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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

So what did Anglophone philosophy faculty and students almost study instead?

Brian Leiter

So with nearly 800 responses to yesterday afternoon's poll, here are the results: 

What subject did you almost major in (or undertake postgraduate study in) other than philosophy?
Area Studies (e.g., Near East, East Asian, African etc.)
   1%
Biology
   3%
Chemistry
   2%
Classics
   3%
Computer Science
   3%
Economics
   5%
English (or other literary studies)
   14%
History
   8%
Law
   12%
Linguistics
   1%
Math
   10%
Medicine
   2%
Physics
   8%
Political Science
   6%
Psychology
   7%
Other Social Sciences (e.g., Anthropology, Sociology)
   3%
Other fields not mentioned above
   13%

I'd be curious to hear from readers about the "other fields not mentioned" (it occurs to me religion or theology may have been a common one).  Natural sciences accounted for 26% of the responses, social sciences for 22%, and the humanities for 25%.  English got the most votes (14%) followed by Law (12%) (the latter result may be skewed by my readership, which may be higher among law & philosophy faculty and students than some other subfields, though this is just a guess).  I strongly suspect that if we looked only at faculty at top PGR-ranked departments, we would find the skew in favor of natural sciences even higher, but that's just based on what I know about many but not all faculty at those departments.

Thoughts from readers?  Those who chose "other fields," what fields?   Comments may take awhile to appear (busy day), so please submit them only once.  Thanks.  (UPDATE 2 pm CST:  Typepad has been having problems today, so if you've been unable to submit a comment, please try again a bit later.)

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11 responses to “So what did Anglophone philosophy faculty and students almost study instead?”

  1. JCM

    I wanted to be a musician – either a performer or, more likely ('likely'), a composer. But I figured there'd be more money in philosophy…

    Reply
  2. Brad

    I studied at an Art College, and then worked in graphic design for a bit. I left it because I wanted a more secure job! (really!)

    Reply
  3. Dale Dorsey

    There were no arts fields mentioned as choices so I suspect many who might have picked music (like myself) or art would have chosen that category.

    Reply
  4. Molly Gardner

    I missed the poll and didn't get to vote, but I majored in music composition.

    Reply
  5. Phil grad in the Midwest

    I was an art history and philosophy double major before entering graduate school in philosophy. I actually did better in my art history courses as an undergrad, and strongly considered pursing a PhD. in that field.

    Reply
  6. Ian

    I selected "Other fields not mentioned above" but I probably could have somewhat accurately chosen "Other social sciences." I almost went into public policy.

    Reply
  7. Ben

    Majored in neuroscience (which I didn't want to conflate with the biology option) in addition to philosophy. I know a number of other philosophers who also have a bachelors degree or other serious education in neuroscience.

    Reply
  8. L

    Studio Art.

    Reply
  9. Aaron

    I studied violin performance at a music conservatory. That turned out to be a surprisingly good choice–both personally and financially (playing concerts and teaching violin lessons is a great way to supplement one's income while pursuing a PhD in philosophy).

    Reply
  10. T.R. Kielikello

    Foreign language -or is that included with linguistics?

    BL COMMENT: Not linguistics, but perhaps under "English (and other literary studies)," depending on the nature of the major.

    Reply
  11. W

    I came very close to doing a general humanities/intellectual history major as an undergrad. I'm not sure where that would fit, but my best guess would be "other." I ended up settling for philosophy and classics majors. I also came very close to applying to law school after undergrad, but ended up applying to philosophy PhD programs.

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