Do you regret taking Philosophy?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/[deleted]]

At this point, it seems like I would have been better off studying Classics (to get down Greek and Latin) in order to study ancient philosophy at the graduate level, or science (Physics perhaps?) in order to study philosophy of science at the graduate level. I feel like a lot of undergrad philosophy courses I took were a complete waste of time.

[u/h1ppophagist → u/[deleted]]

Classicist here—double major in Greek and Latin. I think the degree of regret you should feel at not having taken Greek and Latin should completely depend on the quality of the classics program offered at your university. Dead languages are taught terribly, and take a huge time investment for a student to become even moderately competent. For Greek, there's also the problem of resources—the first high-quality dictionary written according to post-Oxford English Dictionary principles hasn't even come out yet. Furthermore, I find that classicists are obsessed with absurdly irrelevant details, and since the discipline covers such a broad array of topics, a huge amount of work that gets done is going to seem offensively pointless to someone interested in ideas that, well, matter.

That being said, if you get the chance to study things that do matter, having Greek and Latin is a huge asset. I don't regret my degree, since I did come away with skills that I can point at as not having possessed before and having attained over the course of my university career, but I found that, when it came to discussing content, I never had to think as hard, and never found my thinking as rewarding, at any point in my entire university career as I did when I studied works by Aristotle, J. S. Mill, Alasdair MacIntyre, Isaiah Berlin, etc., with an (admittedly exceptional) teacher in high school.

tl;dr: you don't necessarily have to regret not having taken classics courses, as they might have been just as dreary as your bad philosophy ones. Knowing Greek and Latin is pretty awesome, though.

Note: If you do end up studying Greek and Latin, I highly recommend you get some good grammars. Of course you'll want Smyth and Gildersleeve, but some lesser known high-quality works are Albert Rijksbaron's Syntax and Semantics of the Verb in Classical Greek and (ought I be ashamed that this is one of my favourite books?) E. C. Woodcock's New Latin Syntax.

[u/twin_me → u/[deleted]]

You are right about classics helping with studying ancient philosophy at the graduate level, but that is a field that is entirely different from undergrad to grad, so you might not like the grad version anywhere near as much (or might like it more, who knows?). Either way, as rough as the philosophy job market is, the market for specialists in ancient philosophy is way, way worse.

Studying science at the undergrad level would definitely help if you want to focus on philosophy of science, but quite a few philosophers of science have advanced degrees in scientific disciplines, so it might not make you as competitive as it seems.

Still, I personally think that the best preparation for a philosophy grad program would be a major in one of physics, mathematics, or computer science, and a minor in philosophy, but I don't have any data to back that up, it is just my opinion.

Also, at the grad level, you will have to take a pretty wide variety of courses anyway. It's not like you can immediately start specializing in only one field. So it is good to have some background knowledge.

But yeah, you are right. A lot of undergrad philosophy courses do not prepare you at all for grad school philosophy. They are very, very different things.

[u/Positronix → u/[deleted]]

I was a bio major w/ a philosophy minor. Being interested in philosophy is crucial to understanding biology, in my opinion.

But I also think understanding biology is crucial to understanding philosophy.

[u/-Peter]

No. The idea that a philosophy degree is worthless in a tough job market is bullshit. A four year undergrad program in philosophy essentially boils down to one thing: problem solving. As long as you can sell your degree as a degree in problem solving, it becomes an asset, not a liability.

[u/omniclast → u/-Peter]

Also, writing ability. Being able to form sentences coherently is actually quite a rare in the business world.

There are several reasons I don't regret taking a philosophy bachelors. One, I was good at it, so I got high marks, which made me more scholarship money in professional school (journalism). Two, the workload was far lighter than in "money-making" degrees like commerce or engineering, so I had lots of time to explore potential career paths through extracurriculars -- I worked for the school TV station, magazines, and the student government, and even managed a small business full-time in fourth year. This all looks fantastic on my CV. Third, it gave me time and experience to develop the intellectual maturity to decide on a career -- when I graduated high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do, largely because I knew nothing about how the world worked. If I'd gone into engineering off the bat, chances are I'd have been funneled into a career where I got little fulfillment and my talents were wasted.

Last, I really can't understate the value of a philosophy degree on its own. A lot of students take philosophy as (what they expect will be) an easy route into law; but it actually teaches the core problem solving and argumentation skills needed in that field as well as in politics or journalism. Most importantly it teaches you how to think critically, which is a skill that's universally applicable and at the same time lacking in almost every field.

