DISQUS

Will Wilkinson: Philosophy Is Sexy

  • David · 1 year ago
    “That whole deep existential torment,” she said. “It’s good for getting girlfriends.”

    But isn't the causation relation turned wrongly around there?

    It's the love interest that causes that whole deep existential torment. ;)
  • wph · 1 year ago
    Perhaps a traditional philosophy major forces one to reason more strictly than other majors, but it sounds like what is gaining popularity is a watered down version that would not have the same benefits. The current philosophy degree sounds less like wrestling with Kant and Aristotle, and more like venting about the Iraq War, most likely with generous portions of Bush bashing good for an easy A. I doubt this is really mind-sharpening.
  • Will Wilkinson · 1 year ago
    wph, Rutgers is one of the best philosophy departments in the world. It is not a very historically-focused department, but probably the best example of a department where philosophy well-integrated with science at a very high level. A lack of rigor is unlikely to be the problem there.
  • Jim Cote · 1 year ago
    Obviously no one saw the corresponding WSJ article showing philosophy majors as having the lowest starting salary for graduates. (below even History majors. Ouch!)

    http://mungowitzend.blogspot.com/2008/04/4-with...
  • Jim Cote · 1 year ago
    Ok, so obviously I hadn't seen the previous post.
  • wph · 1 year ago
    Will

    I stand corrected. Perhaps I was too quick to extrapolate from the one quote, and my own college days of the early 90s.

    I'm glad that people are experiencing the joys of liberal arts education again, (even if it makes them poorer in the short term).
  • GU · 1 year ago
    I found philosophy to be far more intellectually honest than the other liberal arts departments on campus. Most of the philosophy professors were raging liberals (in the statist sense) but gave very fair consideration to opposing viewpoints in ethics and political philosophy courses.

    Also, Logic and M&E aren't very politically charged, once you get past the proofs of God not existing. While studying philosophy, I've never felt more committed to finding the real truth about things.
  • bjk · 1 year ago
    The most stunning stat in that article is that the 27 professors and 60 graduate students nearly outnumbered the 100 graduating majors.
  • Jack · 1 year ago
    Well Rutgers is one of the top ranked grad programs in the country. Not too surprising.

    Will, I'd love a list of Philosophy blogs/blogs by phil majors. (If you'd like to start taking requests from commenters, that is).
  • Lars Christian Smith · 1 year ago
    Of course, the French have embraced "philo" for a long time. This is a country where high school exam questions in philosophy are discussed on the front pages of newspapers and on the evening TV news, and where professors of philosophy are interviewed about their take on the exam questions.
  • none · 1 year ago
    I've always wondered what good we're doing teaching students about formal logic. The question is especially pressing now that I'm TAing it this term. It would be nice to see hard evidence on the subject, but knowing about the feminist librarian experiment suggests the results might not be very good.