So Your Child Wants to be a Philosophy Major

So Your Child Wants to Major in Philosophy

Many parents of prospective philosophy majors have no prior knowledge of the field and are unsure of how to advise their children.  We've compiled some answers to the most frequently asked questions.

What Exactly will My Son or Daughter be Studying?

 Philosophy is an academic discipline whose roots go back 2500 years to ancient Greece.  As a philosophy major, your child will receive two basic types of training.  First, they will study the literature of philosophy, which is focused around a set of basic philosophical questions, for example "What kinds of things can people know?" or "What is justice?"  Second, they will receive rigorous training in critical thinking, argumentation, and analytical problem solving.

What Practical Skills Does Philosophy Teach?

 Many articles and employer surveys point to the importance of the "transferable skills" of general problem solving, communication skills, persuasive powers, writing skills, and research and analysis skills.  These are the skills that help a person succeed, as much or more than job-specific knowledge.  They are also the skills that give a person flexibility in the fluid career paths of today.  Sadly, many students get training that only teaches them to think "in the box" of their specialty.  Philosophy is the key to get out of that box - it offers more intensive training in transferable critical thinking skills than just about any other major in the university.

What do Philosophy Majors do for a Living?

We are not in the business of producing only professional philosophers.  Though some students may choose to go on to graduate study and teaching in philosophy, there are many other career paths taken by majors, including including business (especially advertising and management), consulting, finance, insurance, sales, education, various branches of government, law, medicine, media, publishing, technical writing, and clergy.

Philosophy is considered to be one of the premier "Pre-Professional" majors for students going into one of the professions - law, medicine, clergy, business management, or teaching - or for many fields that require graduate training.  This is because philosophy teaches the kind of analysis, logic, and writing skills that are needed for success in grad school. 

How Well do Philosophy Majors do on Grad School Admissions Tests?

Very well.  Consider: in a study of GMAT (for business school) scores 1994-1999, Philosophy majors had a score 9.6% above the mean and higher than the mean scores for all kinds of business majors!  Two studies of GRE (grad school) scores found Philosophy majors to have the highest scores of all Humanities majors, and higher scores than all majors in Social Science, Education, or Business.  A number of studies of LSAT (law school) scores find Philosophy among the highest scoring majors - higher than Political Science or "Pre-Law."  Philosophy majors (with appropriate science prereqs) scored higher on the MCAT (med school) than all other humanities majors.

What About Double Majoring?

 Parents of philosophy majors who are not planning on grad school sometimes worry whether their child's degree will be less marketable right out of college than other things he or she might major in.  The good news about the philosophy program at FGCU is that that your child can probably have it both ways.  Philosophy matches well as a double major with many other programs, and taking a double major that includes philosophy has a lot of advantages.  For one thing, the superior skills in analysis, critical reflection, and writing that philosophy students acquire make them better students of almost any other subject.  In addition, philosophy is the historical source for the ideas underlying most of the disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, including the social science concepts that are applied in many social work, public policy and business programs.  Double majoring allows a student to pursue their interest in philosophy, while training them to be a superior student in their "practical" major.

Some Philosophy Majors Who did OK for Themselves

A number of successful people from various professions received their first training in philosophy.  To name just a few: In business, financiers Carl Icahn and George Soros, CEOs Carly Fiorina (Hewlett Packard) and Gerald Levine (Time Warner).  In politics, Rudolph Giuliani, George Stephanopoulos, William Bennett.  In law, Supreme Court justices Steven Breyer and David Souter, in journalism, Stone Phillips and George Will.  In entertainment, Steve Martin, Jay Leno, Susan Sarandon, Alex Trebek.  In the arts, composer Phillip Glass, writers Wallace Shawn and Chaim Potok.  In sport, John Elway, Mike Schmidt, Phil Jackson.  In religion, Pope John Paul II.  And in the military, Kristen Baker, the first female brigade commander at West Point.