Brief Review:
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Low priced, accessible book which gives a good, realistic overview of academic philosophy (its virtues and its faults), as well as what philosophy can do for you in your personal life and your productive life. See my whole review if interested, there are useful details below for prospective students.
Longer Review:
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The book helps to dispel a few common myths via the testimony of the collection of philosophers who compose the piece, such as the idea of philosophers being inane, cloistered, ivory tower dwellers. They repeatedly note the success of philosophy students in a vast array of fields, noting that philosophy majors have many different career paths within their reach – often more than any other discipline due to the ever-useful skills philosophy cultivates. What is more is that philosophy students often score the best on standardized tests, such as the GRE and LSAT tests, sometimes even in the quantitative portions of said tests.
It presents a comprehensive overview of what philosophy is, does, and entails, as well as why an individual should consider delving into philosophy. Many of the various authors elaborate on what participating in a philosophy program is like, what students often do or find themselves interested in, as well as the interdisciplinary opportunities that philosophy affords itself. This book also deals with some of the drawbacks of philosophy for individuals who might not be properly geared for it; several authors note that it takes a vigorous pursuit of fundamental truth and knowledge, from the smallest to the largest questions, to truly impassion someone towards philosophy.
The real value and drawbacks of this book lies in the spirit of the testimonies that come from each individual philosopher who has contributed. Two chapters I would like to call special attention to are chapter 13 and chapter 1. Chapter 13, written by Dr. Webb does an excellent job capturing the philosophical idea of “puzzlement” and the wonder and awe that motivates and characterizes philosophical pursuits. The chapter is especially poignant as it describes the transformation of Dr. Webb as a young student, at first interested in physics and linguistics, discovering not just philosophical texts, but that the questions he thought physics and linguistics might be able to answer were really within the domain of philosophy. I think that experience should be motivating for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation or has in the past. Chapter 1 is easily the best of the book, and coincidentally it is also the longest chapter. I am glad this chapter was placed first, because if this was the only bit of this text a prospective student bothers to read, it would be enough to motivate them to seriously consider philosophy as a major or life focus. Should you read the book, it will be immediately clear that Dr. Koegler’s brief exposition on philosophy is a cut above the rest in both thoughtfulness and felicity. As someone who is deeply and intensely interested in philosophy, this chapter especially resonated with me – and I think it will resonate with any thoughtful person, the only folks who ought to consider philosophy to begin with.
The book contains testimonies which properly exalt and extol the virtues of philosophy, as well as others which seem to somehow completely miss the point and do injustice to the discipline and to prospective students. An example of this might be the difference to be seen in Chapter 9 and Chapter 15 respectively; Dr. Textor (Ch. 9) attempts to present a philosophy program at King’s College London, but it reads like something taken from the institution’s official website; meanwhile, Dr. DeCew (Ch. 15) shows what such a presentation ought to look like, giving a lengthy and engaging tour of a potential philosophy program, while at the same time being attentive to what prospective students might be concerned with. Likewise, we find the same thing to be the case with aspects I consider to be of greater importance, such as that concerning why philosophy is valuable and useful, as well as what it is. Several chapters were lackluster on this front, such as chapters 3, 6, 11, 14, 17, and 18. I found them to be rather uncompelling, as they didn’t provoke the love of philosophy that I know stirs within me, and that I hope stirs within others. However, conversely, there were good chapters as well, among them chapters 1, 4, 7, 10, and 19, these did a good job speaking to the virtues of philosophy in a way that should be relatable to prospective students and that should invoke feelings of enthused interest.
Given the accessible price of this book, and the fact that it captures a realistic picture of what you can expect in academic philosophy, its faults and virtues included, it would be a good idea to consider giving it a look if you’ve seriously considered philosophy as a viable major, or are a thoughtful individual in general.
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![Philosophy for the Curious High School & College Students: Why Study Philosophy? (The Undecided Student's Guide to Choosing the Perfect University Major & Career Path) by [Amy Oliver PhD - American University, Simon Blackburn PhD - University of Cambridge, M Webb PhD; H Kögler PhD; M Pigliucci PhD; M Naas PhD;, T Senor PhD; J Wagner DeCew PhD, B Janz PhD; C Moreman PhD; N Reshotko PhD, P Amato PhD; L Bortolotti Ph, J Barker PhD; M Textor PhD; N Griffin PhD, M Mercer PhD; K Peacock PhD; E Badici PhD, D Olkowski PhD; H S Hestevold PhD; J Kegley PhD, Kishor Vaidya PhD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51TmxzqjoeL._SY346_.jpg)
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Philosophy is only for the curious; if you've considered philosophy (or even if you haven't), give this a read.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 5, 2015Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 12, 2015
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 24, 2017
Answers are in the book but I can say with 100% conviction that you will not be disappointed by buying this book
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 15, 2016
