A haze of smoke hangs in the air, whipped around by an enthusiastic bearded man bumbling along to his own thoughts. He pushes his glasses against his face, showering his audience in spit as he haphazardly articulates his perspective on life.
This is the stereotypical image of a philosophy major — a disheveled, unkempt and scatterbrained fellow whose career prospects include working the counter at Starbucks and tending buds at a dispensary.
It’s a shame that philosophy reminds people of their unemployed cousin with a weed addiction. It dismisses the very important reasons people should care about philosophy, deeming the critical questions and follies of life as little more than colossal time sinks.
It must be mentioned, then, that a major so frequently decried for being a waste of time is actually integral to every other academic school on a college campus. The “P” in “PhD” does stand for something — philosophy.
Anyone who spends eight years of their life studying towards a doctorate are actually Doctors of Philosophy in their field. Before someone can design a drug or solve a math equation with their doctorate, they must be able to formulate theories and understand the systems that surround us. Entertaining ideas and asking “what ifs” are integral to any area of study.
While this might seem trivial and obvious, it really isn’t. Attending any philosophy course like critical thinking or ethics will bring a person face to face with the reality that human beings are terrible at being rational (me and you included). No one is exempt from this reality, but a beginner-level understanding of a few key philosophical concepts can help one recognize these pitfalls so that they can ask good questions and provide good answers.
Philosophy professors ask good questions and expect bad answers. They might ask a student to “suppose” a situation, wherein that person is somebody with completely different motivations and circumstances in life. Yet, without fail, many will answer the question from their own perspective, not from the supposed perspective that was presented.
If you’ve attended a philosophy course, you know that what follows is a public interrogation that many might find uncomfortable to witness. The professor will slowly and methodically pick apart the student’s answer and expose their inability to entertain ideas without believing them to be true. Along the way they’ll even highlight the cracks in their argument.
This can be a powerful learning experience, because rather than being presented with say, an algorithm or formula that is strictly adhered to, you are guided through an outline of where exactly your thinking went wrong.
Lower-level philosophy courses are excellent in training humans to identify their biases and tendency towards fallacy. If a person can point out where their thinking went wrong, they’ll be ready to tackle almost any problem in life.
That’s why a well-laid philosophical foundation doesn’t just inform academics and science. It informs every other aspect of life, from the practical to the profound. Political opinions are nonexistent without philosophical ponderings, and perspectives on life, truth, existence and the nature of knowledge itself are all addressed in philosophy courses.
Political science majors ought to take philosophy courses to further understand where political perspectives and leanings come from. STEM majors might study philosophy because philosophical reflection is an integral part of scientific inquiry, and business majors might consider philosophy because it addresses ethics and its relation to building capital.
Paramount to all, humans need to consider philosophy because it asks important questions, and it equips a person to effectively answer them. Consider it as a supplement to any area of study, a foundation that will inform nearly every question somebody builds atop it.
While philosophy might not be highly employable as a profession, it creates highly employable people. Those who can reach sound conclusions and think critically are in high demand, so be careful in dismissing philosophy as a field of interest, because it is in everyone’s best interest.
Originally published in The Daily Titan on May 6, 2019.