Once upon a time, I was a young high school junior, finishing my primary education with two years of community college as a part of Washington State’s Running Start Program. I opened the thin pages of the course catalog (yes, paper catalogs still exist ladies and gents), flipping through the tightly packed pages, my mind was racing. The options in that small book greatly outnumbered the single-page of classes I could have chosen from at my high school.
After I choosing requirements like English 101 and Pre-Calculus, I set my eyes a-searchin’ for an elective. Lo and behold…the philosophy section.
I never knew that I had a passion for philosophy. In fact, I don’t think I fully understood what philosophy was or the way it required you to look at the world. Taking that course changed the way that I think.
So, here are six reasons why you should enroll in a philosophy course before you move out of the university realm:
- You get to think about the world, and think about it hard.
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If you have ever had that nagging question, “what if the world is just a simulation?”, then you need to be in a philosophy class…right now! Philosophy not only entertains these kind of “crazy” ideas but lets you think about them, write about them, and develop them even further. If your imagination runs rampant with “crazy” ideas about what the world is like, what it could be like, or even “what if” it was like, then philosophy will set your mind free. And on top of that, you get to meet professors and peers who have even crazier ideas.
- You get to roast people…like all the time
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Okay, if we are being honest, this is my favorite part of philosophy. When you finally write your crazy ideas out, you get to draw on the crazy ideas of famous people. You also get to call those famous people into question and critique what they wrote. You can roast them. You can show how wrong they are. You can roast your classmates (although maybe not if you want to make friends). You can roast your professor (but be careful if you maybe don’t want to fail).
Let’s not forget that a lot of philosophical writing was done by old, white men who were alive during very different times. This means a whole lot of material for roasting misogynistic a**holes. Trust.
But, don’t forget, people can roast you too. Be prepared to get dished what you serve.
- There are a million and one types of philosphy!
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Once you get the hang of the basics of philosophy there are so many paths to go down on your journey to think more deeply about the world. I have always said that philosophy is the project of defining undefinable words. Well, guess what? there are a whole lot of words and even more ways to define them! Are you interested in knowledge? Love? Happiness? Ethics? Feminism? The list goes on.
- Philosophy memes!
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Yes, pretty much every subject has memes, but isn’t it just gratifying to understand these “scholarly” jokes. I mean sometimes people will make fun of you for being a philosophy nerd but at least you’re not in the Allegory of the Cave like they are so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
- The philosophy department is subtly inspirational.
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Walking down the halls of Savery, home to the philosophy department, you can spot chalkboards with philosophic quotes. Some of them might just give you the inspiration to make it through another week of stu(dying).
- Philosophic thinking and writing will lay the basis for everything else you do.
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The professor I had in my first philosophy class was adament that the way that we think and write in philosophy makes it easier to think and write in every other subject.
Three years have passed and I could not agree more. Being able to clearly express my ideas, show my arguments, and counter other people’s, has made me a better communicator and a more qualified candidate for many job positions.
While philosophy is mostly something I do for enjoyment, I can’t help but see how it has impacted the way that I interact with the world and the way that you could to.
So next time you are searching for something to fill your elective credits with, wander over to the philosophy department and choose something you’ve never done before. It will be worth it.