Well, I figured I ought to post. I just received my BA in Philosophy at a women's liberal arts college. My courses were mostly taught in historical fashion, so therefore I got a lovely introduction to most of the cannon thinkers throughout the history of Western Philosophy. Since I was at a small institution, I could emphasize in one thing or the other through independent study done directly with the professor. I emphasized in ethics, particularly Kantian ethics. I think that my education at Wesleyan was extremely well-balanced for a philosophy major and I'm looking forward to taking what I've learned there to graduate school, specializing in ethics.

And yes, I had a particularly remarkable professor who encouraged my work and took me seriously (even when I dressed ridiculously).

Thanks for the answer! This spring I occupied myself with Kantian ethics too. It's shurely one of the most fascinating concepts in ethics.

What job opportunities are there with having a degree in philosophy anyways?:confused:
I enjoy philosophy and many of the sciences like physics, especially fundamental, but am not sure whether a career is out there that involves pure philosophy, and it seems like a past time thing to me rather than a career.
I still go to high school and I have considered philosophy but everyone is saying that there lacks a financially suitable career out there pertaining to it.

Teach, write, go on to law school. Plenty of options to make money.

More importantly, though: why are you thinking about throwing your education away on a ticket for cash? Shouldn't you learn something, instead?

If you get a college degree, you'll be able to make enough money to live comfortably. If you're in a developed nation, with a college degree, you're lifestyle will look like the life of a prince to most of the world's population.

Oh I don't really care about how much I make as long as I live 'normally', in respect to a Canadian citizen. But is there really a career as a 'philosopher'? Unfortunately our society relies on a healthy income in order to prosper. You tend to need money to have a n education for one thing, I really want a PH D or at least a masters.
Law is not something I'm fond of, I prefer ethics if anything like that.

Well, you could be an ethical attorney - talk about a unique product, huh?

But, yeah, get a degree and teach. Or write. That's what 'philosopher's have tended to do for a couple thousand years now. I'm sure you can live well in Canada on a teacher's salary - especially with a Masters or a PhD working at a college. You would specialize in whatever field of philosophy most interests you.

Yeah but teaching involves following the ciriculum, and I just don't believe in what it has to offer in terms of intellect, and no I have no intention of being a prof.

Sort of. As a college instructor, you have, basically, free reign.



Well, you're still in high school, so it's not like you have to make any choices tomorrow. At this point, you may yet decide to study something other than philosophy.

Whats the dif. between a college instructor and a prof.? , cause if I don't have to stand in front of 200 students like a prof I would consider it.

So, you can sort of deviate from the ciriculum? :cool:

Could you create your own manuscript :eek: and teach from it?

Universities are a place where scientific acheivments take place a lot right?, is it like that in college at all, cause I've never wanted to be somebody who takes research and applies it to making something out of it, I prefer to do the research and come up with new advances.

Depends on where you are. In the US a professor is someone who lectures or does research at a college. In some countries, professor is reserved for people who hold some departmental chair.

Class size varies a great deal. From what I've seen in the US, the auditorium classes tend to be core classes - classes that everyone takes, where the school is trying to weed people out. College Algebra often is taught in this sort of environment at the bigger schools.

At smaller schools, you don't see this sort of thing as much. So it really comes down to what you are teaching and where you are teaching, and probably on how many students sign up for the class.

But by the time you have that diploma, you wont have any trouble standing up in front of ten thousand students to teach the course.



Books used on college campuses are written by college professors. Yeah, you could write a text book and teach from it. You could write a treatise on something and teach from your own treatise.

You might even be such an expert on something that you develop your own course.



Universities are a collection of colleges. At a University you will have many colleges for different fields of study; a college of engineering, a college of liberal arts, ect. Depending on what you do, you most certainly can do research at a college (which would mean you could do research at a university).

Here in germany there are a lot of job opportunities for philosophers. They work in publishing houses, media, art and you have also a chance to reach the management of companies. Engineers and lawyers of course have better chances to get good jobs but philosophers also have an acceptable prospect.

Coincidentally, my dad was in frankfurt a couple days ago, if you were an aerospace engineer odds are you would know him.

I suppose this doesn't pertain to philosophy though:rolleyes:

Jazzman brings up another good point. You can study philosophy, or anything else that interests you, and still work in some other field. I used to know a corporate executive with a degree in art.

Yeah, I really want to write, but have a career in the sciences. Yet I haven't published anything. I've written poetry that I feel is brilliant and have written a few short stories. I want to publish the poem in the ARC magazine but the way they take poetry would take me a year to get something published, I don't even want the forty bucks you get from it, just my name out there.

Also, I have considered writing articles over the summer, but I like writing about ideas and opinions, not a compilation of facts to express an event like the way a newspaper is mostly.

Is there a shortage in teachers overall across America, and if you know, Canada?:intentive:

You're still in high school, brother. Getting published in something other than the school paper would be big time. It certainly is possible, though; a very good friend of mine has been a published poet since, oh I don't know, 16 or 17. So don't be afraid to go for it. Honestly, who cares how long it takes them to publish the piece? Can't hurt to send something in. Only costs you the postage.



Teacher shortages tend to be regional. Right now northern Florida, I know, is having a hard time finding qualified teachers in their public school system.

The thing about teaching is that the demand for teachers is constant. Grows with the population. That's true in the States, Canada, and any other nation with a growing population and a favorable attitude towards education.

Our school paper is unfortunately a joke. Firstly, nobody reads it.:rolleyes:, and our school seems to lack spirit, and I don't think anybody besides the council knows we have one. Students at our school are :poke-eye:. Not that I should say anything, I'm very lazy when I comes to homework:saddened:.
My courses next year.

Physics (yeah, einstein included)
Chemistry:smartass:
Biology
World Issues (finally something real)
Peer Tutoring
English
Calculus
Advanced Functions:sleeping:

So I suppose I'm not geared for philosophy in university, oh well.

Who cares if the school paper is a joke? It's a chance to hone your skills.

And I wouldn't worry about high school curriculum when selecting a course of study in college, you will start out taking core classes that are essential high school refresher classes, chances to get used to college life. Study whatever interests you. I've been in college for two years and still haven't decided on a major.

Yeah but if nobody reads the paper then its not really worth it. And nobody is going to start just because I write an article.
Apart from that, I still prefer to go to university, get a masters.