Been thinking that philosophy was gross waste of a degree

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
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I know the old trite line of ‘philosophy is a widely recognized degree’ what a load of crap!

Like how as a consolation ppl with small weiners say ‘its not the size but what you do with it that counts’ :stuck_out_tongue:

Now, 6 years or so after my course, having done absolutely nothing with it I can attest that it is a ‘worthless’ thing to do.

Not worthless but very impractical.

I am much more of a pragmatist than I was when I took it. Tbh in hindsight back then the only reason I took it was because ppl would be really impressed by the talk of philosophy and it had the mystique that only the most intelligent people take it. So I did it for bragging rights basically.

Sure it was enjoyable but still not as worthwhile as other things.

I love the rational side of it but hate its ultimate impotence. I think doing straight science could have given an equal appreciation for rational thought while also being directly useful. For many years now Ive been fascinated by science and the scientific method. Im kind of envious of ppl who have specialised in it now whereas I feel like I got stuck in kindergarten with straight philosophy. I love how they basically took philosophy and made it actionable.

Chemistry I really admire now and have begun studying it.

I think 50/50 philo and chemistry would have been better. Philo lends to the lateral thinking and gave the history of rational thought, so mainly to me philosophy was just a history in rational thinking- so ultimately that could be dropped form a degree to study straight science and just read up in your spare time. The sciences are more like contemporary rationalism.

No point to my thread really just some thoughts Id been having of late.

I am kind of remorseful tho that I fell for the whole ‘philosophy is useful really it is’ schtick. Cos now at at 30 Im too old to become decent at chemistry in terms of a career. Not that Id want to I was just thinking how many job opportunities chemists must be spoiled with due to its wide range of application. Its also really interesting to boot in that it ties the theory with the practice everyday life.

I love that vs stupid stuffy philosophy windbags who spend their lives doing nothing with their time but making all these convoluted theories of doing nothing sound important. The only tangible application of philosophy I can think of is using it to contemplate real ethical dilemmas and ramifications in politics/science etc.

So to conclude science pwns philosophy.

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Philosophy is by definition impractical to any specific field, because philosophy does not concern itself with accumulating facts and merit within any specific field. Philosophy comprehends instantly what is important, it is able to understand and analyze facts and situations, it does not concede to them in any way. Thus no “employer” is going to care that you know philosophy, that makes you more of a threat than anything else.

Jobs are about being a slave in exchange for currency credits. The master will only pay you for what you are worth to him/her. Unless you want to be a slave to a philosopher (you can be, with a Ph.D in philosophy and a teaching position) you gotta know a lot of practical, specific and highly irrelevant things in order to be a useful slave.

Philosophy makes you a god, not employable.

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Anything that isn’t goal oriented, and philosophy is probably the least goal oriented, isn’t anything that will pay the bills other than merely having a degree in anything would.

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Its not just about ‘cutting checks’ its about being USEFUL. ie a chemist can do all sorts its like being a real life magician. What can a philosopher do? make posts like the above boasting about them being a ‘god’ ye right buddy only in your own mind. charles manson had many ‘fine theories’ as well. Whether they accorded with reality was another matter.

and how does making money automatically equate to being a ‘slave to the man’. What about entrepeneurs? Money is one of the most useful tools there is to mollify the ignorant masses. So long as you can make it on your own terms then to me its one of the most practical goals in life to accumulate as much as you can. Im not tlaking about the bullshit ‘bling bling’ lifestyle but having enough to be ‘comfortable’ in a capitalist society.

I guess its pointless to continue the discussion much further it’s just a case of ‘it is what it is’ either you like the directionless windbaging of philosophy or you don’t and gtfo. :slight_smile:

Spose I better pick my hide up and move it over to the science section to contemplate more practical issues :slight_smile:.

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As you argue about the merits of philosophy, none of you argue in disfavor of the OP.

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philosophers compete with god and either lose or stop being philosophers
religious people trust god more or less blindly.
scientists obey god and are his greatest angels. they work at this moment to bring His coming.
animals are part of god, a necessary chyme from which scientists spring.
religious people are also chyme that got animals far enough to care about science.

philosophers, we stand alone, an abandoned lucifer forging our existential universes.

a human is a ratio split between these four things.

the least popular is philosophy.

that’s what you chose a degree in – the art of competing/arguing with god.

it’s probably a stupid thing to get a degree in, and a stupid thing to do in general, that is, competing with and separating from god.

but if it’s in you, then getting a degree is maybe a brave choice.

if you want money and a career, then congrats, you’re more animal than you thought, and eventually god will take care of its own. animals generally don’t complain about solipsism or angst.

