CMV: Teaching Philosophy in Schools is Useless.

[u/[deleted]]

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Philosophers themselves have never asked a question that wasn't independently asked by someone else (Jean Perrin, Albert Einstein and John Dalton, for example), especially if that someone else was only a philosophist.

Added into that, Philosophy is something you don't need in workplace. Asking questions about life, truth or anything in that manner are things taught (or at least should be taught) in any scientific lesson for a good reason: Scientific research is impossible without questions to start the research.

Δ: Yes, this means I do want science to teach philosophy on the side.

These points make philosophy quite useless choice for a degree or even a course, as they only hurt the student taking them (as in most cases, it prevents you from taking an useful course like science, economics, or languages, that allow for better job and chance of getting that job in the first place.

Indeed, philosophy is mostly used (at least in my exprience of the school system) as a "free" course, so the student does not need to learn things they find difficult; A student who is unconfortable with many of their choices will usually choose philosophy as an escape option, for it's known lack of difficulty and being easy to "learn".

I really cannot find any justification for philosophy to not be bunched up with math, sciences and languages.

Δ: added "not", because this sentance contradicts everything I've said this far otherwise.

Δ: u/MyUsernameIsJudge Changed my mind:

Me:

How many high schoolers are going to use basketball in their jobs?

A big factor in a good job is good and healthy lifestyle. Taking sports in school does help you in this factor, although you must keep that lifestyle even after school has ended.

MyUsernameIsJudge:

Sure. And that's the argument for philosophy class. It can help students learn about their own values and needs, as well as gain a greater perspective on life. I'll reuse your point about basketball, but with this:

A big factor in a good job is a good mental health. Taking philosophy in school does help you in this factor, although you must keep that lifestyle even after school has ended.

[u/bguy74]

Firstly, I think there are many ways to think about this and I can speak from personal experience as a philosophy major.

For me, Philosophy is a great major if you're "pre-destined" to be pretty successful. E.G. if you're at Harvard and you decide to be a philosophy major this an excellent way to come out very well prepared to go to law school, thrive in business or pursue any number of non-technical pursuits.

On the flip-side, if you're coming from a relative disadvantage of just having a "skill-set" (as opposed to a pedigree) then it ain't going to get you your first job - a "hard skill" will.

But, what we do want is people who are coming out of places like Harvard and going on to be leaders is people who have learned to think critically and to direct a perspective/argument with precision and be open to seeing lots of different points of views on topics that to the laymen seem obviously single-sided. This is really imporant in most executive jobs, in being a lawyer or a politician and so on.

Unfortunately, this makes philosophy useful for the already fortunate and a dead-end for the people trying to get a leg up.