Benefits of Studying Philosophy
A growing pool of research suggests that pre-college philosophy has a range of cognitive, social, and emotional benefits for young learners. Studies have shown, for example, that adding regular philosophy lessons to the curriculum may improve students' literacy, numeracy, and communication skills, as well as boost their confidence and self-esteem.
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Many articles reporting such research are on display over at the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children . They've even included helpful summaries of the results for those who cannot access the full articles.
Other Benefits
Studying philosophy with others has many valuable benefits:
Make Friends
Meet people interested in learning about and discussing interesting ideas.
Communication Skills
Philosophy teaches us to communicate our ideas clearly and confidently
Intellectual Challenge
Philosophy is all about solving difficult conceptual puzzles
Constructive Feedback
There is no better way to learn to give and receive constructive feedback
Critical Thinking
Learn logic and widely applicable critical thinking skills
See the World Differently
Philosophy reveals the underlying complexity of the world
Career and Academic Benefits
You can find many graphs and charts showing how studying philosophy can positively effect one's academic career over at the Daily Nous. Here are some of the more impressive results...
Graduate School Admissions Tests
The GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) is a test used by many graduate schools to to assess applicants. The test has three sections: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and analytical writing. Scores for each section are combined to calculate an overall score.
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Philosophy students absolutely crush this test...
Here are how the composite scores shake out:
You've heard of the infamous LSAT exam used to test applicants to law schools. Philosophy majors eat this big scary test for breakfast:
Philosophy majors seem to know a thing or two about business as well. At least that's what their results on the GMAT (used to assess applicants to business and management schools) seems to suggest:
And their mid-career salaries aren't bad either, at least compared to other non-STEM majors:
