I am a student thinking about career choice. My parents say that I should focus on getting a job that will make a lot of money but without too many hours. But other people have told me that doing something I really believe in is good and having pleasant co-workers are equally as important. My priest says I should do work that I believe glorifies God, but I don't really understand how that translates into a concrete job choice. What answers does philosophy offer for thinking about what kind of job is worthwhile to pursue?

A recent while ago a person asked why their were so few religious persons in Philosophy departments these days. One philosopher responded that there were many opportunities for abstract thinking in the religion department of universities. Most religion departments are centered around particular religions such as Christianity while historically philosophers have often been spiritual but not affiliated with a religion. So I guess you could still ask why are so few philosophers spiritual in orientation and what educational department could they possibly turn to?

I am in the midst of applying to a master's program in philosophy and am wondering if a 5 page writing sample will necessarily disqualify me.

Are philosophy conferences really hostile? I ask this because I was reading how there was a guy in a conference with his portable white board keeping score of who was winning. I also hear that you guys are vicious trying to pick arguments. Is this some type of philosopher bonding thing or are you guys really just hostile? hehe.

I graduated this year with a philosophy B.A., and now I am cautiously considering grad school in philosophy. My professors think I have promise; for example, they have encouraged me to try to get a couple of my undergrad papers published. However, I know that, given the state of the philosophy job market, I would likely end up out of philosophy and underemployed if I pursue a PhD. Do I have a moral obligation to pursue a less risky but productive career?

Are there any non-academic journals that someone who isn't a professional philosopher with a degree in philosophy or affiliated with a university could publish a rigorous philosophical paper?

Would there be better philosophers if it was more lucrative? Do market forces determine the quality of philosophers?

I'm a rising senior economics major, and I'm trying to make a decision about my career. I want to do as much good as possible, but I'm not sure how to estimate how much good I would produce in different careers. I've researched the evidence-based approaches that some philanthropic foundations use (e.g., the "impact planning" of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), but their formulas, etc. don't seem generalizable to calculating an individual's marginal impact. For example, maybe it makes sense to donate a lot to global health but not pursue a career in it because there are already so many working in development. Right now I'm assuming that anything really important will eventually be achieved, so any contribution I make will consist of just coming up with an idea/implementing a project sooner than it would have otherwise. So how about this formula: (N * T / L) * Q Where N is the number of people in the population I'm targeting, T is how much sooner I come up with an idea/implement (e.g., a year sooner than someone else), L is the average lifespan of a person in the population (making T / L the extra fraction of a targeted person's life in which they benefit from the contribution and N * T / L the adjusted number of lives I'm affecting), and Q is the percentage increase in the goodness of the person's life, making N * T / L * Q the number of quality-adjusted lives I'm helping. So if a U.S. education program is implemented a year earlier because of me, there are 50m students, and this increases the quality of a student's life by 1%, is my impact: (50m * 1 / 80) * 1% = 6,250? All this seems confused, but I can't think of a better formula! Please help!!!

I am a student working on getting a degree in Philosophy, and my goal is to get my Master's in Philosophy and a PhD as well. There's only one problem I think. I am 40 years old! I have worked at a job I hated for 13 years, and finally decided to persue my dream. My question is, I have I waited to late in life to persue my dream of teaching Philosophy? I love everything I learn and read, and consistantly get A's in all my Philosophy classes, but am I going to be to old to do what I have dreamed of? Thanks for your opinion!

I am currently majoring in philosophy (a three-year Bachelor's degree in Germany), but I've come across an issue in planning my future career path. I find myself fascinated by ethical and artistic concerns, and our relationship to the cultural artifacts we produce, such as media and art. I'm also very interested in public perceptions of philosophy and debates about science, and in general about different attitudes and values in society. On the other hand, while I enjoy thorny linguistic and metaphysical issues on occasion (as an intellectual side-interest, as it were), but I can't picture myself dedicating serious study to such issues. So far, whenever we've had to write papers on more abstract, analytical issues concerning linguistics or metaphysics, I've found myself uninspired and not particular enthusiastic, unless I could clearly see the relevance of these issues in popular discourse or ethics (such as trying to define art, which has a number of implications, or trying to understand the nature of ethical statements). Is philosophy the right discipline for me? Or should I be going into some other field, like literary studies, sociology or psychology? What advice would you offer to a person in my position, or a similar position?