Comments on: Former Philosophy Students

By: Jeremy Leader

Jeremy Leader — Mon, 09 Feb 2004 17:22:13 +0000

Did the last sentence of the penultimate paragraph catch anyone else’s eye? “We might also use some of these names later in a fund drive we are now planning.” For some reason, that struck me as the oh-so-diffident real purpose of the mailing.

By: The Philosophical Cowboy

The Philosophical Cowboy — Sun, 08 Feb 2004 12:26:28 +0000

Well, in my case a BA and MPhil has led me into the world of accounting. Which may be a little depressing, though I enjoy it. All the classic arguments about the benefits of clear thinking developed by philosophy have some relevance to my experience. And, relative to many of my colleagues, experience of writing a great deal is useful in comparison to mathematical backgrounds. Coupled with some teaching experience in grad work, I find it very useful to instinctively work from first principles on issues, whether trying to resolve them, or explain them. And, of course, contributed massively to the quality of my bookshelves…

By: David Foster

David Foster — Sat, 07 Feb 2004 03:34:59 +0000

Also, Carly Fiorina, the CEO of HP/Compaq, was a dual major in philosophy and medieval history as an undergrad.

By: David Foster

David Foster — Sat, 07 Feb 2004 03:33:19 +0000

I’m fairly certain that Carl Icahn, the corporate raider, was a philosophy major.

By: Keith M Ellis

Keith M Ellis — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 16:03:44 +0000

“I’d have to say that philosophy is probably one of the best pre-law backgrounds you can have.“—nolo

When I was an undergrad, I and some fellow classmates went to a nearby law school’s recruiting/overview meeting. We were vastly amused as the speaker emphasized how disorienting law school can be for first years because law schools use the strange and radical “Socratic Method”. When people inevitably ask me “What in the world can you do with a St. John’s education?”, I usually tell them that although the college is aggressively anti-vocational, my experience and observation have been that it opens more doors than it closes. For example, this quarter’s alumni magazine has a feature on the many johnnies who have gone into finance…there’s quite a few. I think that a SJC education is vastly superior to an undergraduate philosophy degree, but there is an essential similarity. Frankly, the only schools in the US doing a decent job for vocational education are the vocational schools and the community colleges. Most people go to college for what is effectively a vocational education but get such a mish-mash that tries to be all things to all people that they neither learn many skills nor how to think critically. But I think that an undergrad philosophy degree covers the latter quite well. Perhaps I’m naive and optimistic—I’m sure it depends upon the school.

By: Brian Weatherson

Brian Weatherson — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 21:52:08 +0000

There’s a long tradition of British philosophy grads being pretty good comics, so I’m not too surprised that is Gervais’s background. I would have been scared of having him in class though – the potential for scarily accurate professor parodies would be too high.

By: martin

martin — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 21:33:42 +0000

Not sure how his philosophy degree prepared Ricky Gervais for this. As for law school, ick, I wouldn’t touch one with a barge pole.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 21:16:16 +0000

It’s interesting that everyone (except Kelly) seems to focus exclusively on how “philosophical training” affects career choices and professional success.

By: asg

asg — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 21:02:09 +0000

My philosophy degree has helped me quite a lot more than I thought it would in my field, computer game development.

By: PanJack

PanJack — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 20:15:59 +0000

Steve Martin?

By: Barry

Barry — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 19:16:53 +0000

Only to other DC political magazine writers, I’m afraid :) BTW - 90% of them male. What you should do, Matt, is to convene a panel like that in NYC, in some fashion magazine conference.

By: nolo

nolo — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 19:08:49 +0000

Of course there are other jobs besides lawyering—I fantasize about them on a regular basis. But, as a lawyer with an MA in philosophy, I have to say that the law/philosophy correlation seems awfully obvious to me. And not just on a “what else does a liberal arts student do but go into law” basis. In fact, unless you’re planning on practicing patent law (which is an area for which you need a specialized background in the U.S.), I’d have to say that philosophy is probably one of the best pre-law backgrounds you can have. Not from a marketability standpoint, mind you, but from that deeper standpoint that is concerned with what makes for a good lawyer.

By: Matthew Yglesias

Matthew Yglesias — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 19:00:47 +0000

They should ask me! I could do a point/counterpoint with Julian Sanchez about the life of white Latino former philosophy undergraduates turned DC magazine writers. Could be fascinating stuff.

By: Terry

Terry — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 18:57:57 +0000

They should ask the most highly-paid former philosophy student I know: Alex Trebek.

By: Arthur Wouk

Arthur Wouk — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 18:57:05 +0000

I just hope they get stories of people who aren’t lawyers. In the last year or so, I’ve been reading a lot of blogs on line, and I am really surprised how many people who talk about philosophy are either under grads planning to go to law school or law school students or professors. I guess it never occurred to me that there was such a correlation between law and philosophy. Anyhow, there are other jobs in the world besides lawyering, so I just hope some others are represented.