As I proceed through my senior year, I can say that philosophy majors get a bad rap. We often get typecast as stoners, nihilists, and people who chose it because we couldn’t pick a major. In this article, I’ll try to debunk some myths I’ve heard as an undergrad.
- Philosophy isn’t just about Plato and Aristotle.
Although they are our “founding fathers,” so to speak, ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato are not all that philosophy is about. To me, they just scratch the surface of what philosophy is. I like to think their works influenced other philosophers and set off chain reactions of inspiration. Not to mention, philosophy as a discipline spans continents and centuries in terms of its influence, so it would be a crime to only study the ancients.
- Philosophy is not an easy A major.
You may have heard that philosophy has “no wrong answers” — that you could walk in, make an okay argument, and get an A. This belief could not be further from the truth. Although philosophy can allow for more room in terms of reasoning, you have to be able to back up what you’re saying. And that’s in addition to figuring out whether your argument is valid, sound, and logically consistent.
Not to mention, despite the bulk of my work involving reading philosophical texts, it takes even more effort and time to truly understand them and the arguments they’re trying to make. Reading for understanding may sound simple, but it never goes as planned. Sometimes, I’ll set aside hours to read through a paper and only get halfway through before having a good cry and going to sleep.
But I have to say, the most heinous part of being a philosophy major is the papers. Although I (obviously) love writing, trying to articulate your points and arguments is often the hardest part. Writing myself into a hole, making the same points repeatedly, and being overly wordy have humbled me beyond belief.
- “What is the meaning of life?”
Despite metaphysics being my favorite branch, philosophy goes beyond the lofty questions that seemingly have no answer. In fact, other branches of philosophy, like ethics and epistemology, tackle topics that impact our daily lives. Topics within ethics have to do with how we should treat each other and conduct ourselves, and epistemology questions our justifications for believing what we believe and what qualifies as knowledge. These are really important and applicable topics, and they often get overshadowed by the stereotypical philosophical questions we see in pop culture.
- Thought experiments are not pointless.
Similar to my last point, much of philosophy aims to find answers to hard questions. To do this, we will conduct thought experiments to get to the root of the issue at hand. For example, a popular thought experiment is that of the Ship of Theseus. In this experiment, parts of Theseus’ ship are replaced over time. After a while, each plank and sail is brand new, but it’s still referred to as Theseus’ ship. This thought experiment asks, if all of a ship’s parts are replaced over time, is it still the same ship? Some say yes, and others disagree.
Despite the arguments that can ensue at the dinner table over this, the underlying concept is way more interesting. It’s meant to get you thinking about concepts of identity and change. We typically use this experiment and similar ones to draw attention to matters of identity and change, particularly in people. I’ve heard it most commonly in the context of people’s identities and what makes us the same person over time. They can sometimes be tedious, but I think that’s what makes thought experiments more fun.
- Existential crises are real.
I used to claim I was having existential crises all the time in high school, but I quickly realized that I’d seen nothing yet upon attending my Intro to Philosophy class during my first semester. Some may think existential crises aren’t that serious, let alone real, but I’ve had my fair share and owe 95% of them to my philosophy education. In my experience, I’ve become so used to having my beliefs challenged and my mind broken that I accept fate. Am I just a brain in a vat? I couldn’t tell you. Are my actions my own? No clue. Do I have a soul? Maybe. Most things don’t phase me anymore, so if I say I’m having an existential crisis, it means all of the information rushed back to me at once, and I’m just grappling with the aftermath.
Despite the misconceptions about philosophy as a major, I hope this article was able to shed light on the actual experience and pique your interest in the discipline.