Is a Degree in Philosophy what I think it is?

answers1: 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" <br>
I don't think anything better has been said to summarize the endeavor.
answers2: 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. <br>
It makes his work almost mute. Philosophy has changed in many ways in
a few short months since November.
answers3: 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 interests. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
I think it would be a good choice since even though would have to take
all of those classes, you can write your senior thesis on the topics
you're most interested in and do very well. <br>
<br>
What school were you planning on going to, just out of curiousity?
Hope I helped, or at least made sense in my ramblings!
answers4: 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. <br>
<br>
That's inevitable. Now, is it going to look like a major break down of
something like 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... <br>
<br>
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.