WEBVTT 00:00:04.549 --> 00:00:30.440 Thank you. Okay, so there's something that has 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:33.560 been a kind of a trend in academics over the 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:36.840 last like decade or so, probably longer actually, 00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:40.460 where academics have to constantly defend the 00:00:40.460 --> 00:00:43.200 value of the work that they do. And I mean... 00:00:43.630 --> 00:00:47.289 defended in the sense of the pragmatics for students 00:00:47.289 --> 00:00:49.909 on whether or not they'll be able to find a job 00:00:49.909 --> 00:00:52.429 with the major that they have, whether or not 00:00:52.429 --> 00:00:54.070 they're getting the training they need in order 00:00:54.070 --> 00:00:56.270 to find a job, to make a living, to advance in 00:00:56.270 --> 00:01:00.219 the workplace, yada, yada, yada, right? And it's 00:01:00.219 --> 00:01:02.520 honestly frustrating. I don't know many academics 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:05.260 who enjoy doing this. It seems more like a necessary 00:01:05.260 --> 00:01:08.079 part of the job to ensure the survival of the 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:11.040 department by getting enough students to, you 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:14.099 know, major in that particular academic field 00:01:14.099 --> 00:01:18.040 or to, you know, secure funding from donors or 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:20.299 from administrators of universities to convince 00:01:20.299 --> 00:01:25.439 them to throw money to that department. And, 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:27.900 you know, I had to play along with a lot of this. 00:01:27.939 --> 00:01:31.200 You know, anytime there's like a major fair, 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:33.180 you know, where students are going around and 00:01:33.180 --> 00:01:34.739 asking different departments about the different 00:01:34.739 --> 00:01:37.760 majors, I had a whole spiel that I would have 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:39.939 ready for students, right? It would go something 00:01:39.939 --> 00:01:42.379 along these lines, right? Philosophy teaches 00:01:42.379 --> 00:01:44.900 you the basic reading, writing, and critical 00:01:44.900 --> 00:01:47.439 thinking skills that you need to be successful 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:50.560 at any job. And it trains you really well, probably 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:54.299 better than any other field. The evidence is 00:01:54.299 --> 00:01:58.079 in reports of earnings that students tend to 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.340 make with that particular degree, maybe 10 years, 00:02:00.459 --> 00:02:03.840 15 years after college. You know, I could also 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:06.640 point to how philosophy majors tend to score 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:09.240 some of the highest scores on standardized tests 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:11.240 for professional and graduate schools, particularly 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:14.020 the LSAT, which a lot of philosophy majors are 00:02:14.020 --> 00:02:16.439 planning on doing is going to law school. So 00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:19.860 they need to take the LSAT. Or the GREs, this 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:22.219 is for people going to graduate school or for, 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:26.639 I think they accept it for business schools now, 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:30.770 the GRE exam, right? I have all these things 00:02:30.770 --> 00:02:33.969 that I could point to as pragmatic reasons to, 00:02:33.969 --> 00:02:37.270 you know, major in philosophy, to convince students 00:02:37.270 --> 00:02:39.490 that it's something worthwhile, that they're 00:02:39.490 --> 00:02:42.490 not going to be a miserable failure and be living 00:02:42.490 --> 00:02:44.289 in their parents' basement playing video games 00:02:44.289 --> 00:02:46.349 for the rest of their life or end up teaching 00:02:46.349 --> 00:02:50.689 at some mediocre, you know, like, you know, school 00:02:50.689 --> 00:02:52.990 somewhere that has nothing to do with philosophy 00:02:52.990 --> 00:02:55.430 and they don't ever make use of anything they 00:02:55.430 --> 00:02:57.349 learn in philosophy classes, right? Like, I'm 00:02:57.349 --> 00:02:59.490 trying to ease a lot of these anxieties that 00:02:59.490 --> 00:03:02.030 people tend to have, even if they might be interested 00:03:02.030 --> 00:03:04.770 in philosophy in terms of the topics that we 00:03:04.770 --> 00:03:07.990 discuss, right? So there's a lot of this selling 00:03:07.990 --> 00:03:10.310 of the major, and this is... Primarily because 00:03:10.310 --> 00:03:12.789 it feels like education has become some kind 00:03:12.789 --> 00:03:17.370 of a commodity. People are looking to get a return 00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:19.469 on their investment. We use a lot of these economic 00:03:19.469 --> 00:03:23.550 terms that has creeped into the educational sector. 