Are you for real?

This article was published in Living Ethics: issue 84 winter 2011

Yes, I’m a philosophy student, and yes, that chair is real.

There is that point in every dinner party when, before the wine has had a chance to run dry, the conversation does. In this critical moment of dinner party small talk, the perennial ‘go-to’ question is asked first by whoever feels the pressure of the silence most keenly: “So what do you do?”, whereupon, the conversation for me usually follows:

Oh I’m a philosophy major.
Oh that sounds interesting ... Hey?! ...
... Yes?
... What’s reality? Am I real? Are you real? Do I really exist? Is that chair real? Oooooooo!

That scenario has played out countless times in my student life and I’m sure many philosophy majors and students experience the same thing. Upon then explaining what the subject is, some bright spark just asks pointless questions throwing in a reference to reality, time or ethics and thinks they are being philosophical with you. Not only are we supposedly latte sipping arts kids with a fetish for sandstone but we are also the most derided and unemployable of this kind (well, maybe just behind Old Norse poetry majors but even that’s a close call).

But I’d like to posit a defence for this and just say why philosophy is so important and useful in modern education and society.

First of all, there are many different branches of philosophy. Ethics - what is right and wrong, how should we live? Political philosophy - is democracy really a legitimate form of government or a tyranny of the majority? Aesthetics - what is good art? Or music? Logic - is there an underlying system to mathematics? Are arguments rational? Epistemology - what does it mean to say you know something? And yes, Metaphysics - what is reality? What is time?

Secondly, philosophy is so much more enjoyable because it is always about something. In order to philosophise about reality or art or ethics, you have to understand these things first.

That means that a typical philosophy student gets to learn about string theory and quantum mechanics, Monet and Warhol or legal concepts of just war or refugees. We’re like the town bike or STDs - we get around.

Thirdly, philosophy is NOT a fast track to the Centrelink line (although this would give you plenty of time to think). Rather, philosophy provides a strategic advantage in employability due to its completely transferable nature. It is not tied down to any subject area but can direct its skills to any industry or form of employment. In fact, according to London’s Guardian, “It is in the fields of finance, property development, health, social work and the nebulous category of ‘business’ that those versed in Plato and Kant are most sought after.”

In the business fields, philosophy graduates are valued because they “... have the ability to look for different approaches and take an open mind to issues. These skills are promoted by philosophical approaches” and “... provide management consulting firms with the sort of skills that they require and clients demand. These skills can include the ability to be very analytical, provide clear and innovative thinking, and question assumptions”. Yeah, take that accounting major!

Philosophy graduates also regularly score amongst the highest participants in the US LSAT and wider GAMSAT. In law, analytical thinking and discerning general principles and issues from complex cases is extremely valuable while, in the health services industry, they can be invaluable as clinical ethicists or on medical ethical committees and in making sense of complex medical conditions involving diagnosis, pattern recognition and induction (generalising from a small sample of experience or evidence).

Philosophy at uni isn’t just a bunch of people sitting around in a room somewhere in the quad asking questions aloud (except for that argumentative-atheist-Marxist who seems to be in all arts tutorials). Rather, it’s about fearlessly grappling with the answers to life’s big questions. It’s about rational argument. Innovative thinking. Breadth of knowledge across areas. It’s coming to uni to learn not how you do a job but to justify your job, your opinions and your actions. It’s about the real world in a very real way.