What colleges don’t tell you is that most graduates change their careers many times. If you spent your entire time studying engineering and it turns out that you hate being an engineer, you have to start from scratch. You’ve wasted your time and money. It’s the same with journalism, pre-med, or law school. It’s the same with anything.
But philosophy doesn’t teach you one specific skill, it teaches you how to learn. It’s focused on thinking critically, listening and speaking to others, understanding difficult ideas, seeing multiple sides of any issues, and how to decipher together instructions and procedures that seem overwhelming at first. It help you flourish in every career and figure out what you want in the first place, so maybe you won’t have to start all over again five years after your graduate.
If you’re up for it, philosophy is an excellent double major. You don’t need to do just philosophy; philosophy works with everything. Philosophy is economic stability. Philosophy is freedom. There’s a reason it’s the oldest discipline in the world. Philosophy has staying power. You should too.
Show me more about the salaries and skills of a philosophy major.
What if I just want to take a few classes, but not major? Which classes should I take?
It’s easy to find choosing a class overwhelming, especially if you haven’t ever taken any philosophy before. Not to worry. This site help you choose. We have a list of the most common courses with short descriptions and, most importantly, the skills that these courses usually improve. We also list what other majors the courses are particularly useful for.
Are you a successful person with a philosophy degree?
Send us your story so we can show how important philosophy has been to your life and, especially, your careers. It’s easy: just respond to our questions on our contact page.
Want to learn more about philosophy? Listen to our public radio podcast.
For the past thirteen years, Why? Philosophical Discussions About Everyday Life has been making philosophy intriguing and accessible. Join philosopher and host Jack Russell Weinstein as he interviews some of the world’s most prominent thinkers and shows how philosophy is indeed relevant to what you’re interested in.
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