Topics Education

Question After much introspection I have decided to pursue a major in philosophy. Philosophy has become a passion of mine, and while other interests faded away, it has kept me intently interested. Currently, my long-term goal is to go to graduate school and complete a PhD. in philosophy. Afterwards I would like to devote my life to teaching the subject. Lately though, I worry whether a degree in philosophy would be enough in my intellectual development. I have considered possibly doing a double major in cognitive science in addition to my philosophy undergraduate degree, in hopes that it would expose me to another discipline for me to utilize in my philosophical research. My main concern is that when it comes to doing my dissertation I won't have a more empirical background to possibly ground some of my arguments accurately. I was recently talking to my logic professor and he was telling me that philosophy is becoming increasing more inter-disciplinary. I suppose my biggest question is, do I myself need to become interdisciplinary in my undergraduate work to contribute anything substantial to philosophy? I do enjoy the topics offered under cognitive science, and how they may illuminate some questions in philosophy of the mind, but doing a double major would also take away time from me in other ways. For example, I could be participating in the school's philosophy honors program or taking classes of other interests to me.

Accepted:
February 23, 2014

Comments

I never recommend double

I never recommend double-majoring. Immerse yourself in philosophy in so far as it continues to fascinate you, take courses in other disciplines that seem potentially gripping to you, and the rest will sort itself out. Don't over-strategize your education.

I often recommend double

I often recommend double-majoring. (Philosophers often disagree with each other.) Don't do it for strategic reasons. But if you find yourself enjoying courses in cognitive science (or some other subject), then take more, perhaps to the point you double major. Personally, I think philosophers should be as "widely educated" as possible, especially if the philosophical questions they are pursuing would benefit from information from other fields--and I think philosophy of mind certainly benefits from information from the cognitive sciences.

If your main interest is in

If your main interest is in philosophy of mind, then a really good grounding in cognitive science is very important. Interdisciplinary research is where it is at now.