University of Colorado DenverCollege of Liberal Arts and SciencesUniversity of Colorado Denver

ABOUTWhy Study Philosophy?

Why Philosophy?

Because it asks ultimate questions. Because it explores how to live a good life. Because it takes seriously the questions that arise in life and tries to answer them. Because it exposes and questions assumptions. Because it helps you find your own answers and your own standards for answers.

Because it calls on both your creativity and your rigor. Because it uses all your interests and everything you know, from art and literature, history and social science, to mathematics and natural science. Because it makes you articulate in speaking and writing, clear in thinking and reasoning, and able to draw connections among ideas of all kinds. Because you have decisions to make, evidence to weigh, opinions to assess, mysteries to contemplate, a world to understand, a life to live.

[From http://www.earlham.edu/~phil/overview.htm]

Here's a cool 15 minute video introducing Philosophy:

Video created by the Australasian Association of Philosophy.
A higher resolution Quicktime version of the video is here.

12 careers and jobs that Philosophy Majors can do!

Here is a list of 12 careers and jobs that Philosophy Majors can do!

  1. Teaching. Majoring in Philosophy gives you communication skills as well as a solid understanding of learning itself, which also can make you a highly effective teacher.
  2. Creative writing. Philosophy and Logic/Argumentation can prepare you for a career as a novelist, a non-fiction writer, or a poet.
  3. Technical Writing. This is one of the biggest growth areas for Philosophy/Philosophy of Science/Ethics majors. Technical writers can demand starting salaries averaging $37,000 on today's market. (For more information on Philosophy and Writing see this page from the University of South Carolina: http://www.cla.sc.edu/PHIL/writing.html)
  4. Executive-level administration and management. Many Fortune 500 CEO's have degrees in liberal arts majors like Philosophy, because these majors develop your interpersonal communication and organization.
  5. Editing and Publishing. These fields require a strong facility with language, combined with the communication skills Philosophy majors develop.
  6. Law. Many lawyers got their undergraduate training in Philosophy, because the skills involved in reading and thinking clearly and arguing effectively apply to brief-writing as well as litigation techniques. Language and Logic, Introduction to Ethics, Business Ethics and Biomedical ethics will be especially helpful for you.
  7. Mediation. Philosophy majors' skills at communicating and analyzing all sides of issues make them ideal mediators (for example, mediators are used in divorce cases, or to settle disputes between unions and corporations.)
  8. Public relations and journalism. PR and journalism both require a careful use of language - something Philosophy majors learn quickly.
  9. Philosophical Counseling/Philosophical Practice. Did you know that not all counselors and therapists study psychology? The American Philosophical Practitioners Association (APPA) trains and certifies philosophy majors to do work similar to psychiatry and psychoanalysis, and is now beginning to build and accredit graduate programs in philosophical practice. The City College of New York has approved the establishment of an M. A. Program in Applied Philosophy, whose graduates will also be APPA-Certified. Similar initiatives are underway internationally. The APPA's website is http://www.appa.edu/
  10. Enjoy computers? Software Creation, Ontological Engineering, Axiomatizing, Language Development, Systems Engineering. CYCORP is one of many software companies that routinely hires Philosophy Majors! http://www.cyc.com/cyc/company/employment Cycorp does programming in a way that uses common-sense logic. Their system is called Cyc® technology, and it is rooted in the logical thinking that philosophy classes in logic and argumentation study: semantic information retrieval, consistency-checking of structured information, deductive integration of databases, and natural language interfaces that relate to how people express themselves in an everyday sense. (For more information on Graduate School work in Philosophy and Computers, see this page from the University of South Carolina: http://www.cla.sc.edu/PHIL/computers.html )
  11. Enjoy Ethics and Social and Political Philosophy? Nonprofit organizations and governmental organizations hire philosophy majors for their experience setting policies on the environment, the arts, education, health, the sciences, and culture. The Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/ , the World Health Organization http://www.who.int/en/ , Greenpeace http://www.greenpeace.org/homepage/ , the National Endowment for the Humanities http://www.neh.fed.us/ , and the National Sciences Foundation http://www.nsf.gov/ are just a few examples.
  12. Enjoy Aesthetics? Philosophy prepares you to be an archivist, curator, or museum manager -- the philosophy major's appreciation for aesthetic taste, as well as organizational skills, means you have the right balance for a career in these art management fields!