00:03:23.889 --> 00:03:25.830 And so you're not going to pay for college, especially 00:03:25.830 --> 00:03:28.330 given how expensive college is nowadays. You 00:03:28.330 --> 00:03:30.250 don't want to pay for college unless you're going 00:03:30.250 --> 00:03:33.629 to get something monetarily out of it, a return 00:03:33.629 --> 00:03:35.629 on your investment. So they want to make sure 00:03:35.629 --> 00:03:38.430 that whatever they major in will help them get 00:03:38.430 --> 00:03:40.759 a job. to get their money's worth, get something 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:47.719 in return. And this is actually, from my experience, 00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:50.620 not something that most of these instructors 00:03:50.620 --> 00:03:54.960 actually want to do. Most instructors just want 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:58.800 students to be genuinely interested in whatever 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:02.419 it is that philosophy explores. And for students 00:04:02.419 --> 00:04:05.360 to value philosophy for its own sake, not as 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:09.030 some instrumental benefit to their career. Plus, 00:04:09.030 --> 00:04:12.150 I personally feel dirty. This is just the personal 00:04:12.150 --> 00:04:15.409 side. I feel dirty trying to spew out these data 00:04:15.409 --> 00:04:17.709 points on philosophy majors of success and all 00:04:17.709 --> 00:04:19.470 this stuff. The truth is that the discipline 00:04:19.470 --> 00:04:22.470 attracts deep thinkers. So I imagine there's 00:04:22.470 --> 00:04:26.170 a lot of self -selecting going on. So more correlation 00:04:26.170 --> 00:04:28.829 maybe rather than actual causation. It's not 00:04:28.829 --> 00:04:32.730 as if philosophy necessarily produces the most 00:04:32.730 --> 00:04:34.550 intelligent people. I think a lot of people who 00:04:34.550 --> 00:04:38.230 are quite intelligent, who love challenges. love 00:04:38.230 --> 00:04:40.970 to think deeply are just naturally kind of drawn 00:04:40.970 --> 00:04:46.589 to philosophy as a field. It is true that philosophy 00:04:46.589 --> 00:04:48.449 does train you well. I mean, one of the core 00:04:48.449 --> 00:04:50.569 classes we teach in philosophy is critical thinking 00:04:50.569 --> 00:04:54.110 and logic, right? And these two are fundamental 00:04:54.110 --> 00:04:59.990 for any sort of evaluating of arguments or analyzing 00:04:59.990 --> 00:05:04.600 of data, right? I'm not going to try to sell 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:08.459 you on philosophy as an instrumental value, right? 00:05:08.579 --> 00:05:10.819 I want to do something different. Rather, I want 00:05:10.819 --> 00:05:14.199 to explain how the deeper, more abstract questions 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:18.100 in philosophy are genuinely relevant to the way 00:05:18.100 --> 00:05:20.939 you view the world and the way that you approach 00:05:20.939 --> 00:05:25.230 real -life decisions. If you thought that philosophy 00:05:25.230 --> 00:05:28.730 just contemplates stuff that you will never actually 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:33.170 use, that it's just an exercise in abstract thinking 00:05:33.170 --> 00:05:36.170 for the sake of abstract thinking, I want to 00:05:36.170 --> 00:05:38.920 argue that... That kind of perspective of philosophy 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:42.439 is actually a mistake. So one of my goals in 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:46.779 this series is to attempt to sway the general 00:05:46.779 --> 00:05:50.160 public in understanding that there's a deep importance 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:54.180 in engaging with these philosophical questions, 00:05:54.220 --> 00:05:57.819 that it is not a mere abstract exercise. that 00:05:57.819 --> 00:06:01.040 it has real implications for the way that you 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:04.300 navigate your day -to -day life, the way that 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:07.160 you view the world, view relationships, the way 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:10.160 that you view your role in society, the way that 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:13.540 you just view truth, reality, right? These all 00:06:13.540 --> 00:06:16.300 are shaped by fundamental philosophical questions 00:06:16.300 --> 00:06:18.720 that, I'll be honest with you, I'm assuming that 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:23.180 most people... have some sort of position. It's 00:06:23.180 --> 00:06:25.899 just that they haven't necessarily grappled with 00:06:25.899 --> 00:06:28.000 it directly. And I think philosophy is one of 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.300 those spaces where you're kind of forced into 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:35.300 grappling with the deeper questions, whether 00:06:35.300 --> 00:06:39.050 you might have wanted to or not sometimes. It 00:06:39.050 --> 00:06:41.129 could be very difficult and personally challenging. 00:06:41.810 --> 00:06:44.730 But there's also actually a secondary reason 00:06:44.730 --> 00:06:47.449 that I'm starting this series on explaining why 00:06:47.449 --> 00:06:51.350 philosophy matters. And the reason is that it 00:06:51.350 --> 00:06:54.709 has to do with learning, right? People don't 00:06:54.709 --> 00:06:58.069 actually learn anything well unless they see 00:06:58.069 --> 00:06:59.949 the relevance in what they're learning. I mean, 00:06:59.970 --> 00:07:02.089 there's plenty of research in this area about 00:07:02.089 --> 00:07:05.709 what motivates people, when we feel drained while 00:07:05.709 --> 00:07:07.550 we're learning. One of the reasons we might feel 00:07:07.550 --> 00:07:11.050 disconnected from the stuff that we're learning 00:07:11.050 --> 00:07:13.670 is that we don't see its relevance, right? It's 00:07:13.670 --> 00:07:17.750 hard to get excited or to be invested in learning 00:07:17.750 --> 00:07:21.509 something if you can't see that it has some relevance 00:07:21.509 --> 00:07:23.980 to you. And by relevance, I'm not talking about 00:07:23.980 --> 00:07:26.120 pragmatic relevance. I'm not talking about like 00:07:26.120 --> 00:07:28.540 how it'll help me with my job. I mean, that's 00:07:28.540 --> 00:07:30.680 one