What Can One "Do" With a Philosophy Degree?
Stuart Nachbar
September 17, 2009
Last month, I put up a post: What Does One "Do" With a Physics Major? that reached out to a respectable online readership. The thought behind the post was to ask what people "do" with a traditional liberal arts major versus a pre-professional degree; in the first case it was between studying physics versus computer science or engineering.
This month, I asked similar questions about the philosophy major to a professional philosopher whom I have known since grade school. Graduating from our high school as a National Merit Scholar, Victoria Kamsler earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy Bryn Mawr College (PA) in 1982, then later a doctorate in politics from Oxford University in England.
Victoria's academic interests include democratic theory, utopian thought and environmental ethics. Victoria has taught at Harvard, Wellesley College (MA), Queens College CUNY, the University of Georgia, and Princeton as well as the University of Toronto in Canada.
Over several years, Victoria has made a professional transition from academia to entrepreneurship, which made her a natural person to ask: what can one do with a degree in philosophy, whether they continue their education, or enter the workforce after college?
Why should college students consider majoring in philosophy versus another humanities major or social science?
Its hard to get a job as a professional philosopher. But philosophy teaches analytical skills, mental discipline and attention to detail, respect for truth (at least for some), and is an opportunity to grapple with some of the finest, most daring, and most subtle thought our culture has produced. Philosophy majors tend to be among the smartest students.
What have your former college classmates and students done (besides doctoral study or an advanced degree) after earning their undergraduate degree in philosophy?
Some things philosophy friends and students are doing: Founder of LinkedIn; Vice President and General Counsel of Lincoln Center; Founder of Marco Polo Network, Staff Writer for The New Yorker; and, Movie Producer for films including Adaptation (with Meryl Streep) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (with Jim Carey and Kate Winslet).After many years in academia, I am now co-founder of Skybase, a solar aeronautics company, and an executive at Greenfiniti, a carbon offset and trading company.
You graduated from Bryn Mawr, one of the leading liberal arts schools in the country. Corporate recruiters readily visit schools of this caliber for consulting positions, among other jobs. How might a liberal arts major, in a humanities major, be an asset to a consulting firm or business?
I never encountered recruiters at Bryn Mawr, but then I was planning to attend grad school at Oxford, and not paying attention to recruiting. I have worked as a consultant, and I think we offer sophisticated analytical skills and a capacity for intellectual boldness.
How has undergraduate instruction in philosophy changed since you were a student?
My undergraduate instruction was heavily historical. Now, in my field, there is more interdisciplinarity, particularly interest in cognitive science, linguistics, behavioral economics. There is a greater gulf between 'analytical' and 'continental' philosophy, though some, like Charles Taylor, try to bridge this.
Do you believe that the demand for doctorates in the humanities in the U.S. will increase, decrease or remain about the same over the next ten years, and why?
Probably decrease. The economy is not likely to recover fully in the near to mid term and it is just too hard to get a decent job as a humanities professor.
Universities are resorting more and more to adjuncts to take up the teaching load and save money. These are badly paid, dead-end jobs, usually with no benefits. Adjunct positions are good for professionals in other fields (law, cinema, etc.) who enjoy teaching and want to 'give back' by occasional part-time teaching. But it is a precarious and frustrating way to live, if you plan to support yourself by teaching. It is almost impossible to get enough writing done to advance your career, while cobbling together enough little teaching jobs to live on.
My advice: don't go to grad school in philosophy unless you really love it and can't think of doing anything else. And even then, stop for a reality check: can you handle all the risk in your career? That's a different issue from whether students should take philosophy as undergraduates. Majoring in philosophy as an undergraduate can be wonderful for intellectually lively and curious people.
Stuart Nachbar blogs on education and politics at EducatedQuest.com. His new novel, Defending College Heights, is an investigation into the murder of a U.S. Army recruiter. Learn more at www.DefendingCollegeHeights.com
This month, I asked similar questions about the philosophy major to a professional philosopher whom I have known since grade school. Graduating from our high school as a National Merit Scholar, Victoria Kamsler earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy Bryn Mawr College (PA) in 1982, then later a doctorate in politics from Oxford University in England.
Victoria's academic interests include democratic theory, utopian thought and environmental ethics. Victoria has taught at Harvard, Wellesley College (MA), Queens College CUNY, the University of Georgia, and Princeton as well as the University of Toronto in Canada.
Over several years, Victoria has made a professional transition from academia to entrepreneurship, which made her a natural person to ask: what can one do with a degree in philosophy, whether they continue their education, or enter the workforce after college?
Why should college students consider majoring in philosophy versus another humanities major or social science?
Its hard to get a job as a professional philosopher. But philosophy teaches analytical skills, mental discipline and attention to detail, respect for truth (at least for some), and is an opportunity to grapple with some of the finest, most daring, and most subtle thought our culture has produced. Philosophy majors tend to be among the smartest students.
What have your former college classmates and students done (besides doctoral study or an advanced degree) after earning their undergraduate degree in philosophy?
Some things philosophy friends and students are doing: Founder of LinkedIn; Vice President and General Counsel of Lincoln Center; Founder of Marco Polo Network, Staff Writer for The New Yorker; and, Movie Producer for films including Adaptation (with Meryl Streep) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (with Jim Carey and Kate Winslet).After many years in academia, I am now co-founder of Skybase, a solar aeronautics company, and an executive at Greenfiniti, a carbon offset and trading company.
You graduated from Bryn Mawr, one of the leading liberal arts schools in the country. Corporate recruiters readily visit schools of this caliber for consulting positions, among other jobs. How might a liberal arts major, in a humanities major, be an asset to a consulting firm or business?
I never encountered recruiters at Bryn Mawr, but then I was planning to attend grad school at Oxford, and not paying attention to recruiting. I have worked as a consultant, and I think we offer sophisticated analytical skills and a capacity for intellectual boldness.
How has undergraduate instruction in philosophy changed since you were a student?
My undergraduate instruction was heavily historical. Now, in my field, there is more interdisciplinarity, particularly interest in cognitive science, linguistics, behavioral economics. There is a greater gulf between 'analytical' and 'continental' philosophy, though some, like Charles Taylor, try to bridge this.
Do you believe that the demand for doctorates in the humanities in the U.S. will increase, decrease or remain about the same over the next ten years, and why?
Probably decrease. The economy is not likely to recover fully in the near to mid term and it is just too hard to get a decent job as a humanities professor.
Universities are resorting more and more to adjuncts to take up the teaching load and save money. These are badly paid, dead-end jobs, usually with no benefits. Adjunct positions are good for professionals in other fields (law, cinema, etc.) who enjoy teaching and want to 'give back' by occasional part-time teaching. But it is a precarious and frustrating way to live, if you plan to support yourself by teaching. It is almost impossible to get enough writing done to advance your career, while cobbling together enough little teaching jobs to live on.
My advice: don't go to grad school in philosophy unless you really love it and can't think of doing anything else. And even then, stop for a reality check: can you handle all the risk in your career? That's a different issue from whether students should take philosophy as undergraduates. Majoring in philosophy as an undergraduate can be wonderful for intellectually lively and curious people.
Stuart Nachbar blogs on education and politics at EducatedQuest.com. His new novel, Defending College Heights, is an investigation into the murder of a U.S. Army recruiter. Learn more at www.DefendingCollegeHeights.com
Print
Email