but this idea that philosophy is just history or ethical dilemma process is missing the point, philosophy is a stance, an orientation to life, and ultimately, a lonely one, compared to the options.

a philosophical mind is a mind that argues with everything outside of its asking apparatus and eventually finds itself alone and with an essence no better understood than when it started. it’s a perversion of a useful trait gone haywire, and it’s probably a dumb thing to get a degree in, once the truth sets in that it’s a perversion with no lasting application or use.

use what skills you can salvage – you’ve gotten smarter studying philosophy – and go do something else, because you’re still human and you still have the capacity to be a scientific/religious animal

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The grass is always greener. You think you’d be better off in science because it’s more usefull. Take a look around you. Listen. Read the signs. Science is the child of philosophy and is therefore younger, but it is going the same way. Scientists are already beginning the great retreat, the retreat to where you say that science can’t actually solve any problems or answer any questions. The place where you say the important thing about science is the doing of it, the muscular strength that it gives to the mind:

“You are old,” said the youth, “and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak–
Pray, how did you manage to do it?”

“In my youth,” said his father, “I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw
Has lasted the rest of my life.”

Lewis Carroll’s poem seems rather apt.

My suggestion would be this: “out” philosophy. You are in an ideal position to grass-up the philosophers, to de-throne them, to reveal them for what they really are— as something rather less than they have the duped the public into thinking they are. THAT would be something that would be of REAL value to society!

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science is the child of the universe itself.
philosophy is science’s deranged older brother.
it taught science a few things, but science has its own soul, it’s own set of skills and ideals.
it is the favorite child.

if philosophy is not the devils path, then it will be a scientist who figures out why

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The fact is, that the worth of philosophy is a measure of individual appraisal.as history is a study of what has past ,philosophy is interwoven with it. It has become differentiated from knowledge in specifics, as the enlightenment has reduced man from its own plenum of being with its gods and faith in himself, toward increasing alienation and fearful nihilism.

 There  seems to have occurred the development of a voida trace  of a kernel  left when  this ideal image left at twilight. 

  Philosophy  is of more urgency  as ever, at the very least for those  inquering  minds to whom  the differentiation by often repeated  recurrance, has  yet  to be validated as a complete function of an irreducible variable. 


Foe some the differentiation is not satisfied  even in the post Descartian of either  a positivism  of hermeanutic, nor in the  existential irrelevance that an intellectual nomadism can bring  about. 


  The relevance  of this  personal  quest, at whatever  levels, whether  be it one of intuition, or solid foundation, has become  relative to the level of abstraction necessarily  abbreviated. .A lot is bypassed on account  of it. 

When  those  who can not learn from history complain   about the uselessness  of philosophy, they may become clueless about where things came or are going  toward. The indiscernible state of mind, those, whose very intellect is crying out to fill in the blanks,left by the structural gaping holes, left by historical development, answehi seem  to think  it worth  while  to try, (even at the cost  ofbbeing  accused  of intellectualisation, it becomes  absolutely  necessary  to fill  in these holeae 


 As we March toward  more  personal  freedom as most men seem to want to. The price is a heavy  one to bear, and  the answered seems  hidden,  but  it seems  to regenerate itself  into  higher senses  of unity, and it does  at times lets itself  known.
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Agape,

I can endorse your opinion to some extent.

I do not know exactly what is being taught in the name of philosophy nowdays.
But, i am sure that it can be very practical too, if it were philosophy in real sense.

In order to achieve its practicality to full potential, you have to earn your philosophy, not mere learn.

That takes time, for more than six years.

Philosohy is/was never impotent.
On the contrary, it is the tool to overcome impotence.

Agape,

If you are interested-

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=180210

with love,
sanjay

11

I agree with that.

[b]Except that it is necessary for a philosopher to be a slave to earn.

Philosophy, at its core, teaches wisdom through the earned knowledge of past philosophers. And, that can be very helpful in every aspect of the life, including earning without being a slave[/b].

with love,
sanjay

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Right, not all work is “slavery”, or meaningless, obviously. I was making a point, I’m glad at least one person here cares to move past the painfully obvious.

Philosophy indeed brings god-ness, which just means true human-ness. It is immanently relevant to every more “practical” thing in life because philosophy is universal, and anti-utilitarian. Philosophy, real philosophy will make you better at everything in your life.

Or, you can just forgo self-understanding and self-development to play around in a chem lab testing products for 3M, if you think that is more “noble” than truth, lol.

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Honestly man, I don’t understand why people would go to school for philosophy. You can learn other peoples philosophies, but until you live life enough, you can’t really understand or make use of them properly. Besides, philosophy itself is just advanced thinking. You can do it anywhere at any time as long as you’re doing something that has become muscle memory for you. It’s a form of meditation. Learning philosophy is great and fun, but it’s not often outside of certain circles that you can freely talk and discuss ideas without people getting butthurt.

