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I enjoy modern and classical philosophy a lot, but I can't imagine single majoring in philosophy. Can philosophy majors or anyone else knowledgable discuss what a philosophy major can do besides be a professor or live a life in academia?

By Kjofkw (Kjofkw) on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 07:53 am: Edit

I knew a student whose undergraduate degree was in philosophy, and whose graduate degree was in architecture!

Obviously that is not a "single major" -- but it can be a stepping stone to a number of other careers.

By Dontgouc (Dontgouc) on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 02:03 pm: Edit

Go to law school and become a lawyer.

By Chasgoose (Chasgoose) on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 03:23 pm: Edit

Take the required classes and go to med school, get a little business experience and go get an MBA, go to law school, etc. etc. You don't need a pre-professional degree to get a job or get into grad school. Most prestigious schools, (almost all the ivies except Penn and Cornell, AWS, University of Chicago) do not offer pre-professional degrees yet their graduates seem to manage to get jobs outside of academia (although you wouldn't know it looking at their undergraduate majors). Your undergraduate years are a time for exploring academic areas that truly interest you. Not whoring yourself out to some vocational program in order to get a job.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 03:56 pm: Edit

Philosophy is a fine grounding for careers in business, law, medicine, journalism, creative writing, teaching, public service, etc. Like other
liberal arts majors, a philosophy major strengthens your reasoning, writing, and research skills, which are ever more important in all sorts of industries and careers.

By Sac (Sac) on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 05:14 pm: Edit

Philosophers are getting jobs in bioethics, serving as consultants to hospitals and companies dealing with end of life decisions, issues raised by new technologies, etc.

There was also an article in the NYT magazine a few weeks back about some philosophers who act as therapists, dealing with clients around issues of values.

As others have said, learning analytical thinking skills and how to express your thoughts is great preparation for most fields -- from writing a novel to going to work for a non-profit to becoming a lawyer.

By Mini (Mini) on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 05:44 pm: Edit

Become a Unitarian minister. Develop a business swimming with dolphins. Teach medical or legal ethics. Build fire brick pizza ovens. Become a Hollywood actor.

This is what the 5 philosophy majors I have recently known ended up doing.

By Goodchocolate (Goodchocolate) on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 09:16 pm: Edit

Philosophers are getting jobs in bioethics

I would LOVE a job in bioethics, but don't want to teach. What non-teaching jobs in bioethics are available?

By Coureur (Coureur) on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 11:04 pm: Edit

Game shows. Alex Trebek has a philosophy degree.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - 12:43 pm: Edit

I would LOVE a job in bioethics, but don't want to teach. What non-teaching jobs in bioethics are available? >>

Try this site for an idea of types of jobs in bioethics. If you do a google search for "bioethics jobs" you'll find many other such sites.


http://bioethics.net/bioethicsjobs.php

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - 12:48 pm: Edit

By the way, I also did a search for "bioethics major" and here are a few of the schools that turned up as having either an undergraduate major, a minor, or students who have designed their own bioethics major in the past:

William Jewell College
University of Virginia
UCLA
Yale
Whitman College
U of Wisc. Ann Arbor
Brown
University of the Pacific
Georgetown
Syracuse

Even better, however, is to go to the link I gave above and click on the link to "bioethics for beginners" which has some good information on what bioethics careers involve, a list of graduate schools, and other data.

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - 12:52 pm: Edit

What can any liberal arts, non specialized major do? I don't think philosophy is at all limiting in job searches. The difficult reading and interpreting and writing that is necessary in being successful in this discipline are useful in all kinds of business applications. Most graduates from college are not going to find a substantial job for the next a4-6 years and this major is no exception. You get what you can and take a few courses in, say business or other pre professional fields such as technical writing or medical terminology and your prospects will increase as you gain some work experience and some specialty skills that are simply not part of the liberal arts core regardless of major.