Is a Degree in Philosophy what I think it is?

Jerald Florence: You'll find yourself doing more of what your not as good at or as interested in only because your professor will want you to improve in your weaknesses to bring the type to it's complexities. How else could you be so sure you won't like it unless you explore it fully at the level your getting into. This is what we all must attempt to bring out. Start on the path and if you come to an obstacle either go around or through it until your able to be sure. Our curriculum on Plato has changed since the recent discovery.It makes his work almost mute. Philosophy has changed in many ways in a few short months since November....Show more

Jed Porada: The thing is that you need to master the theories - you must be capable of reasoning on the terms of any given philosopher you studied... it's a necessity first to understand them wholly and, secondly, to be able to criticize them.That's inevitable. Now, is it going to look like a major break down of something li! ke the Platonic argumentation on the nature of justice, exposing intensively complex ideas and inferring their root as well as their necessary implications... there's quite a margin between the two if you noticed; the second one can't be done for every philosopher - if you even do it just for Plato and all of his arguments, you have a a solid thousand hours of work there and we're not yet speaking of his theory of the Forms, nor of Aristotelian metaphysics or of the Kantian conception of reasoning or his epistemology theories...It'll first depend on the school, the degree and what kind of course you'll follow... you can learn in philosophy of antiquity and focus on that for your whole academical formation; you could also look precisely at a subject like ethics or epistemology or ontology, etc. There are thesis of doctorate which sees at answering the question "is there a supreme being?" - we'd be speaking of major head breaking theories with considerable complexity level...! you could also make one on things like the "platonic justice,! " perhaps one criticizing Kant's critics - really, thesis for master degrees and doctorates can be unique sometimes....Show more

Joeann Hoyt: I'm a philosophy major at Temple University and I can easily say that it is a mixture of both. There are logic & reasoning classes and philosophy classes about Kant, Descartes, Socrates, etc. and their ideas (and that includes existentialism, utilitarianism, free will, etc.) All the classes I have to take are modern philosophy, ancient philosophy, intro to ethics, political philosophy, contemporary ethical theory, classics in moral philosophy and all that good stuff so we cover all of what you are interested in. If you just want to focus on different types of philosophies and figures in philosophies then i recommend taking intro to philosophy and ancient and modern philosophy classes at your school. That can help you make up your mind if you want to pursue a degree in philosophy or just take those classes to satisfy your interes! ts.I would say out of personal experience from my school that it focuses slightly more on different philosophies, and of course it depends on the school, but I think if you just want to learn about philosophies instead of logic and reasoning, than that would be very hard since majors and their classes cover all of that material, so there would be a lot of classes that you wouldn't be that interested in. Usually there is a major in philosophy, minor, and a major with pre-law emphasis (which wouldn't be for you). I don't think philosophy is treated like a science because all of my classes don't really treat it like a science, and if they did, I never noticed or it wasn't that big of a deal, but I'm sorry to say that there is a lot of time spent breaking down philosophical theories, but it might not be as bad as you think if you are really into the subject.I think it would be a good choice since even though would have to take all of those classes, you can write your senior the! sis on the topics you're most interested in and do very well.What schoo! l were you planning on going to, just out of curiousity? Hope I helped, or at least made sense in my ramblings!...Show more

Eliseo Luma: Steve Martin (famous comedian / actor) said in one of his routines: "I took philosophy in college. I learned just enough to F**k me up for the rest of my life"I don't think anything better has been said to summarize the endeavor.