Philosophy: What Do You Do With It?
Questions and Answers
What is philosophy?
Philosophy is one of the central disciplines within the traditional Liberal Arts program in higher education. As such, it continues today to play a critical role in the curriculum of colleges and universities around the country.
What do you do with a major or minor in philosophy?
Most students who major or minor in philosophy do so for the value of the thinking, reading, and writing skills that philosophical study promotes, without any intention of pursuing philosophy as a vocational path. There are those students, however, who decide that they wish to pursue philosophy beyond the Bachelors degree. If so, some information concerning career opportunities in the field should be considered.
The traditional "career path" in Philosophy is to achieve the PhD and enter into a teaching career. Anyone who plans to enter this career path should be aware of the fact, however, that the job market for teaching philosophy in higher education, like many of the traditional fields in the Liberal Arts, is highly competitive. The number of jobs advertised in Jobs for Philosophers, the standard publication for advertising teaching jobs in the field, has in recent years been half of the number of PhDs in the field actively looking for teaching positions.
Still, the vast majority of PhDs in the field do have full time teaching positions. According to recent survey data gathered by the American Philosophical Association in 1995, 84.1% of all PhDs in philosophy held full time positions.
In light of this information, a student contemplating a teaching career in Philosophy should expect to face a competitive job market, and should anticipate the possibility that they will need to rethink their career goals if they are unable to secure a teachihng position.
Are there career alternatives to teaching?
Yes. There are any number of alternatives to teaching for BAs, MAs and PhDs in Philosophy. One alternative is consulting work in the field of ethics. The surge of concern for ethical issues in contemporary culture has opened a new set of opportunities for careers in consulting in this field. Another growing area of employment for philosophers is philosophical consulting--the use of philosophical training as a basis for aiding individuals and institutions in addressing a variety of problems and issues.
In addition to these options, there are any number of alternative careers that philosophy BAs, MAs and PhDs have pursued successfully. One particularly good alternative is technical writing. The emphasis in philosophical training on clear and precise writing is ideal as a preparation for this career option. Other options pursued by philosophers include preSeminary, preLaw, publishing, banking and finance, library science and archival research, to mention just a few.
Philosophical training on the undergraduate level has also proved to be quite beneficial as a preparation for entering graduate work in a number of areas. Recent statistics on the results of the Graduate Record Examination (the standard exam for entry into graduate work) show that philosophy majors typically score quite highly. The data collected for all students taking the GRE for the year 2011-12 show that philosophy majors ranked first among some 50 fields listed in the Verbal portion of the exam, seventh in Quantitative, and first in Analytical Writing. These results suggest that the study of Philosophy as a minor or second major can have clear benefits for people contemplating graduate work in any field.
Where can I get more information?
Here are a few websites containing information concerning the current state of the field of philosophy today, and career oppotunities for philosophers.
Philosophy in the News
