Majoring in Philosophy

This justification for majoring in Philosophy is ironically circular:

When a fellow student at Rutgers University urged Didi Onejeme to try Philosophy 101 two years ago, Ms. Onejeme, who was a pre-med sophomore, dismissed it as “frou-frou.”

“People sitting under trees and talking about stupid stuff — I mean, who cares?” Ms. Onejeme recalled thinking at the time.

But
Ms. Onejeme, now a senior applying to law school, ended up changing her
major to philosophy, which she thinks has armed her with the skills to
be successful. “My mother was like, what are you going to do with
that?” said Ms. Onejeme, 22. “She wanted me to be a pharmacy major, but
I persuaded her with my argumentative skills.”

If anything, a philosophy major will help you find an argument to justify your being a philosophy major.

4 thoughts on “Majoring in Philosophy”

  1. What other majors can lay claim to being self-justifying?That article did succeed in depressing me about grad school odds, even though part of the point was that students were doing things other than professional philosophizing with undergrad philosophy degrees. Maybe the trend will at least help the image of the field in our scientific times.Also, you probably know this, but the Preview button doesn’t do anything. At least with Firefox on Mac.

  2. "Oh, I’ve wasted my life." But at least I can justify it…

  3.   “People sitting under trees and talking about stupid stuff — I mean, who cares?” Ms. Onejeme recalled thinking at the time… “My mother was like, what are you going to do with that?” said Ms. Onejeme, 22. “She wanted me to be a pharmacy major, but I persuaded her with my argumentative skills.”

     Here’s how the persuasion probably went: "Like, duh? Philosophy is like, sooo way cooler than pharmacy, mom. We talk about So-crates and stuff! And I’m all about modus tolens – way cool!"

  4. Maybe he just wanted to understand "Matrix" better (see the blackboard in the original article) 🙂

Comments are closed.