It really isn’t applicable at all in our society because our society as a whole does not adopt any philosophy and it certainly doesn’t waste time with such imaginations while trying to run the country or be the working cog in the murder machine that makes the money to keep the cog as a part of the murder machine. Sadly, the mind becomes a trap for those who wish to think freely and get somewhere with it in terms of making money.

I certainly wouldn’t have wasted time in college learning about philosophy; not something that took a hefty investment of money to begin with. Not to say I wouldn’t love to, but what is the point when nothing new is ever applied and all you keep seeing around you is the same lack of principles applied? Things oft-repeated yet never fully understood and given up on way too early in peoples lives. You will have to make a choice of whether you want to continue pursuing the things you enjoy or if you want to make money and you can do both at the same time until you get to the point where you can do what you enjoy again and be better off for everything you had to do; the wisdom it gave you.

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If you thought somebody was going to pay you a bunch of money to philosophize, then yes, your degree was a horrible waste. Hopefully you went after a philosophy degree either for non-economic reasons, or prepared to use it to obtain a career not directly linked to philosophy.

There are lots and lots of good jobs looking for people with a humanities degree, especially a humanities degree in something that isn’t pure bullshit like Peace, Women’s, or Black studies. As far as humanities degrees go, Philosophy is tied with Poli Sci as the most marketable one. Um, unless Library Sciences are in the humanities, I do not recall.

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Also you can get into law school with a BA philosophy.

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I took it cus of the hot chix. Disappoint :frowning:

I have been watching alot of police shows recently and thought becoming a police detective would be a great use for such mental acumen while also knowing you are ‘doing good’. I wouldnt wanna be a ‘filthy pig’ tho :slight_smile: Not that they are worse than the scumbags they catch I just prefer to remain impartial where possible. I think you have to have personal vendettas to be motivated to those kind of lines. I have been getting more sick and tired of all the injustice in society tho so maybe that is a good way to cleanse one’s soul.

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Agape,

The most of the misperception existed about philosophy nowdays is because of its definition and methodology, as both of these are lost somewhere in the midst of time.

I think that the greeks defined it perfectly - Love for Wisdom.

That brings us to define what wisdom is?

Wisdom is not having knowledge alone, but also about having the intent and necessary will to use that knowledge in a purposeful way.

Furthermore, there is still some diference between information and knowledge.
Knowledge is earned information, not merely learned or informed.

So, now if we combine all this, it would mean that first you have to earn your knowledge, then you also have the necessary will to act upon it.

That completes the ontology of philosophy.

But, unfortunately, the modern philosophy has been restricted itself only to the information.
This philosopher said this and that philosopher said that. That is all we do now.

Actually, 5-6 years means nothing in philosophy.

Merely reading a book of Kant would not enable anyone to understand what he meant.

To get the gist of the Kant, either you must be already at the intellectual level of Kant, or have to go through the whole of that intellectual process or journey by visulization, that Kant went through.

That is philosophical empiricism and very much similar to scientific empiricism. Going though that very journey of past philosophers by visulization converts one’s information into knowledge. Because, now he has been earned it.

So, this is to say that there is far too much use to be remained untapped besides what is written in the book, both back and forth.

That is precisely what is missing in the present study of philosophy.
And also, that is precisely why both of philosophy and philosophers have been lost credibility in the society.

Now, they use to have only some information about philosophy, neither knowledge nor wisdom (mostly), because they use to learn it, instead of earning.

But, as i said above, it cannot be done in six years.
It takes time, far more than one can afford in the present world.

with love,
sanjay

19

When I saw the title of this thread, my first thought was… “Well, duh!”
I mean seriously, in terms of getting a job, and so forth, who doesn’t know that philosophy is a waste of money. As a secondary degree, it may be useful in advancing you financially, but if your sole purpose is to find employment, then a philosophy is a waste of time and money about 99.9% of the time, especially in today’s economy.
That’s not to say that having the degree is worthless. I took 1 ‘philosophy’ class… which was called ‘symbolic logic’. Everything else I know about philosophy I learned on my own. And I’d guess that I know as much or more about it than a lot of people with philosophy degrees. But the difference is that I don’t have a degree. So when I try to write (or talk) about philosophy, no one has any reason to listen. Since I’ve developed my own THEORY of philosophy, it would be useful if I had a degree, so I could present myself as someone with so-called credentials. So, if I were wealthy, philosophy would be the first field I would get a degree in. But in terms of getting ahead financially, I would never, ever consider philosophy.