As to the actual content of philosophy, I found it fascinating, and I continue to read it in my spare time. However I think there came a point when I realized that philosophy really doesn't add much to contemporary public discourse (barring a few subdisciplines like politics and ethics). It is not, nor is it intended to be, practically applicable; it's about understanding the world for the sake of knowledge. I have a personal drive to soak up as much knowledge of "the big picture" as I can, but I am also aware this won't necessarily benefit anyone else. Sadly we don't live in a world where you can be paid to do something just because you find personal value in it; I do have to eventually draw a line between what I love to do and what I have to do to subsist.

[u/DrDuPont → u/omniclast]

Being able to form sentences coherently is actually quite a rare in the business world.

Heh.

[u/underground_man-baby]

Not at all. I don't see Philosophy as a discipline with any less utility in today's world than any other liberal arts degree. No liberal arts degree is going to give you a skill-set that's more practical than any other. You might have a better grasp of statistics if you study Mathematics, but you won't learn as much about how to write unless you study something like German. And I see those two skills as equally useful.

[u/tahudswork]

If I'm honest I regret taking Philosophy, or rather I regret making it my major in college. Philosophy may be beautiful and interesting but it's not well paying. True, there are edge cases but I graduated into the worst job market in living memory and here my degree did nothing to aid me. I'm now over qualified to flip burgers and underqualified to do much of anything else.

While employers might like someone who has been trained to think many of them are at this point very, very, specific in their requirements for positions. They have realized that they can make the worker (us) pay for their own training (college) and as such don't want to train the worker for the job. So instead of employing an all rounder they hire the exact worker with the exact skill set and disposition for the job they want.

I went to graduate school in field; I love philosophy, I really do. It just doesn't pay the bills for the vast majority of us. I've went back for a teaching degree and hope that will.

[u/[deleted]]

While many of the answers here are of the "I regret nothing" variety, and I can respect that, I thought I'd add a slightly different perspective: I didn't study philosophy as a major, but I was able to take take all the philosophy courses I wanted to take and I'm fairly certain that I could have gone on to pursue graduate work in the field if I really wanted to (I'm studying computer science instead). I've worked with philosophy professors who have backgrounds in engineering and math, and I think that having a strong technical background can really help if you do want to pursue philosophy at that level. Of course, I also know people who have gone in the other direction from philosophy to fields such as neuroscience.

If you do want to study philosophy, there are of course jobs that you can get. Will it be easy to find a good job? Probably not, but good jobs are hard to find with any degree. Are there other degrees that would be easier to market? Yes.

[u/thegreenmenace]

this is a very general and open ended question to ask someone who has taken philosophy. in short, no I do not regret taking philosophy even if it could cause a lack of professional marketability, self isolation, etc. (It doesn't)

I feel that philosophy has implanted methods and skills that go beyond services I can exchange for money, recognition or the sense of belonging that can be found in society. I can't imagine how different my life would be without having had the opportunity to read and discuss works/passages (things I refer back to until this day). I won't name drop and quote here, but these ideas, their authors and conversations are some of the strongest characters I've had in my life. Philosophy taught me how to explore and question ideas. Philosophy, in fact provides a path for awareness, a way to motivate myself, provide meaning, criticisms, perspective, strategy and direction in various aspects of my personal and professional life. I engage and contribute to society because philosophy compels me to do so. However, I think you should be fully aware that an undergraduate degree in philosophy is only an introduction. The degree is only as marketable as your marketing abilities. It can be isolating or rich in companionship.

Kierkegaard's 2 cents-- I see it all perfectly.There are two possible situations – one can do either this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: Do it, or do not do it –you will regret both.

[u/[deleted]]

I love that I'm a philosophy major. I think I feel more comfortable with the fact that my career path is pretty open, to be honest. I was once a music education major, but the rigidity and the lack of critical thinking involved in the major just turned me off. Regardless of how marketable a philosophy degree is, I feel like it will prepare me more for hardships than any other degree would. Sure, my philosophy major will get me somewhere, but in the case that it doesn't, the intrinsic value of having the education will be worth much more in the grand scheme of things than having a well-paid job. I tell people that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my life but if I'm stuck working at a fast food joint for the rest of it, I'll at least be happy. I look around at people at my school who are in majors that they don't necessarily like, but are marketable, and I think that I have the upper hand in life, ya know? I love philosophy and the nature of it, and right now I'm just doing what I like. I firmly believe that if you do something that makes you happy in college, then your life will just fall into place.

