Philosopher by Degree
I recently started thinking about changing my major to philosophy. I will still follow the pre-medical path towards medical school, but I will also fulfill the requirements for a Major in Philosophy. I’m a few semesters ahead with math, so I will have some extra room in my schedule next semester.
I will be discussing things in-depth with an advisor soon, but I would really like some feedback. This is a decision that will change the rest of my life, and I want to know if a formal academic route is suitable for philosophy. If you need any incentive, how about a free Wordpress.com invite for the most helpful comment…
James McCollum
Sep 30, 11:01 AM
Formal academic route? Philosophy is the academic route of medicine, science, and ethics. The foundations of these topics are found in the study of philosophy. Philosophy of science and ethics can only heighten your wisdom of the initial thoughts that brought these bla bla bla… Are you existing as a money maker, or as a human that wants to think about the way you exist?
Benedict Eastaugh
Sep 30, 01:16 PM
Philosophy, as a subject, is these days a pretty technical one. My advice would be to read a few papers in areas you’re interested in, and see if you could imagine yourself spending a lot of time reading and writing such things. Take a look at Certain Doubts, which is an epistemology blog with a lot of lively discussion.
Benedict Eastaugh
Sep 30, 01:17 PM
That should be Certain Doubts
(maybe Textile will work if HTML doesn’t!)
Thame
Sep 30, 03:15 PM
“Are you existing as a money maker, or as a human that wants to think about the way you exist?”
The reason that I want to be a doctor is because I feel that I can have the biggest impact in that field. I love biology, physics and chemistry and I’m really not thinking about the money.
“My advice would be to read a few papers in areas you’re interested in, and see if you could imagine yourself spending a lot of time reading and writing such things.”
I suppose my question is really about whether I should continue doing as I do now, reading/writing sporadically, or would it be worth it to major in philosophy and give it the same attention and thought that I do for my other courses.
Some of the courses sound pretty interesting, and I would probably be able to choose up to the 300-400 levels as Honors “seminars”.
Juan
Sep 30, 05:23 PM
Well, I’m going to throw in my two cents for what it’s worth. I don’t think you can study to be a philosopher. The purpose of a liberal arts course is not to make you, let’s say your ‘major’ is ‘philosophy’, a philosopher. Undergraduate studies are supposed, at least in the liberal arts, to teach you how to think. Graduate school is a different story.
If you are meant to be a philosopher, whatever this entails, then you are born with the genius for it. You can only develop the genius. But if you don’t possess it, you can take many a philosophy classes yet you a philosopher will not be.
Sumeet
Sep 30, 07:53 PM
I consider philosophy to represent who I am while it is not what I do. This seems to be your attitude as well, since you have every intention of continuing your current path towards medicine.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that interesting classes will be interesting. I thought a lot of the classes I would take in college would be incredibly enlightening, challenging, and even fun. I was dissappointed.
I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to philosophy. I think schools today, as a result of restrictions placed upon them by outside forces, tend to teach a very narrow view of philosophy. More importantly, they do not teach it as it ought to be taught. I always wondered why I was learning philosophy by being told to analyze someone’s viewpoints. While reading literature is helpful, I feel that the people who actually wrote that literature arrived at their wisdom via a completely different process than the one I was taking. This isn’t to say that you should mimic their process, but it’s important to reflect on what is most conducive to knowledge.
In the end, I’ve decided that it’s better to meditate on issues of importance than on literature of importance. Sometimes, when I need someone to talk to about my ideas, I can pick up one of my books and talk with its author. That’s the true role of literature: to provide the other side of a conversation that you start.
Benedict Eastaugh
Sep 30, 09:05 PM
Juan: I don’t think you need to be a genius to be a good philosopher, although obviously it helps. However, to pursue a career in academic philosophy you generally need at least a Master’s; even Wittgenstein had to get a doctorate so he could teach at Cambridge!
Phil Renaud
Sep 30, 11:37 PM
I’m a philosophy major at the University of Windsor, here in Canada.
I can say a lot about my likes and dislikes for my major, but the gist of it is this: there will be only one time where you will be challenged in philosophy during your lifetime, and that is during your scholarship. In other fields, this is not the case: Generally, your career will be a series of challenges to your chosen field. In philosophy, your thinking is done during your time studying.
Similarly, if i’ve learned anything, it’s that what people take in school generally doesn’t correlate with what they do with their careers.
Hope this helps! If you have any questions about the degree that are a bit more specific, feel free to email me or something.
Sumeet
Sep 30, 11:53 PM
"there will be only one time where you will be challenged in philosophy during your lifetime, and that is during your scholarship"
I disagree. For someone pursuing wisdom, such a challenge is life-long. I’ve learned from my experiences that academia is but one of several ways to approach philosophy, and (as my initial comment details) I think it is not the right way as it is currently.
The most important thing to remember is simply that majoring in something is rarely the same as diving into that field and being absorbed by its offerings. I don’t know much about the author of this blog (this is only my second time visiting), but he should take great care to consider what the study of philosophy means to him. It’s already clear he’s thought about what the concept of philosophy means to him.
