I was just curious…
Seems like a damn fun career…
It does seem like a fun career. I might end up pursuing it if all turns out well. People on this forum do tend to be negative towards actually pursuing a career in philosophy. They could be right.
Why is this the case? I’m interested to hear…
People oft fear that which does not equate to a multitude of wealth and a societal stereotyping. People believe that it is better to be an unethical but successful person than an individual wrought with insight.
Oddly enough if you pursue a degree in philosophy you can be successful in any field. Granted you may need to double major but your logic and reasoning skills shall be leaps and bounds ahead of those who are content with an overtly systemic life.
Regardless, my view is that when one spends what fleeting moments we have doing that which one does not enjoy; is a life wasted.
Satori couldn’t have said it any better.
And to answer your question, last time I checked someone made a topic about pursuing a career in philosophy, and whether or not it was worth going after. It was filled with many negative comments about how philosophy does not make any money.
My concern wouldn’t be so much if it would make any money, but rather if it would make any difference.
For my part, I have to say that “academics” and “philosophy” are nearly diametrically opposed as far as I’m concerned. I remember one fine day when I was in intro class and we were discussing Des Cartes. I mentioned that a vacuum seemed to be something that Des Cartes would have trouble with. (this was before I knew about his famous phrase) The philosophy professor said, “Des Cartes said that there is NO such thing as a vacuum.” and seemed to be content to let that settle the question.
I don’t care for having other philosophers quoted as the “de facto” answer to specific questions. I think philosophy as a major is often guilty of this. It’s ironic since philosophy is a field that always has and probably always will proceed by the examination of questions. I’d argue that in many cases, academic philosophy is actually detrimental to the practice OF philosophy.
The issue is not that philosophy degrees will not land you good jobs, but that most people who posted negative things on that thread do not either:
a) Have a philosophy degree
or
b) Know anything about what having a philosophy degree means to employers (i.e. they are just guessing).
If nobody knew what a degree was worth until they got one, choosing to obtain one would be a hell of a risk! 
Still, I don’t mean that in a negative way. Any B.A. has some value (well, except Sociology 
).
And Anthropology Phaedrus 
But in regards to making a difference I suppose it depends on what scale you would wish to affect. You may certainly change the individual as a professor but as much as we hate it the masses would most likely be unhindered and speak of you as “That stupid philosophy guy…” all the while speaking to their friends how pointless it is. But if you can get someone to change their world perception for the better than I believe it would be worth it.
A graduated philosopher is dead.
There is no end to higher learning…no truth exists yet that everyone agrees on and accepts.
In a sense nothing you change, no matter what the scale, truly makes any difference. But I know what you mean.
I think philosophy doesn’t fit in very well with other subjects of academic study. Philosophy professors and PhD students get funding for doing philosophy “research”, but philosophy is not science. Many philosophy PhD dissertations I have seen are incredibly dull collections of philosophical details, and it feels like this misses the point of philosophy. When the scientific method is applied to philosophical studies (and the scientific method should be used in a PhD dissertation), it often ceases to be philosophy. Dissertations in other subjects are of course also often dull collections of details, but this is ok because most sciences proceed in this way. I don’t see philosophy following the same pattern because there are no “laws” of philosophy that researchers could uncover bit by bit (philosophical logic is excluded).
For these reasons, I think it is possible to be a philosopher even without a formal degree (though not without training). To me it makes sense if someone tells me she’s a “self-trained philosopher”, whereas I would be a bit sceptical about a “self-trained nuclear physicist”. Still, if you have a chance to pursue a career in academic philosophy and you enjoy philosophy in general, I think that’s a great career choice. Lots of freedom, reading and writing books and papers for a living. What could be better?
Yes, but:
Many politics Phd diss…
Many literature PhD diss…
Many anthropology PhD diss…
Many…
I strongly considered it. three years ago I started taking graduate classes and dreamed of a career switch. I like coming up with creative and rational solutions to things, and usually when I set my mind on something I can do it - so the romance of tackling truth, etc., seemed exciting.
My image of that is a guy like Kant walking around deep in thought, scribbling for ten years, developing an earthshattering mind-altering idea, or even what Einstein did. The idea of some frail guy (they always are frail) covering the tired tractates of old thoughts and giving hour-long lectures that could take five minutes - that’s the reality of philosophy in academics.
If one goes that way it should be an act of war, not a gentle thing. The single goal should be to advance the field in some way or collapse under the weight of your efforts. Because if you want to be challenged, creative, profound and eclectic, you can have that in advertising and make enough money to buy ten philosophers.
I am doing an Honours in philosophy at the moment. If I receive a first or second class A degree, I hope to go onto to do a phd. Even if I don’t receive these desired marks, I will continue to read philosophy until I kick the bucket. Nothing else other than playing the drums has any real value for me.
Bit of a pessimism overload going on in here! 
Academic Philosophy is what you make of it. I’m disappointed to hear that people who frequent this forum seem more obsessed by money, and the fleeting prestige granted by others for pursuing a financially rewarding but essentially mind/soul destroying career. Personally, I’d love to be an academic- a career that keeps you generating ideas; ideas that you can actually share in a significant way through writing books and articles, while simeltaneously nurturing the abilities of a fresh generation of thinkers. Wonderful 
! To rephrase what others have said in this thread, life is too short to forsake intellectual heights in a brown paper bag, in favour of an inner mediocrity concealed by the glamour of wealth.
Well said. 
Having tried both, I feel that lack of wealth conceals far more than wealth. Academia conceals stuff, too. But I agree it is what you make it. Good luck.
I am in a philosophy Ph.d.-track master’s program. And yes, I am completely aware how difficult it is to get a job in this field.