Is there any college major that catches more slack than philosophy? It seems to me that every time someone reaches for a joke regarding college majors that the punchline is always about being a philosophy major. Sure, English majors get some heat because, well, you like already speak English dude. But still, it seems like above all the rest, philosophy majors get made fun of the most.
Now I wasn’t a philosophy major, oh god no, so this isn’t a pent up rant coming from a sensitive subject (no pun intended) in my life. It’s just that I took a Philosophy 101 course as a freshman and let me tell you, it fucked my shit up for a bit.
Philosophy 101 is some hardcore shit. For real. They teach you about some pretty deep and intricate theories that, frankly, I don’t think 18 year olds are mature enough to process. I mean there is just so much that a student needs to take in during their Freshman year that it seems almost unfair to also make them question their reality. Buddy, I’m having a hard enough time finding the building where this class takes place. Now you want me thinking about if the building is even real and how I can know for sure. Give me a break.
But it was the concept of free will that did it for me. That’s the one that left the scars. Did the real damage. My friends probably couldn’t tell but I didn’t hear a word they said for a few weeks after learning that some philosophers believe that we don’t have free will and that all of our choices are predetermined by past choices we’ve made. Our destiny and every decision we make is already locked in. Whoa.
I’d like to take a moment to apologize to those of you that never attended a Philosophy 101 class. I understand that since you have not been predisposed to this concept before that now the rest of your week is ruined.
Now I don’t want any of you to get the wrong idea. I didn’t go crazy. I just spent a week or two thinking about every decision I was making and trying to understand why I was making that decision. Ya know, normal Freshman behavior. I remember doing little things a bit differently than I normally would do them in order to try to regain some of my free will back. But then again, technically even the decision to make different decisions had been predetermined. Double whoa.
So all I’m saying, in defense of philosophy majors, is maybe we should cut them a little more slack. It’s hard to take a Philosophy 101 class and not be sucked down that rabbit hole. It’s even harder to go down the rabbit hole and not lose your marbles.
Philosophy majors are just like any other people in this world matrix.
