this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

ironically philosophy majors perform better on graduate school entrance exams like the LSAT than most other majors, and philosophy graduates tend to be more successful and be better earners than business major graduates

arugably, philosophy is one of the better majors in terms of outcomes

https://philosophy.unc.edu/undergraduate/the-major/why-major-in-philosophy/

[–] mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

This is PURE speculation, but I feel like this could be caused by the only people who feel comfortable getting a philosophy degree being wealthy connected people. I know a lot of people from my high school that have stereotypical "be poor forever" degrees and are doing great - but if you knew them in high school, you'd know that they had millionaire parents. All the poor kids went for safer degrees because they knew they'd need money.

[–] Pulptastic@midwest.social 0 points 1 day ago

Yeah I agree, there is probably a bias effect here. That may or may not explain all of the difference. The one you've proposed makes sense.

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

I didn't want to say it, but I do think this is a possibility - people like Pete Buttigieg were philosophy majors. However, it's probably a bit of both - being wealthy and connected probably still makes up a minority of philosophy majors, and yet they still outperform on graduate entrance exams generally.

You might be interested in reading The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart for a non-wealthy philosophy major's perspective on business. :-)

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago

That could also create a networking situation for even poor ones.

[–] tux7350@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Don't ya think this might be a bit bias? They have a vested interest to sell you a philosophy degree.

[–] eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I used my philosophy of science classwork all the time in my engineering career.

What constitutes proof? What kinds of questions can you answer with data? When do we consider a pattern of behavior to represent the existence of some entity?

Being able to think about these kinds of questions with clarity is really helpful in diagnosing problems in large systems.

[–] Pulptastic@midwest.social 0 points 1 day ago

What constitutes proof?

Statistical significance.

I’ve worked with a few philosophy majors in various roles and they were more thoughtful about things. Like they learned how to think, not just what to think.

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

yes, though the facts and studies they link to remain true regardless - this is the strongest argument for getting a philosophy degree, it makes sense they present it