Why do people hate on philosophy majors so bad?

[Anonymous]

I feel as though some of the most smartest people in college are philosophy majors. Do people hate on this subject simply because they find it too challenging? People constantly say you can’t do anything with a philosophy degree and I find this to be pure stupidity. Some of these people are excellent and could be paid very well with such sharp minds. I would say philosophy people are smarter than people who do math degrees. I’m so confused why people are so against this subject; I have a feeling it’s because feel truly have the talent to understand it?

Updates

+1 y

I also feel the content of philosophy tends to make people uncomfortable.

[Kurαȷ]

The only jobs that a degree in philosophy realistically opens up for you are teaching jobs in the philosophy field.

The fact that the people who study philosophy are intelligent is irrelevant, the purpose of higher education is to prepare you for the job market.
If you don't end up doing anything with the college degree that you spent money and years of your time on, then it ends up being worthless, and it probably wasn't a very intelligent choice to go and get it in the first place.

As for those who study at college for personal satisfaction, they are weird and I personally don't understand them, but it is their prerogative.

[5yrup]

i think it's weird how people like you have strong opinions and judgements of people based on their work capability.

[Kurαȷ]

@5yrup Your career is pretty much the most important thing in your life.
I can't not be critical about people who make dumb choices about it.

[genericname85]

a philisophy major is pretty hard. you need to be extraordinarily intelligent to pass whereas in engineering and other stem fields you just need to be good at memorizing.

however it is extremely hard to find a job with this major. sure those that do find one seem to do well financially but well there's not a big labour market for philosophers.

[Asker]

Lol but you just said the same thing I’m arguing against. My point is these people could excel in many things.

[Asker]

I also feel that many people are uncomfortable examine the inquiries philosophy raises.

[genericname85]

at what exactly? where do people pay money for the work of a philosopher?

i mean i get your point. if you have a masters degree, that means your intelligence is above average and obviously that enables you to excell at more things than others but comparatively to an engineer, what "use" does a philosopher have that people pay for?

i mean i kind of have a similar issue, cause i'm a social sicentist xD it's pretty close to philosophy but with more practical aspects.

[5yrup]

i know a philosophy major and i was in awe of him for years, still am. he's so intelligent and wise, multi-talented and i can see him as a teacher, lawyer, all kinds of impactful jobs. he currently works in a library and is applying to law school next year. so i have no idea why people entertain this stigma either

[JenSCDC]

Because many people see college as a four-year trade school.

[Deathraider]

How are philosophy major smarter than math majors?

Secondly, philosophy as a hobby and interest is great, but it has limited places and applications. A lot of the stuff about knowing about the nature of the universe has really became about the natural sciences. I’d say the biggest thing that you would want in philosophy is ethics, but what are you going to do with that? Take law as well and go into government?

[zagor]

Because they often are pretentious bores who ramble on for hours about their favorite subject. And to get paid well you have to be able to do something that is of value to someone. Pontificating about our reason for being tends to not fit that description.

[Logorithim]

Well, the ones I ran into at my university were planning to bevome lawyers or political aides.

I strongly disagree with you that they're smarter than math majors although I think a lot of could have been successful as math majors.

[ibodi]

Because philosophy student see world throught philosophy books instead of real world. I often talked about it on a forum
Said look stars, they get mad. Seem that stars are not in the world
Now science find that dark background is important

[0112358]

The only people I knew who were doing philosophy degrees did combined math-philosophy degrees. They were smart.

Everyone I knew in pure math was extremely smart. They pretty much all were into philosophy as well to some extent.

[hellionthesagereborn]

Because its not useful from a career standpoint. I like philosophy and even wanted to major in it but the fact is its not applicable in the job market. Yes if you are good at it and train your mind to analyze and think abstractly it can be incredibly useful but the usefulness is not obvious to people and business don't want something that might be useful, they want to know exactly what they are getting and as such they do not tend to hire people with philosophy degrees.

[Asker]

Philosophy majors tend to become lawyers

[hellionthesagereborn]

Not really. But where do you get this information from? Whats the percentage of philosophy majors that DON'T get a law degree? Lawyers may have a philosophy degree, that doesn't mean every one with a philosophy degree (or the majority, or even half), becomes a lawyer. So that's not a valid argument to make. Further more they are not using the degree alone, they get that degree then move on to yet another field and get a degree and licensing in that. Kind of like saying that studying mathematics is the same as being a astrophysicist, yeah it requires math but its far more then that to the point of being a completely different field.

[FrenchyRomain]

what can you do after you get a philosophy degree? it's not about it being challenging it's about "what can you do as a philosopher? what are the job opportunities"

[Asker]

Lawyers seem to be the choice or professors. My point is they are so well rounded and sharp they can pursue many careers.

[FrenchyRomain]

no you don't become a lawyer after getting a Philosophical degree, you become a Lawyer after going to Law school and having a Law degree

[Asker]

No shit. I’m saying they go to law school as well.

[FrenchyRomain]

in france we have philosophy classes (mandatory) so i'd say it's because most of what we learn in philosophy is abstract, not anything concrete. They allow you to think for yourself, discover new perspectives and other points of views instead of having a tunnel vision in life

[AlexanderBrunnrgaard]

It's not so much philosophy being bad as it is philosophy majors often overplaying its academic importance in relation to career.

[Dark93]

It's not a useful career.
Someone once told me "the only job for philosophy majors is to be a philosophy teacher"

[jeffjeffjeffjeffjeff]

>Philosophy people.