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I am a philosophy student in my second year and was disturbed by a conversation in my "philosophy of mind" course. The students were bashing philosophy as a discipline: "a fun waste of time", "sitting and thinking" for a living rather than finding a real job, etc. I'm sure you get the picture. I was discouraged by this. rather than being surrounded by others with a deep passion for philosophy, i am surrounded by shallow thinkers. My question is, how should one go about handling criticisms of this kind, both internally, as well as in social situations as mentioned above? it seems useless to defend myself to those who hold such opinions, but that doesn't mean i want the majority (and it really is most people i meet) to be holding on to those negative stereotypes. How often do you find yourself in these kinds of situations?
Accepted:
September 23, 2010

Comments

Charles Taliaferro
September 23, 2010 (changed September 23, 2010) Permalink

One way to respond is to point out the integral role philosophy has played in the history of culture, education, and in the context of other modes of inquiry. Philosophy as a discipline involves the exercise and refinement of skills that are essential for a democratic culture --a culture in which change can be brought about nonviolently through argument. Education is very difficult to conceive of without a philosophy of education. And it is difficult to imagine any sustained marketplace for jobs without there being an overall philosophy of values, of responsibility, and of governance. So, insofar as having a worldview and values is having a philosophy, the practice of philosophy is virtually inescapable. And insofar as we want to think about freedom and determinism, the nature of consciousness, desire and reason and so on, philosophy also seems unavoidable. The alternative would appear to be the mindless acceptance of the status quo or simply trying to shut down fundamental questions about what is important to us.

For some reason I rarely come across the attitudes you describe, but I have no doubt that they are out there. C.S. Lewis says (somewhere) that there will always be philosophy or, putting things differently, everyone will always have some philosophy or other. The point of studying philosophy, then, is not to gain a philosophy (for you already will have one). The reason to study philosophy is to decrease the odds that your philosophy will be bad (deficient logically / incoherent / and so on.

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Eddy Nahmias
September 24, 2010 (changed September 24, 2010) Permalink

Well, tell these "skeptics about the value of philosophy" that philosophy majors will probably do "real jobs" better than most other majors (see some of the links below), because they will know how to read, think, write, and communicate more clearly. Remind them that they won't remember most of what they learn in their undergrad major classes, but you'll remember what you learned about how to read, think, write, and argue, and probably more of what you studied since you enjoyed it. And remind them that when they claim that philosophy lacks value, well, they are doing philosophy--not to mention that the way they live their lives (and decide what to believe) is informed, whether they know it or not, by philosophical beliefs they hold explicitly (e.g., religious beliefs) or implicitly (e.g., realism or relativism about morality).

Here are some resources for addressing "skeptics about the value of philosophy":

New York Times “Philosophers Find the Degree Pays Off in Life And in Work”:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E3DD1E3EF935A15751C1A...
• New York Times “In a New Generation of College Students, Many Opt for the Life Examined”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/education/06philosophy.html?_r=1&ex=12...
n=1c3585fc82773e7f&ei=5070&emc=eta1
• Why Study Philosophy:
http://www.louisiana.edu/Academic/LiberalArts/PHIL/WhyStudyPhilosophy.html
http://www.scordo.com/blog/2008/12/why-major-in-philosophy.html
• How Does Philosophy Relate to My Career:
http://cubic.wlu.ca/page.php?grp_id=57&s_id=464&sb_id=797
http://www.philosophy.uwa.edu.au/for/students/employment
• Philosophy Careers Handbook: http://www.philosophy.eku.edu/hndbook1.htm
• How philosophy majors do on various graduate exams:
http://www.philosophy.eku.edu/scores.htm
and http://www.lclark.edu/%7Ephil/gre.html
• Why Major in Philosophy: http://www.philosophy.eku.edu/virginia.htm
• What Can You Do with a Philosophy Degree:
http://www.philosophy.eku.edu/Illinoisstate.htm
• Just a few famous philosophy students (majoring in philosophy does not guarantee fame!):
http://www.philosophy.eku.edu/phimajors.htm

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