Thame
Oct 1, 03:44 PM
"[...] he should take great care to consider what the study of philosophy means to him. It’s already clear he’s thought about what the concept of philosophy means to him."
Yes, that is very true Sumeet. I am unsure as to whether the effort I put into all of my classes will be helpful or detrimental if I choose to include a philosophy course.
I don’t want to focus only on the past...I want to philosophize, not study philosophy.
Come on people, there's a free Wordpress.com invite floating around.
Sumeet
Oct 2, 09:36 AM
I want to philosophize, not study philosophy.
To me, that’s the only sentence on this entire page that really matters.
I’m the same way, and I felt nothing but frustration and dissappointment in college philosophy classes. You seem to be pretty passionate about wisdom, and that is really all that matters. You’ll find that professors rarely share your enthusiasm, students rarely share your intellect, and administrators who care about reputations and accreditation rarely share your integrity.
While it’s true my views are merely the product of my experiences and reflection, it’s also true that this makes my views all the more legitimate – not unwarranted. You’ve asked for our opinions, and this is mine. I don’t need an invite to WordPress.com (and doubt my comments have been the most helpful anyway). I do however want you to make a good decision. Far too many philosophers are held back by the study of philosophy.
koen
Oct 2, 08:58 PM
If you plan on studying philosophy I guess you already have read some general intros to it. If not do that first.
If you have done it ask yourself if you would still be interested in an academic persual of philosophy if you knew much of it is very technical, and requires you often to know a lot about other fields of study. Eg, almost every philosopher of science these days are or philosophers who have studied a science very thoroughly or scientists with a philosophical interest. A certain approach to investigating “what is”, might make you having to invest time in deepening your knowledgde of quantum mechanics. Some subject matters of ethics make you obligated to know a good deal of biology.
Next to that, are you interested in taking a paragraph of a book of a philosopher and analyse every possible meaning of it?
Also, inform about what approaches your potential professors have on a certain subject. Eg read some papers they have written. If you feel like the points they are defending are complete b/s, you will have a hard time keeping the interest, though there will be many other viewpoints you would have liked. Even though in philosophy people expect you to be critical and criticize viewpoints, having to read through books whose idea you completely repulse, and analyze them, is something you won’t like. Eg read up about some major approaches like phenomenology, kantianism, ordinary language approach, analytical philosophy and try to determine what you will get in your courses.
Also, keep in mind that, although you are probably a critical person (otherwise philosophy is definately not for you), after you have studied philosophy academically, you will be so critical of everything it will be a pain for yourself. Eg a discussion with your friends who don’t have any philosophical background will be very hard, because you will be constantly seeing flaws in their reasoning, know that things aren’t that easy and require a lot of more analysis etc. Even when discussing with people who have majored in other areas: you will have gained knowledge on how science isn’t that stable at all, how there are different schools in all sciences. But they will not know that, as they will have taken for granted what their tutors have tought mostly uncritical. If you don’t believe me ask grammatical students of English about other current grammars eg. Discuss how evolutionary theories of animals clash with developmental views in biology.
By studying philosophy you will be more critcal than all others and thus you will feel a bit like an outsider. I guess this is something you’ll have to experience.
You’ll guessed by now that my study of philosophy has been a rather negative one. BUT:
-you won’t get the insights you get in academical study in your free time reading philosophy (are you going to go to the academia and get the latest research on bioethics? are you going to force yourself reading Nietzsche in a phenomenological interpretations?)
-you won’t be a complete person without philosophy: it is about the essence of life, life is philosophy!
fiat philosphia, fiat philosophus, fiam! (Nietzsche)
Pat
Oct 3, 08:05 AM
In my opinion, some of the most “genius” modern philosophers don’t know they are philosophers, such as songwriters and poets. There is no reason bloggers couldn’t fit into that category.
This is my first time here, but I can see you are a contemplative person. In my search for a major in college (I just graduated), I realized I “could have” pursued many areas I was interested in and probably done well, philosophy and psychology included.
Finding a major in college is applying a lot of that personal philosophy (and personality) I sense you have. It’s a lot of soul-searching. I am confident you can find other ways of expressing your interest in philosophy other than majoring in it. Books are a good start! Discussion groups at local coffee houses, too.
This advice is biased because I considered TONS of majors before I found one that really fit me. And don’t feel embarassed if you don’t find one. My mother has been in school my entire life, for Math, English, a business doctorate, and now Theology. She always tells me she still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she “grows up.” Realize that life is about the journey.
Hope this helps.
Pat
Thame
Oct 4, 02:21 AM
I think I’ll be taking the “safe” path, neither committing to nor excluding the possibility of a major in philosophy. Instead, I’ll take a philosophy-related Honors seminar next semester and see if it’s something I would like to do. If not, I’ll stick with Biomedical Sciences.
Thanks for the advice everyone, and especially koen, your invite is on its way.