r/AcademicPhilosophy 12d ago

Careers in philosophy

I’m in my last year of highschool and have had plans to go to college immediately after graduation to study psychology. The human brain has been one of my interests since I was little, and though I think psychological information is tremendously valuable, I believe a career in philosophy would resonate more with who I am. I’ve always had a rather analytical view on life, I value the study of ethics and morals, and sometimes I thrive off of existential questions. Has anyone made a career change like this? If anybody who is studying philosophy could tell me their experience, if it’s what you thought it would be, job opportunities, and any changes you’d make if you could? If I choose to study philosophy, my first career choice would be a professor. I’ve always known from a young age I wanted to be an educator. Appreciative any help. Thanks.

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u/Angry_Grammarian 12d ago

The job market for philosophy professors is extremely competitive.

Which is a nice neutral way of saying: realistically, you will never get that job and would be crazy to attempt it.

Philosophy is a great second major. Your first major should be something marketable.

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u/deaconxblues 12d ago

Unless you feel extremely passionate about being a philosophy professor and also extremely confident in your ability to excel in the field, get into a top program, and be highly productive as a philosopher (e.g. get accepted into many conferences and get many publications), you should not choose philosophy as your only major. The field is highly competitive because there are too many PhDs and too few tenured or tenure-track teaching positions. The odds are simply not good, so it’s a bad bet for a stable career path.

Consider minoring in philosophy or possibly double majoring. But I strongly advise you to choose a primary major that is more marketable than philosophy.

I’m not sure about the status of professionals in the psychology field, but I imagine it is similar if not quite as bad. Humanities in general are very saturated with qualified people and academics tend to work late into their lives, which means positions don’t open up very often in most departments.

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u/Infamous_State_7127 12d ago

Philosophy is such a versatile degree because it teaches you critical thinking skills which are necessary in every single thing you do.

If you’re doing psych for practical reasons, you’ll still need to go to graduate school anyways. the job market for psychology ba’s isn’t really great right now either. That being said, academia is a shit show at the moment and securing a professorship will be extremely difficult (but you’re so young so really who knows what the future holds).

I did my BA in philosophy (had the best time) and am currently doing an MFA in curatorial studies, which is also so so much fun. I went into university with intentions of being a lawyer, and now i’m in arts school lol. All that to say, you don’t really know what the future holds, so if you have the freedom to choose right now, i’d say go for it. Also do consider that a lot of continental philosophy is the foundation of psychology— psychoanalysis etc., so you’d be getting a bit of both.

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u/hoppermeister06 11d ago

Yeah, I’d echo some of what you share here. Other comments focusing on the “marketability” of philosophy majors are a bit off. This is a common perception, but there’s a body of evidence suggesting philosophers are more employable due to the critical thinking skills you mention, and they make more money in the long-term than supposedly useful majors like business and communication. I wouldn’t worry about getting a job after undergrad, although you will need to be explicit about how philosophy will be useful in whatever industry you enter.

But it sounds like you will be entering grad school rather than pursuing a career after undergrad, if you want to be a professor. That’s what I wanted to do, and that’s what I did. I went to a terminal MA program, which is a great step for making yourself more competitive as a PhD applicant. You can get a solid writing sample, maybe even a publication and teaching experience, and a letter from someone about your ability to do graduate school work.

As others have mentioned, the philosophy job market is incredibly competitive. There’s a ton of data on this too, but when I was looking, only 1/3 of the graduates from MIT (best Phil program at the time) got tenure track jobs. Of the 13 or so folks from my cohort, 3 of them teach philosophy at universities, and only 2 are tenure track.

Just getting into a PhD program is hard enough. A few of us applied out to PhD programs (a dozen or so in my case) and got shut out. The options when that happens are 1) do something else or 2) take a 3rd year and pray there’s some funding left over so you don’t starve. I chose option 1), and later went on to get a PhD in a different field that still allowed me to write about philosophically interesting topics.

All of which is to say, studying philosophy is useful and worthwhile (truly one of the most valuable areas of study imo), but you need to have a plan and be realistic about what your options will be. If you want to be a professor, the odds are you won’t make it, but you can certainly try. You may need to defer things like buying a home and having kids (if you want those things), and you may need to adjunct and make very little money for a while.

Alternately, you can study philosophy and see where it leads. Maybe you double majored and pursue your other major as a career, but with a philosophical lens applied. If you get into an MA program that’s strong in philosophy of mind, you might be able to conduct research that would be relevant for other PhD programs, like neuroscience, that would open up careers that are less competitive than Phil professorship.

