I asked Google: “What are the prospects for college graduates who have majored in philosophy?” Google sent me to an article that contained a quote by comedian Conan O’Brien. In his 2011 Dartmouth College commencement address he said this: “Parents… If your child majored in philosophy, you have good reason to be worried. The only place where they are now really qualified to get a job is in ancient Greece.” The article went on to say that there are some famous and important people who did major in philosophy and have very good jobs, but that is because they put their philosophy along with something else—like business, or medicine, or education. There is not a huge job market for just plain old philosophers. Think about it. Have you ever needed to call a philosopher? I have had to call plumbers, electricians, mechanics, carpenters, doctors, and even lawyers sometimes, but I have never needed to call a philosopher.
That being said, college degree or not, we are all philosophers. We all have a philosophy of life that we have thought about and developed, or, perhaps just picked up along the way, absorbing this and that from here and there. We have all been influenced by what we have seen and heard from parents, friends, church, school, books, movies, music, and television; and we have been putting it all together, perhaps without giving it much thought at all. But whether or not we have even been aware of it, we are all philosophers and have all developed a philosophy; that which we believe about life and death, the world, and our place in it.
If you took a class in philosophy, one of the first things you’d learn about is ‘epistemology;’ the study of ‘how we know what we know.’ This is important, of course, but philosophers go way overboard on this one. They start with things like how do we even know we are here? How do we even know we exist and this world is real, and we are not just imagining everything? Have you been wondering about that lately? Philosophers spend a lot of time on this one, and one of the best know philosophical statements of all time was uttered by Rene Descartes, who in 1637 said, “I think, therefore I am.” That settled it for him, but others have debated even that statement, holding out the possibility that we are not really here at all. This is why plumbers get more phone calls than philosophers. This is a bit oversimplified, but not totally off the mark.
I will tell you my epistemology. This is how I know the truth about all the important things in life (after agreeing with Descartes that I do exist). I know what I know because I believe God has revealed it to me in the Bible. Thus, by faith, I believe in this Revealed Truth. This leads to what some philosophers call the faith/reason dichotomy. A ‘dichotomy’ is “two mutually exclusive, contradictory, opposing groups,” according to the dictionary. There are those who believe in faith, and there are those who believe in using reason. Many people today have decided that those who still go by faith are the dumb ones, and those who go by reason are the smart ones. Religion is based on faith in a God we cannot see, whereas reason is based on the scientific method, which everyone knows is true and accurate and reliable. But I do not believe this is a true dichotomy. Faith and reason are not mutually exclusive– but more on that in a minute.
Now that you know all about epistemology, I move on to another philosophical issue, and that is our ‘worldview.’ As I said, we are all philosophers, and we all have a worldview, a way of seeing and understanding life, the world, and our place in that world. Every philosophical system has to answer four basic questions: #1) How did we get here?; #2) Why is everything such a mess?; #3) What can be done about it (if anything)?; and #4) Where are we going from here (if anywhere)?
First of all, how did we get here? As a person of faith, I believe what God has revealed about creation in the Bible. God himself created the heavens and the earth out of nothing, and it is all in His hands. And of course, that always leads to the next question, asked by at least one young person in every confirmation class, “Yeah, Pastor, but where did God come from?” And, after 40 years in the ministry, my response is still the same: “I don’t know. Next question?”
Because that is the standard Christian answer, many look to the scientific method and reason for a better answer. The answer we find there is that of course God did not create everything out of nothing; but then science will tell you, without even blushing, that “everything got here all by itself, out of nothing.” And the only honest answer to the question of how that happened is, “I don’t know.” That too must be believed in and accepted on faith. Therefore, no matter what system of belief we have, we have to begin with faith. Reason will get you only so far. In fact, it will not even get you started. We all start with unproven (and unprovable) assumptions that must be believed in by faith.
Tomorrow, I will tell you the rest of what you need to know about philosophy. (continued…)
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I Corinthians 1:20 — Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
I Corinthians 1:25 — For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
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With the dim job prospects for philosophy majors, a bit of advice for parents might be (to paraphrase the words of a country-western song) “Mommas, don’t let your babies grow up to be philosophers.” Just for the fun of it, you can listen to “Mommas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” by clicking on below. Then, on a more serious (?) note, you can listen to the second song, “Mommas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Pastors” (again, click on below). NOTE: For video links to appear, don’t forget to click on to the “Read on Blog” link in the upper right hand corner of this email. ANOTHER NOTE: Actually, the job prospects for pastors are much better than for philosophers; and, even after all these years, I’ll still tell you it is a great calling– so don’t worry about it mommas, you can let your babies grow up to be pastors (although many pastors spouses may be able to relate to the song video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufjv0SRZ-IY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyNyHLCppMA
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