I just graduated from college(except one elective I have to take over summer) and finished up my B.A in philosophy.
Here are my thoughts on the matter in case anyone is interested in pursuing a B.A.
I first decided to be a philosophy major sophomore year of college for a few reasons. The main one being that I did not know what direction I wanted to take in my life and I just chose a major that I thought I would like.
I was also very troubled by the idea that I only have one life to live and I want to live it as best as I could. At the time I was still fascinated by ideas such as enlightenment or Socrates motto “The unexamined life isn’t worth living”.I wondered what amazing possibilities did life have to offer?
One of the first classes I took was existentialism and although I found it engaging, I really didn’t respect the ideas of anybody except some of Nietzsche’s. Existentialism did not answer my questions and I did my own reading outside of class of guys like Krishnamurti and the Dalai Llama. I read boks like “Siddhartha” and “The Razor’s edge”…
Meanwhile I continued for with my other philosophy courses. My program is a history of philosophy program so my classes consisted of “Medieval philosophy” “early modern philosophy” and so forth where I engaged in questions and problems that no longer have any relevance in today’s world. One class I did take that was helpful was “Symbolic Logic”.
I had given up on the idea that philosophy can answer the question what is the best way to live life and instead tries to figure out how the world works. From philosophy I did get some benefits, I did learn how to write better(you probably can’t tell) and I can analyze things with better skill. I can see how pathetic most people’s arguing skills are and how unwarranted their beliefs are.
There are some downsides too, I tend to OVERANALYZE everything, and it leads to problems. I have also graduated with a philosophy degree and have no direction in terms of what I want to do on the job market.
In the end I can’t say that learning philosophy has answered any of the big questions in life…it has simply eliminated some of them. Thank you Wittgenstein.
By the way I also feel that I am capable of answering now a lot of the more famous philosophical questions with confidence…
Quick answers off the top of my head
Is there a God? No
What is the meaning of life? Silly question that doesn’t make any sense. What does the word meaning mean in the context of this question?
What is morally right or wrong? This is still heavily debated…But Rawls is the most influential, ecspecially when it comes to politics
Do we have free will? It really depends on what one means by ‘free will’. But given any answer we really do not know enough about brain to answer this with 100% confidence.
Also if you are thinking about doing a philosophy degree…be prepared to get pretty familiar with all of these philosophers. I had to study all of these guys and many more that I’m forgetting…I’m not writing all this out to brag about how much I read, but to give you idea of JUST HOW MUCH FREAKIN PHILOSOPHY you are going to have to read if you want to get a degree in it. Also it’s pretty cool for me to type this out and remember oh yea…that dude…i remember reading him…
.in a somewhat chronological order…and in groupings that may or may not be out of place
Ancient Philosophers
1.Thales
2.Anixamander
3.Anaximens
4.Pythagoras
5.Xenophanes
6.Heraclitus
7.Parmenides
8.Zeno
9.Empedocles
10.Anaxagoras
11.Democritus
12.Protagoras
13.Gorgias
14.Critias
15.Aristotle
16.Plato
17.Socrates
18.Epicurus
19.Lucretius
20.Epictectus
21.Marcus Aurelius
22.Pyrrho
23.Sextus Empiricus
24.Plotinus
Medieval Philosophers
25.Jesus
26.Paul
27.Justin Martyr
28.Clement of Alexandria
29.Tertullian
30.Origen
31.Philo of Alexander
32.Pseudo-Dionysus Areopagite
33.Augustine
34.Boethius
35.John Scotus Eriugena
36.Anselm
37.Peter Abelard
38.Hildegard of Bingen
39.John of Salisbury
40.Avicenna
41.Al Ghazali
42.Averroes
43.Moses Maimonides
44.Robert Grosseteste
45.Roger Bacon
46. Bonaventure
47.Thomas Aquinas
48.John Duns Scotus
49.William of Ockham
50.Meister Eckhart
51.Catherine of Siena
52.Nicholas Cusanas
Early Modern Philosophers
53.Copernicus
54.Francis Bacon
55.Galileo
56.Boyle
57.Huygens
58.Newton
59.Descartes
60.Leibniz
61.Locke
62.Spinoza
63.Hume
Late Modern Philosophers
64.Kant
65.Fichte
66.Hegel
67.Marx & engels
68.Schopenhauer
Thanks for doing all that reading and being candid in your conclusion. After just completing your course I can’t imagine you want to read anything more, especially from an amateur; but in case you do, check out the post “Life: a reaction to the void” which at this moment is listed near the bottom of page 1. At the end of the post is a link to a poem I published in order to get reactions from people just like you.
If I knew my life would be a whole lot easier! Right now I am just going to see what the job world offers me(have no clue what ) and I might go back to Grad school for either Experimental or social psychology
Hmm, does that mean I have a B.A or B.S. degree? I have read 95% of those folks and I did not have to pay someone to tell me to read them and learn them.
And your answers are so way off, you have just ended up dismissing alot of chances for indepth philosophical discussions by being so confident and so brutish about it. You philosophize because you don’t know and wish to learn. If you think you know the answers then, you surely don’t. Don’t wag your degree and say I know it all, that is just rude and ignorant. Which means you need to learn alot more. I congratulate you on your hard work and achievment, be proud of it , don’t be arrogant.
Congratulation on your degree, but you seem to be saying it was a waste of time. So I’m going to ask you for some advice. I start university in a couple of month, firstly an introductory program called open foundation where I’ll be doing philosophy and social enquiry (basically sociology) and that give me entrance into uni if I pass.
For the actual degree I’m thinking about either a BA with a philosophy major or psychology. I could do the BA and studying both philosophy and psychology but I wouldn’t be able to practice psychology.
I’ve been privately studying philosophy for about 3 years now and it’s a kind of therapy, which I just find immensely interesting. I write lots of philosophical and political essays.
What kind of things should I consider when choosing my degree? If you had your time over, would you still choose philosophy?
For me the BA in philosophy looks attractive because it allows me breath of subject matter to study. I can do my core subjects but still have many free classes with which to explore. I also like the idea of trying to gain an academic post, though I don’t know how competitive theses are.
Psychology also looks attractive though is much more restricted in terms of course work. Its pre-set there’s only 20 points (one to two classes) worth of electives for the whole degree. But at the same time job opinions are much more available in the field. Also I don’t know if I’d past the psychological review, (joking).
Anyways that’s my current thinking…I think I’m just goanna have to weed it out when I get there.
Every single one of those medieval philosophers believed in God. I had to study them because my program is a history of philosophy program. What’s your claim here? Just because I had to study what Jesus wrote that God exists? I had to study Newton too, and you will too if you ever take a science class…that doesn’t mean his scientific theories are correct.
"If you think you know the answers then, you surely don’t. "
That’s pretty funny, because the answers to two of the questions were basically there is no consensus…yet…
So to disagree with me you must be saying that you A) You know with 100% confidence what is morally right and wrong and B) You know with 100% confidence if we have free will or not… is this the case? If so please enlighten us…and then because you are obviously right publish your theories in philosophical review journals. If you can and they accept your theories you will be worldly famous! Just imagine …the headlines
Kriswes The great!!! Man discovers answer to MORALITY!!! At the same time he ANSWERS The age old question if we have free will or not!!!
Just think man… you’ll be famous…people will write about you for centuries!!!
Hey man it depends really on what you want to do afterwards. Neither major is great for the job market. To get a job in academia in philosophy is really freaking competitive at least here in the U.S. I don’t know where you are from and you better REALLY LOVE philosophy if you want to spend the rest of your life doing it. As for psychology you are going to have to break off into a certain subsection eventually…clinical…research…etc… Just keep in mind my friend that once you graduate you are going to have to pay the bills by going to a job 9-5 everyday and you probably are going to want something that you can enjoy yet gives you good finances.
The good thing about doing a philosophy major is that if you have good teachers they will show you what to read and explain it to you…some of which is absolutely impossible to understand on your own.
It all depends on how serious were you in college?
It seems to me that your time in college was a waste of time, and now your thinking has became more serious because now you have graduted.
I assure you will find a job in philosophy. Teacher, or grad school, the practical traditional answer.
Good luck.
" seek and you shall find. Ask and you shall be answer" To be able to ask is the most powerful skill.
You wrote the above and I wrote the reply: "If you think you know the answers then, you surely don’t. "
You can’t do quick answers on such weighty topics unless you are too confident or arrogant, then such demeanor will drag you to the wrong assessment of the topic. there is nothing silly nor nonsensical about questions asked. The only dumb question is the one not asked for fear of being laughed at or criticised.
For all of your education with the philosphers you have yet to learn this? The most educated people in the univesrse know that there is always more to learn, the most educated people are generally the kindest and most humble too. Think about that my child. Be proud of what you have learned and worked very hard to learn, but, don’t be arrogant.
I was giving quick answers of the top of my head. Those were ISSUES that i STUDIED AT LENGTH in school. I didn’t ignore the topic and jump to conclusions. I wrote endless papers on these topics. That wasn’t the purpose of my post however, the purpose of my post was just to give a quick result.
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LOL.
There are no “answers”.
There are exactly what you gave, opinions.
Morality is a personal relative, which means, again, it is a matter of opinion.
Divinity, is also a matter of opinion, and no amount of philosophy will prove or disprove that entity.
If that is what the degree course in philosophy at that university taught you, it is recommended you request a complete reimbursement of your funds.
Congratulations on your degree. You are now certified to speak articulately on a large number of topics, with absolutely no authority.
I have a philosophy B.A. and I’m currently working in IT. Of course I got into it back in the “good ol’ days” when anyone who could fog a mirror with their breathe got in. So I’m now making up for it by getting an MIS grad degree.
I didn’t like what academia had to offer. It’s full of false prestige, emeritus worship, and committes, committees, committees. Plus, phillsophy is supposed to be the love of wisdom, so if you really love philosophy you shouldn’t spend the rest of your life studying it alone (which arguably would happen in academia).
Of course the work world has its downside also, but the evening and weekends remain completely free for me to read, study, discuss whatever and with whomever I want. Though a philosophy degree may not have much market value, it can make you more interesting to talk to (for some people).
I actually tried arguing in some job interviews that philosophy has really prepared me for problem solving. Logic, exegesis, and reasoning are skills that philosophy majors learn until their heads explode. All of these apply to any job.
But welcome to the club of philosophy majors. Most of us turn out ok.
Nah man, just living at college in a college town is worth the money itself. You make the best friends, have the best times and are around all the pretty girls. Plus it was all my dads money anyway.