Going to Graduate School or Law School? (More on Law School, bottom of this page)

-- A comprehensive study* of college students' scores on major tests used for admission to graduate and professional schools (LSAT, GRE, GMAT) shows that students majoring in Philosophy received scores substantially higher than the average on each of the tests studied.

--Philosophy Majors received higher scores on the LSAT than students in all other humanities areas, higher scores than all social and natural science majors except economics and mathematics, and higher scores than all applied majors. Philosophy Majors scored 10% better than political science majors on the LSAT.

-- Philosophy Majors outperformed business majors by a margin of 15% on the GMAT and outperformed every other undergraduate major except mathematics.

-- Philosophy Majors' scores on the verbal portion of the GRE were higher than in any other major, even English.

-- Philosophy Majors scored substantially higher on the GRE than all other humanities majors and were alone among humanities majors in scoring above the overall average.

* The study compared the scores of 550,000 college students who took the LSAT, GMAT, and the verbal and quantitative portions of the GRE with data collected over the previous eighteen years and was conducted by the National Institute of Education and reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

These study results are affirmed by a recent publication (2005-06) of the Educational Testing Service on the GRE. See the relevant page here.

Philosophy as "Pre-Law" Preparation*

    Many philosophers and students of philosophy go to law school, and there are now many successful philosopher-lawyers.  On the basis of information from law school faculty, from philosophers who have kept track of students who have gone into law, and from independent studies, it is clear that philosophical training tends to be of great value both in law school and in legal practice.  A philosopher at a distinguished university noted that even the average philosophy graduate student who transferred to law school usually did outstanding work as a law student.  There have been comparable results at many institutions around the country.

The law is not only a career that interests many philosophers and philosophy students.  It is also a field for which philosophical training is generally excellent preparation.  Furthermore, while the standard path into a legal career is through law school, philosophers have entered the profession of law in other ways, for example in legal research, without needing to obtain a law degree.  Philosophers are also employed in prison administration, in police service, and in paralegal work as rights advocates.  Some insurance and trust companies, moreover, have expressed interest in philosophical research capacities in relation to their legal work.  Given the large number of recent law school graduates, it may be especially appropriate for philosophers interested in legal work in general to consider some of these other areas of the legal domain.    

The many skills that students learn to develop while studying philosophy are crucial skills in the study of law.  These skills include, but are not limited to, the ability to develop and analyze arguments, to uncover assumptions and presuppositions, to identify fallacies in reasoning, to organize one's reasoning, and to structure complex ideas.  Both formal and informal logic are of important use in the study and practice of law.    

In addition to this, recent studies have shown that, on the average, philosophy majors receive higher score on major standardized tests, including the GRE and the LSAT, than students majoring in other subjects.  In many cases, the differences in score between philosophy majors and other students were quite substantial.  A study conducted by the National Institute of Education and reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education compared 550,000 university students taking the GRE (verbal and quantitative), the LSAT, and the GMAT.  This study concluded that philosophy majors scored 10% higher than political science majors on the LSAT, philosophy majors scored 15% higher than business majors on the GMAT, and philosophy majors scored higher than all other students on the verbal portion of the GRE.  Only second to mathematics majors and science majors, philosophy majors scored higher than all other humanities majors on the quantitative portions of these standardized tests.    

Data from the Law Schools Admissions Test (LSAT) for 1996-1997 shows that, on the LSAT, philosophy majors outperformed all of the other most popular pre-law  and humanities majors.  On the average, philosophy students scored 157.0, while religion majors scored 156.6, with economics majors scoring 156.2, and history majors scoring 154.5.  English majors scored 153.5, on the average, while political science majors scored 151.5.  All in all, philosophy majors scored 4.7 points above the average, while religion majors scored 4.3 points above the average, and economics majors scored 3.9 points above the average.  Thus, of all the majors examined (which also included journalism, sociology, business, the arts, criminal justice, accounting, and languages), philosophy majors, on the average, outperformed all other majors on the LSAT.  

* This text is adapted, with a few changes, from Careers for Philosophers, prepared by the American Philosophical Association Committee on Career Opportunities, and from The Philosophy Major, a statement prepared under the auspices of the Board of Officers of the American Philosophical Association.  These texts are available from the APA online at the following address: http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/index.html