Are you a person who loves to critically think about anything and everything? Do you love to learn morality, existentialism, and almost anything that you can think of? If you answered yes to these questions then you might just be a philosophy major! Have you always wanted to know what the life of a philosophy major is like? Her Campus F&M had the opportunity to speak with a fellow philosophy major to get you an inside scoop on the world of philosophy.
Learn About Our Majors: The Life of a Philosophy Major
How would you describe the philosophy department?
Although there are not many philosophy majors at F&M, there are a variety of students who take at least 1-2 philosophy courses in the span of their college career. Philosophy courses are mostly lectured and discussion-based that could take up to 3 hours. Philosophy isn’t known for having a lot of readings, because it is focused on understanding and being able to think philosophically about the content and topic that you are given. For example, you could be assigned a short and dense reading for a day and spend the entire class time discussing that argument.
The professors in the philosophy department are a great mix of personalities. For example, you can take a philosophy course with one professor who is seen as a “great philosopher.” or you can have a professor who has more of a lecture-style teaching. Despite their differences, all of the professors in the philosophy department emphasize clarity and ensuring that their students understand the content.
Why should someone be a philosophy major?
The main thing to know about philosophy is that it is about understanding an argument and being able to tell a good argument from a bad one. Being able to challenge the right ideas and knowing that there may be flaws in your own argument gives you a sense of humbleness. I believe that this could be applied to anything that you work on. It will be transferable to everything and will contribute to enriching your experience.
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Image courtesy of The Odyssey