Why Study Philosophy?

The single most important reason to study philosophy is personal interest. If you find that philosophical issues move you, get under your skin, challenge you, and push you to think outside the box then philosophy may be for you. That said, this is a competitive world; it's fair to ask where choosing to major in philosophy is going to lead you if you don't necessarily want to go on to graduate school. Will you be able to find an interesting career? What, in other words, can one do with a philosophy degree?

In fact, both anecdotal and statistical evidence shows that majoring in philosophy is a great choice for a variety of students with a wide range of career interests. Philosophy's practical value does not lie in teaching a circumscribed set of applied skills (such as suturing wounds) or a body of facts (the history of Europe after the Reformation, say). The practical value of philosophy lies in helping the student develop a number of highly portable intellectual abilities:

One thing that all of these skills share is flexibility: once learned, they can be applied to just about any topic or problem. Once you have learned how to weigh the merits of a proposal fairly and to express your views clearly, it's simply a matter of learning the details of the case at hand before you can set to work on it. So a philosophical training equips you with skills that you can apply in a wide variety of fields. And in fact, people with philosophical backgrounds have pursued careers in fields including medicine, journalism, business, law, teaching, politics, and publishing.

Philosophy and Other Professions

The choice to major in philosophy by no means restricts your options to philosophy graduate school or law school. On the contrary, you will find that the skills acquired in studying philosophy can be applied just about anywhere you want to go. To learn more about the diversity of careers Wellesley's own philosophy majors have pursued, see the Philosophy Futures link on the For Majors page.

For further discussion of the value of philosophical training in the business world and beyond, see the following articles:

Philosophy and the Law

It's worth pointing out that philosophers are exceptionally well suited to pursuing legal studies. An analysis of LSAT scores for students taking the exam and applying to law school in 1991-2 and 1994-5 showed that Philosophy & Religion majors were second only to Physics majors in their overall performance. A follow-up study in 2004 found the same pattern of results. We should be cautious what we infer from these statistics - this is not proof that philosophical training causes people to do well on the LSAT. It could be that the people who choose to major in philosophy already have whatever it takes to do well on the LSAT. Still, it's not unreasonable to suppose that several years of attempting to think clearly helps.

The point about the value of studying philosophy is reinforced by the following advice to undergraduates offered by the American Bar Association:

"In assessing a prospective law student's educational qualifications, admissions committees generally consider the chosen curriculum, the grades earned, and the reputation of the colleges attended. They also view favorably scholastic honors, awards, and special recognition. Solid grades in courses such as logic, philosophy, and abstract mathematics are generally considered a plus."

"Contrary to popular belief, law schools do not favor political science, criminal justice, and government majors over others. Choose major and elective courses that you will genuinely enjoy, instead of those you were told were required for pre-law students. You are likely to get better grades in a field you find interesting. And even if you don't, law schools will respect your pursuit of subjects you find challenging. This is especially true if the courses you take are known to be more difficult, such as philosophy, engineering, and science. Also, look for courses that will strengthen the skills you need in law school. Classes that stress research and writing are excellent preparation for law school, as are courses that teach reasoning and analytical skills."

Here are some of the skills the ABA describes as being "essential for competent lawyering": "analytic and problem-solving skills, critical reading abilities, writing skills, oral communication and listening abilities, general research skills, and task organization and management skills" - many of these can be found on the list of philosophical skills given above.

Philosophy and the GRE

What if you do decide to go to graduate school? As with the LSAT, students who study philosophy tend to do well on the GRE. According to the 2006-7 Guide to the Use of Scores, published by Educational Testing Services (ETS), students whose intended graduate field of study was philosophy scored highest on average in both the Verbal Reasoning and the Analytical Writing sections of the test - higher than students intending to study any other field. In the Quantitative Reasoning section, philosophy students ranked 16th overall - behind most physical sciences and engineering but ahead of all life sciences, and ahead of all humanities and social sciences except economics and finance. Again, we must be cautious in what we extrapolate from these results, but it seems reasonable that the skills philosophical training develops are relevant to what the GRE is testing.

If you find that philosophy fascinates you, come and take a few classes. You may discover that you have a talent for it. And should you get a degree in philosophy, your horizons will be broader and the road ahead of you will be wide open.

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