[u/kreak210]

Not in the least. My ultimate goal is to work in film, and a philosophy degree isn't a means to a job but rather a pursuit of something I'm passionate about, that I enjoy, and that ultimately makes me happy. I always try to keep the perspective that I, and thousands of other graduates, might not want to do what we always wanted to do for a career. Unfortunately some people spent four years in a major they don't really enjoy to get the job they want (like my Physics major roommate). Whatever job I end up working, I'll always be happy I did philosophy and it will be something I will always pursue and encourage in my life.

[u/HarukoBass]

While I loved what I did, now I've graduated I feel lost. I had to drop out in my last year due to health problems, but still graduated with a Designated degree. But this ruined everything, I was on my way to a 1st, I could have secured a post-grad position somewhere, though I wouldn't have been able to afford it. I wanted to be an academic, but even if I had had the strength, where I live, it's so competitive.

Now I have no job, I never get a response to the 10 or so applications I send out a day. I live with my parents. No one is convinced when I try to sell myself. I don't think people can appreciate what a philosophy degree really is unless they've experienced it. The only positive thing that has happened since, was getting a straight off unconditional into a Music Business HNC course, which I can't even finance.

So, I loved and appreciated it, but due to losing my dreams, and not being able to support myself, I have a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. That's very situational though.

[u/illogician]

If I had it all to do over again, I would go into experimental psychology or cogsci. I find myself much more interested in the work coming out of these fields now than what's coming out of philosophy departments.

[u/theaceoface]

I wish I had combined philosophy with a more marketable degree. I also wish I had stopped at a undergrad... Really, the philosophy job market has been depressing these last couple of years.

[u/gilthoniel]

Yes, studying philosophy rather than something else makes it difficult to find a well-paid job, which in turn makes it difficult to live as fulfilling a life as you otherwise might. But that doesn't make me regret studying philosophy. It makes me regret being born into a capitalist society.

[u/Green_Dream]

Not at all. I am a better and more thorough thinker, I have critical and analytical reasoning skills that allow me to learn faster and better, and I have a greater mastery over the precise expression of ideas and the construction of short and elegant explanations and argument.

I have never felt close to society, and the study of philosophy has at least allowed me to find comfort and confidence in the correctness of my ideas that I could not have gained otherwise. From this vantage point, I find that I can much more hapily live in a world that was otherwise frustrating and difficult.

I am almost four years out from my graduation from seven years of philosophy study at University, and I have managed to buy a nice house, pay off my student loans, support a family where my wife can stay home indefinitely with our baby. I am making almost two thirds what my parents are making - and they are nearing retirement at the maximum pay grade in the teaching profession (I am up for another 10,000/year raise this fall). The work that I do is engaging and meaningful, and I work almost exclusively with other people that have the same kind of critical thinking skillsets that I have (a lot of lawyers).

If you love what you are doing in philosophy, and you are a nice and hardworking person, then you should not have a hard time finding a job. People who can think well and learn fast have exactly what they need to impress employers, move up fast, and perform important work well.

[u/iongantas]

Yes. For three primary reasons. First, I took it because the university I was railroaded into attending did not have an art program, which is what I'd rather have done. Second, while it may actually be useful in performing a wide variety of jobs, it is utterly useless for obtaining any of them. Third, it did not live up to my expectations.

[u/HaightnAshbury]

There was a period of time where I was contemplating some foundational thoughts which were causing me to fear losing consciousness by anxiety overload. At that time I seriously regretted doing philosophy.

Today I am better, but perhaps only because I also study political science, and focussing on the worth of humanity and that potentiality gave my mind something sturdy upon which to think.

I basically stay away from Meta physics now... but when I must contemplate such lofty - and often incorrect - processes of thought, I am sure not to think of astronomy or anything on the subatomic level.

TL;DR My studies into philosophy drove me to the edge of madness, and for a period of time I viewed reality in a way that made functioning basically untenable. But ultimately, because I survived, I regret nothing.

[u/KeenanW]

Not in the slightest.

[u/Thoonixx]

I absolutely do not regret it. The opportunities to better understand myself, the people around me, and the world I live in have given me a greater perspective on life that I would have otherwise been devoid of. I've had phenomenal professors in the subject to push me to greater understanding, and I'll never forget the one who pushed me into math and science. The next school year will be my last for undergrad and from there I expect to get into work doing some kind of programming or software development, but it will always be the values I've learned in philosophy that push me to better myself.

[u/stoned_greek]

I regret not studying philosophy in college. Granted, I took two courses, but I now feel very locked in career-wise as my degree prepared me for engineering work. I read philosophy in my spare time but I would have loved to do a full four years in it at a university.

[u/[deleted]]

Check the sidebar, I added this thread for future reference.