Shoot me a PM if you want to chat more.

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u/biologicalhippo 11d ago

Become my a philosophy academic is hugely competitive, but people do do it. My main advice there would be to just gun for the best schools you can.

Teaching at a community college or at a school may be a backup option.

If you have an interest in ethics, that is probably where you are most likely to find an actual job “in philosophy” (depends how you define this). Things like medical ethics, AI ethics, humanitarian concerns etc are all things where there are jobs in government, think tanks, industry, charities and academia.

I would strongly advise picking a second subject, possibly pertaining to a particular area of ethics you are interested in eg computer science for AI ethics. It will also make you more broadly employable if plan A fails.

There are also other jobs (such as some areas of the law), where the law and ethics/philosophy are closely linked. Those sorts of areas may also be interesting to explore.

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u/softkits 10d ago

I did a double major in psychology and philosophy with the intention of continuing in psych. I had a couple philosophy profs who really took an interest in me though and really pushed for me to continue on to grad school. So after graduation I got my masters in philosophy. It was an amazing experience and I honestly wish I could do it again. I wrote my thesis on ethics and then ended up discovering social work and felt it combined the aspects of psych that I enjoyed with the aspects of philosophy I loved as well.

So now I am doing my MSW and I am using way more skills I developed from philosophy than from psych. I'm loving the on your feet problem solving and working through ethical dilemmas, etc. There are also combined JD/MSW programs as well. Which I considered, but I really don't want to be in school for longer than I need to at this point. If I ever win the lottery and don't have to worry about money I will go do my Ph.D in philosophy.

I think philosophy on its own develops incredibly valuable and useful skills that are very transferable. And I agree, finding a career that somehow involves ethics and complex problem solving would be perfect for someone who has a passion for philosophy.

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u/quantum_complexities 11d ago

I was a double major in physics and philosophy. I went in as a physics major and picked up philosophy later. I enjoyed what I was doing academically, but had an understanding that it was unlikely to translate into a career directly. Right now, I'm working in a museum doing science and engineering programming.

There were a fair amount of what I'd call "non-traditional" graduate students in my department. These were people who were a little older and had entered the workforce when they finished undergrad. Many of them told you the same thing, they loved philosophy, knew it was hard to get a job, but felt so compelled to return. I asked around if I should go to graduate school, because much like you, I also had aspirations of academia. The gist of the advice I got was to "try the real world first."

I hate to say it because I hated to hear it, but you are young and it's possible your goals will change. I would love to teach, but academia meant moving for grad school, moving for a postdoc, then moving for a teaching position. I didn't want to spend my 20s and 30s with no real stability. I wanted to be in a position where I could have a long term partner and potentially kids. Being in academia means giving up any semblence of work-life balance, and that was not something I could handle.

None of this is to disuade you from studying philosophy. I think you should, and I think more people should in general. Philosophy is a great major where you learn skills that directly translate into career skills (reading, writing, criticial thinking, logic, communication, etc.) Generally speaking, I also find that it does not matter a ton what your undergraduate degree is in. Beyond nursing, simply having a 4 year degree is going to open many doors for you.

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u/LongSong333 11d ago

Here is some data on the % of phil Ph.D.s who get "permanent academic employment", as well as other interesting info, such as what fields those who don't get academic jobs wind up going into:

https://dailynous.com/2023/09/08/new-data-on-the-employment-of-philosophy-phds-guest-post/

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u/DodoBird4444 10d ago

Do NOT get a degree in philosophy! It is a worthless degree that traps people in academia, if you're willing to remain an adjunct professor with tons of debt for the rest of your life.

Find a way to apply your love of philosophy to another field. Find a degree with real-world applications and demand. No one needs philosophy.

Also, a philosophy degree could hurt you in the job market. People universally roll their eyes at philosophy degrees. I know this sounds mean but it is how the world treats the field.

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u/Beginning_Camp4367 10d ago

I teach high school to survive and to feel productive. I study philosophy for life.

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u/Irontruth 8d ago

The job market for high school science and ELA is much better. It can feel like a hard pivot, but you're still training people how to think. You'll need to major in the appropriate field, but you can employ a lot of philosophy in any field really.

Ina good state, teacher unions are really strong. A lot of colleges are really trying to save costs by not giving out tenure, and working as a professor can be more like a series of part time jobs.

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u/academia_master 12d ago

Congratulations and all the best in your career hunt