware that I don’t come out of it with a specialized skill, and that basically I am reading and analyzing, something that can be done by many people and not just poli sci majors. I do it because I like it and I want to try my hand at possibly being a lawyer. But if that doesn’t work out, I realize that it might be tough to find something else because I don’t have a particular skill that others do not have. If somebody likes being a philosophy major, then kudos. Im just pointing out that you won’t be in high demand compared to say an Economist or a Statistician or an Engineer. If you deny that then I just don’t know what to say, you haven’t taken a look at the modern job market.</p>
<p>But you are excluding the fact that job markets are going to close. If you major in something very specific, you expose yourself to the risk of becoming soley dependent on one field. If the afformentioned field were to contract, you would have a difficult time staying employed. </p>
<p>Take finance majors for example. It was a stable field for an extended period of time, but now it is very difficult to find a job in finance. It is very probable that a similar occurance will take place in other areas of the economy.</p>
<p>Majoring in something that entails a broad education is safer because you avoid becoming a victim of economic diminution.</p>
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<p>Coming out of college, there are lots of people with the same skills as you.</p>
<p>What’s the first thing that happens when you get a job? You go to training…</p>
<p>I don’t think picking a broad education is safer. The economy works more efficiently if people specialize, that’s the whole concept of comparative advantage vs absolute advantage. The safest thing to do then would be pick a career that’s always in demand.</p>
<p>Teaching is “safe” because we always need teachers. Teachers are carefully trained and specialize in this. Broad education isn’t as “safe”. I’m not saying go for the safe one, study what you want, but don’t think it’ll make you better off in the job market. </p>
<p>Personal example: I love neuroscience and want to be a neurologist. That’s a highly specialized field, I will need 3-4 years of undergrad, another 4 years in Med school , 4 years of residency plus a fellowship and specialized training in neurology. Obviously this is a HUGE investment and not a broad education, but I will have an easier time getting a job in my niche - neurology - than someone who broadly studied Philosophy for 3-4 years will have getting a job. Even if we’re talking about non-medical jobs, with my Econ BA i’d have a lot more options than the Philo major again. So broad education doesn’t make it easier necessarily (it does have advantages as you pointed out). You can’t argue economic dimunation will make it more difficult since specialized professionals like this are so difficult and rare. </p>
<p>Study what you like, kids. It’ll all work out in the end ;)</p>
<p>Oh, and far as Philosophy goes, it’s known as a difficult degree, probably the most difficult of the Humanities and I would say one of the hardest Liberal Arts. So even though it’s broad, it’s still recognized for that by many employers.</p>