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Jim asked:

There is no question that philosophy is relevant to our personal and civic lives, but the reality is this:
The majority of people are cogs in the economic machines of the nations in which they live. Most
people spend most of their time "making a living". So, if you are interested in promoting the study of
philosophy — not only inside of, but also outside of academia — the following question must surely
be of interest to you:

What specific jobs justify the time and money invested in an undergraduate degree in philosophy, or a
Masters or Doctorate in philosophy?

By "justify" I mean, ideally, that the tools of a philosopher — in logic and language, in the history of
philosophy and religion, in epistemology and ontology — would be indispensable tools in the work a
person does. A minimal justification for studying philosophy would be, in my opinion, that training in
the use of language and logic would be an indispensable tool in the work a person does.

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The point of gaining a degree in philosophy is that it trains you to think rather than supplying you with
a body of knowledge (even if you don't regard me as a person who thinks well, at least I know it is a
relevant question). After studying philosophy for five years I took two postgraduate diplomas in law
which involved cramming a lot of information. This required memorising rather than understanding. It
just wasn't difficult like philosophy is and I was quite surprised.

Actually, I think the law is one career which should make the study of philosophy compulsory. The law
requires an ability to apply logic, make conceptual deductions and produce persuasive arguments —
this is what we are supposed to learn by studying philosophy — but law school doesn't teach it.
Philosophical skills are relevant to law because when new case law is created it must be held to be
truly inferred from prior case law; when statutes are interpreted analytical skills are needed; barristers
need to be skilled in argument and persuasion.

I don't think we need to justify the study of philosophy. Rather we need to justify the fact that we have
scientists and lawyers and other professionals who haven't studied philosophy. In a recent answer I
relayed Feyerabend's views on experts and I think he would agree with this. Studying philosophy
doesn't simply produce better thinkers, it puts people in a position to assess objectively what they are
doing.

Rachel Browne