Topics Profession

Question Which kinds of job would be the most interesting (and available) to a recent undergraduate philosophy graduate, whose main interest is in philosophy, and who intends to continue pursuing philosophy as a hobby, but who thinks graduate study in philosophy is not a realistic option (for example, jobs that would appeal to someone with a strong interest in philosophy of action, free will, moral psychology, meta-ethics, the nature and grounding of normativity, philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, esp. theories of intentionality, etc.)? Basically, jobs for someone who would like to do graduate study in philosophy, but knows they are not quite brilliant enough...

Accepted:
July 12, 2012

Comments

First, one does not have to be brilliant to go to, and be successful in, graduate school in philosophy. That aside, there are many interesting career paths for someone with your education. One avenue is to pursue federal jobs, by looking at www.usajobs.gov.You can do a search by major or keyword, and some interesting jobs pop up for philosophy, including overseas teaching jobs. Another teaching option is Teach for America (www.teachforamerica.org). Quite a few philosophy majors wind up working in digital technology. Your interests overlap with work in cognitive science, and potentially computer science. At social networking startups, there is a lot of attention to questions about agency, the nature of communication through different media, and even matters of identity in the digital environment. Teaching and digital technology are two large areas to consider.