way to see there's relevance in what you're 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:33.480 learning. But no, what I mean is something much 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:36.740 more deeply personal for you, right? Like relevance 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:41.279 to the things that you already value, not instrumentally, 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:45.420 but inherently, right? Does this stuff that I'm 00:07:45.420 --> 00:07:49.259 learning matter to me given my own life experience 00:07:49.259 --> 00:07:51.639 given the things that i care about given the 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:53.459 things that you know really are important to 00:07:53.459 --> 00:07:55.860 me right does it actually does the subject matter 00:07:55.860 --> 00:08:00.379 connect to something in my personal life right 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:02.800 Which, I mean, this makes perfect sense, right? 00:08:02.860 --> 00:08:04.879 Why care to learn something if you don't see 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:06.939 any reason for learning it, right? So one of 00:08:06.939 --> 00:08:09.279 the things that I do want to point out in this 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:11.620 series are the many ways, and again, it's going 00:08:11.620 --> 00:08:13.019 to be different for each person because each 00:08:13.019 --> 00:08:15.319 person has a different set of stuff that they 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:17.199 really care about, right? What they really value. 00:08:17.579 --> 00:08:20.300 But one of the things that I'm hoping to get 00:08:20.300 --> 00:08:23.379 out of it is to throw, to give students these, 00:08:23.379 --> 00:08:27.660 you know, ways of connecting. what seems to be 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:31.560 very disconnected, abstract ideas and thoughts 00:08:31.560 --> 00:08:35.080 to something that actually might matter more 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:37.799 to the students than they might have initially 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:41.879 thought. So the secondary reason for this series 00:08:41.879 --> 00:08:45.360 is to provide specifically my students and specifically 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:48.840 in all my introductory courses to give them a 00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:51.519 way of connecting with the material in a much 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:55.639 more personal way. In a way that, you know, directly 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:58.700 addresses some of the concerns, some of the decisions, 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:01.720 some of the topics that matter in their day to 00:09:01.720 --> 00:09:05.299 day life. The hope is a show that through philosophical 00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:11.259 inquiries that we are. In the background, there's 00:09:11.259 --> 00:09:14.460 so much that is actually shaping the way that 00:09:14.460 --> 00:09:16.419 we make sense of the world and the way we engage 00:09:16.419 --> 00:09:19.039 with others and the way we make decisions. And 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:22.200 as we make these connections a little bit clearer, 00:09:22.460 --> 00:09:26.759 then I hope that students find something much 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:32.860 more meaningful in what it is that they're actually 00:09:32.860 --> 00:09:35.970 studying. Right. Whether it's like some of these 00:09:35.970 --> 00:09:38.649 old thinkers that you might think are from generations 00:09:38.649 --> 00:09:41.090 ago who don't understand what's going on today 00:09:41.090 --> 00:09:44.269 or like all the random stuff that we tend to 00:09:44.269 --> 00:09:46.190 throw out there as reading requirements for a 00:09:46.190 --> 00:09:49.409 philosophy course. I hope that students can make 00:09:49.409 --> 00:09:52.940 those connections in part. in the hopes that 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:55.860 they actually end up being more motivated to 00:09:55.860 --> 00:09:58.840 learn, but also, as a result, learn much more 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:02.120 effectively and produce much better results, 00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:05.820 both in terms of outcomes of whatever testing 00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:08.700 method there is, but also just in terms of what 00:10:08.700 --> 00:10:13.340 they carry with them moving forward. So for my 00:10:13.340 --> 00:10:15.240 students who are having difficulty with philosophy, 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.299 with the readings, who are feeling disconnected 00:10:18.299 --> 00:10:21.039 from it, This might be a good place to start. 00:10:22.740 --> 00:10:25.659 Let's consider exactly how the bigger questions 00:10:25.659 --> 00:10:29.279 that we are trying to answer in these courses, 00:10:29.379 --> 00:10:32.039 how it's connected to something a bit more personal 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:35.080 to you. And you'll find that the material becomes 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:37.879 much easier to digest, much easier to understand, 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:41.600 and that you'll find yourself a lot less disinterested 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:46.399 when you understand these connections. In that 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.419 respect, I hope that you gain something truly 00:10:49.419 --> 00:10:54.840 valuable from my introduction, my selling of 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:56.379 why philosophy matters.