ORIGINALLY RECORDED: March 4, 2023
ORIGINALLY BROADCAST: March 12, 2023
For a transcript of this episode, click here.
Philosophy is a discipline, but it’s also a major. Most people who do it are on college campuses. We’ve spent the last fifteen years talking to the professors, now it’s time for the students. What’s it like studying philosophy in a culture obsessed with job readiness? Are professors’ expectations difficult to meet? How much of what you learn feels academic and how much is intimate, requiring self-examination and behavioral change?
In this special episode of Why? Radio, host Jack Russell Weinstein interviews four of his current students to learn what studying philosophy is like in their own words. They discuss their struggles with learning during Covid, the difficulties of attending university as am indigenous student, and, in some very moving discussion, the experience of being in Jack’s class.
Each of the four students attend the University of North Dakota, and have been in multiple classes with Jack. Madilyn Lee is a freshman from East Grand Forks, Minnesota. She is one of the few incoming students who declared a philosophy major from day one. Sara Rasch is a senior who will be graduating in the Fall. She’s a philosophy major and my current Why? Radio/Institute for Philosophy in Public Life Intern. She’s from Hibbing, MN. Terese Azure is a senior graduating in about six weeks. She’s an English Major and is planning on going to Law School. She’s from the Turtle Mountain Reservation located in Belcourt, ND. Sam Amendolar graduated with a philosophy degree in 2016 and spent a year being the IPPL/Why? Radio’s intern. He is completing a Masters’ degree in English at UND and was just accepted into the school’s English Doctoral program.
You can listen to a bonus episode of Philosophical Currents in which Jack talks about this episode, these students, more about his teaching style, and how he teaches philosophers he disagrees with. Click here TO Listen.
Links from the show:
You can find the vide Always Talk about the Elephant” at Why? Radio’s YouTube Channel, here.
The website that contains all the data about employment for philosophy majors is: www.philosophyisagreatmajor.com.
The book Sam mentions is titled Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do. Click on the name or here to purchase it via Amazon.com
Some pictures from the episode:
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