Heh heh… I do enjoy biology and math, though the natural sciences fascinate me at least just as much. That’s one of the reason I want to take philosophy. It seems more like a jack of all trades education…
There’s a big difference in the atmosphere of discourse between the student and teacher and that of the teachers among themselves. If you want some of the flavor of this end of the business, read “Wittgenstein’s Poker” (Edmonds and Eidinow), an entertaining look at a ten minute confrontation between two of the most eminent scholars of the 20th Century (Wittgenstein and Karl Popper). Although I love the works of both, their conduct towards their contemporaries is really abysmal.
A career, like a marriage, is made or broken, not by what you like about the enterprise but by how you deal with what you hate about it. I am not interested in a competition to see who can marshal the greatest political influence among a group of posturing intellectuals. This may seem harsh but if you intend to spend several years of your life pursuing a career, it is advisable that you get some clue about the workings from the inside of that field. At some point in this particular career, you will be at the mercy of your colleagues and you should be prepared to be disenchanted.
I worked at UF for almost nine years. My wife has her doctorate from UF, my mother and father-in-law both retired from there, most of my neighbors are professors … . Not a great school but it has some good programs (not in philosophy, however).
You might try Austin. Not only is their grad program high on the philosophicalgourmet.com listings, but one list had the city of Austin highest on their list for best places to live in North America.
By the way. Take U of D seriously! Go there! Visit!
They will allure you with the wise, perennial, conservative catholic wisdom!
(Just had to say.)
Oh, and i didn’t exactly take philosophy myself – Great books program. More than anything you need a place that will teach you how to think, i say, rather than fill you with fashionable theories.
Regards.
RP:
You may as well ask, “Is it worth trying to become a professional basketball player”? or “Is it worth trying to become an artist?”
There is no Answer of course because philosophy is like everything else: you take out of it what you first put into it—your own existentially persuasive and essentially meaningless and absurd self.
As for majoring in philosophy in college, why not? Anything can be rationalized. But be prepared for an academic environment that is by and large owned and operated by Scholastic types obsessed with analysis and language and logic and epistemology.
Or perhaps someday real philosophy—humanism, existentialism, marxism [Continental agendas] might make a comback and The Dessicated Intellectuals will be on the back burner where they belong.
But don’t hold your breath though.
Randall Patrick
Ikiningyo wrote:
In a previous post, I made mention of Russell’s “A History of Western Philosophy”. Others have made this recommendation as well. It’s as good a place to start as any.
Its true. Their are problems with being a professor, politics and so forth. I actually have a plan to avoid such things- it might even work. But I think the purpose in this case is just to learn, right? I mean you ACB has his own buiness and all.
Studying philosohpy undergrad at a decent uni is probably the fastest way to get a good base to even know what Philosophy is out there. Probably one of the best, if not the best way to aquire/practice logic and critical thinking. And one will always learn something.
BTW, Philosophy of Math is absolutely gorgeous.
And sure Randall Patrick, why question the source of our thinking we can spend all our time drinking coffe and starting revolutions. I have one of Aesops fabels in mind here. Turtle always wins. 
There’s no way I could afford or get into UT, but that would rock if it was possible…
Man, you can get into UT. I was going to tell you UT-Arlington use to Have a great critical theory group bouncing back and forth between their english and philosophy departments. I’m a continental/pragmatism man myself, so I dig that sort of thing, but I know everybody in the world doesn’t share my feelings.
Aren’t there additional loans to be had if you are accepted? maybe it is just graduate level, my understanding is that if you want it, and you are accepted, it can be done… you might have to mortgage ten years of your life to do it, but it can be done.
I don’t know… I completely fukked off in high school, and haven’t started college yet. I would have to prolly start in a community college for lack of funds anyway. No government tuition money till I’m 24 neither (only two years but still) I don’t know exactly what it takes to get into UT arlington, but people tell me it is hard to get into UT Austin.
There’s nothing wrong with Community College. I think doing a two year program and demonstrating a commitment to getting decent grades can get you into the better school for Junior and Senior year. A lot of universites would prefer that people coming in have some of these lower level courses out of the way so this can be a plus.
Your other option is to do what I did, which is to find a smaller school where you can dominate, be a prima donna, and, generally, get to create your own degree program. I started out at Ohio State before I got drafted and that was, and may still be, the largest University in the U.S. based on student population. I could have been there for an eternity and not made any significant contacts because of shear numbers.
After I got out of the military, I went to a small school in North Carolina (University of North Carolina at Wilmington) that had just entered the state University system. It was a great decision. I whizzed through the BA in 2 and a half years and took pretty much whatever I wanted (50% philosophy, 25% math, etc.). At one point the gentleman who had actually started the Philosophy department at this university had to be hospitalized for surgery and I took over his class for all but about two weeks of one semester. So I got to teach a class while I was an undergraduate (“History of Western Thought”). You can’t do that at a big school.
You’ve been doing a pretty good job so far but taking some classes can help to develop a wider range of skills. I can teach a 2 hour class on practically any subject in the field with no notice. However, you’d be surprised how hard it can be to fill five minutes if you haven’t been forced to do that before.
So if you do good in community college, that can get you into a good college? I didn’t know that. I have confidence in my ability to ace the simple classes that they teach at community colleges…
Where I live, the University of Florida is around 40,000 plus students - but we also have Sante Fe Community College which is at around 30,000 students. There are a lot of people that start out there to save money. I’m sure there’s something like that where you are.
Although everyone is right, Austin is really the only decent place in Texas!