Topics Profession

Question How does one go about becoming a philosopher?

Accepted:
July 22, 2008

Comments

One becomes a philosopher in some sense simply by engaging in philosophical reflection. If you are visiting this website, you would already seem to be on your way to becoming a philosopher, if you are not already one.

I will take your question more narrowly, therefore, to be about joining the ranks of professional philosophers. By "professional philosopher," I mean one who iss either engaged in teaching philosophy at some level (only rarely below the college or university level, I'm afraid), or advancing the field in published philosophical research, or both of these. For this level of engagement in the profession, what is needed is education and luck.

The education necessary will nearly always include completion of some graduate degree in the subject of Philosophy (MA for teaching at the junior collegel level or below; Ph.D. for teaching at more advanced levels).

The luck required is finding a job where someone will pay you to teach philosophy (and many highly qualified people who have Ph.D.s and other graduate degrees can't find such jobs, no matter how hard they try, which is why some luck is required), or else to find journals or publishers willing to publish your philosophical research (and again, much that is written even by highly qualified people is rejected for publication). For publishing professors, both sorts of luck are needed.

In brief, if you want to become a professional philosopher, get the best education in Philosophy you can...and good luck!

And let me add a link to some reflections on a related question, on getting started in philosophy.

Question How does one go about becoming a philosopher? Accepted:July 22, 2008

Question How does one go about becoming a philosopher?

Accepted:
July 22, 2008