To the Slow and Steady and Smartest Goes the Race

by Will Wilkinson on April 9, 2008

So, this is going around:

I have to say this makes me feel pretty swell as an art major with a grad degree in philosophy. But money doesn’t make you happy, guys!

Of course, this is just starting salary. And it is well known among people who go to grad school in philosophy that would-be philosophers destroy all others in the verbal and analytic sections and only lag the math-heavy disciplines in quant. Philosophy majors frankly embarrass economics majors when it comes to the LSAT, I’m sorry to report. And since we all know that there are rising economic rewards to brainpower and facility with abstraction, these philosophy majors will soon enough get their just financial desserts. You know how much philosophy majors pull in their first year as junior associates? A lot! So don’t hesitate to major in philosophy on account of this silly chart, young uns. You can always ruin your life by becoming a lawyer.

To my fellow art majors… stay strong.

Viewing 13 Comments

Fin Fang Foom 1 year ago 1 point
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Oh, but don't you know, econ PhDs can get JDs, and then become law professors, whose starting pay is like four times as much as humanities professors.

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Robert S. Porter 1 year ago 1 point
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Wow, my major, history, does suprisingly well in these comparisons. But I'll get back to you in a year when I graduate.

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http://delibertate.com

Tim Lee 1 year ago 1 point
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Interestingly, philosophy appears to be the highest in quantitative among non-engineering disciplines.

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http://www.angryblog.org/

glory 1 year ago 1 point
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philosophy apparently is back in vogue...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/education/06p...

re: money

like inigo montoya sez: you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means...

try hart: "The idea of money as a source of social memory was also crucial for John Locke, who figures prominently in our story as the philosopher who inaugurated the modern age of democratic revolutions. Locke was obsessed with money’s role both in establishing a progressive social order and in subverting it as its criminal antithesis. Indeed, he believed that money launched humanity from the state of nature onto the road to civil government. As long as men’s possessions were limited to perishable products, the scope for property was restricted. Money, by offering a durable store of value convertible against all useful things, unleashed the potential for property accumulation and for the intergenerational transmission of inequality. For Locke, then, money was indispensable to that development of cultural memory on which civilization depends." http://www.thememorybank.co.uk/book/ cf. http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/8/26/172939/637

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Phil 1 year ago 1 point
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"Philosophy majors frankly embarrass economics majors when it comes to the LSAT, I’m sorry to report."

With the link you sent, "embarrass" might be a little strong (156 versus 155.3; plus, just to play around with the data, I'd like to see standard deviations and philosophy/religion breakdowns (although the sample size is large enough that I would guess the difference is significant)). And unfortunately, no one will be more aware of the crushing ennui of serving one's life as an indentured servant to a vengeful legal system than a philosophically-trained lawyer.

P.S. With my economics major, I landed a 179, and the JD/PhD track can be quite lucrative.

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Jack 1 year ago 1 point
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Those stats combine phil with religion... it seems to me that could screw these numbers up a bit (what I'm obviously suggesting is that the PHIL score is even higher).

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TGGP 1 year ago 1 point
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these philosophy majors will soon enough get their just financial desserts
Will, are you willing to bet that within five years philosophy majors will be outearning any of the top eight other majors? How about in a decade? Right now I suspect some self-deception/cognitive dissonance is causing your unrealistic projections.
Disclosure: I'm a Computer Science major, and yeah, it's not really science and we shouldn't be allowed to get degrees from a College of Engineering.

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jen hutchin 1 year ago 1 point
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Looks like English majors are, as usual off the chart. I should know; I work as a probation officer!

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jen hutchin 1 year ago 1 point
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Looks like English majors are, as usual, off the chart. I should know; I work as a probation officer!

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Benjamin Munda 1 year ago 1 point
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I chose engineering (biochemical) for totally unrelated reasons.

The primary reason is this: Some disciplines add to the sum total of society's wealth while other subtract.

I'm not saying that everyone should be an engineer, farmer, or miner. A society with professions only such as these would be drab indeed.

What I am saying is that it is important to note that many professions survive off of the wealth created by others. A society full of philosophers, artists, and lawyers would all be starving living in grass huts. Obviously, a society full of these professions would be far from ideal as well.

I simply lament that many Americans hold a certain degree of contempt for the disciplines that create the surplus wealth which is a requisite for their leisurely professions.

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TGGP 1 year ago 1 point
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Benjamin, I also incline to that point of view, but it seems to be based on a sort of Kantian universalibility standard. Thinking on the margin would seem to be more appropriate. My suspicion is that the marginal social gain from lawyers went past negative long ago.

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Freddie 1 year ago 1 point
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I only ever pop in hear to remind you that not everyone believes that life is nothing more than the pursuit of capital, and that the end all, be all of human existence is accumulating wealth.

So, mission accomplished.

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Freddie 1 year ago 1 point
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PS One thing English majors have going for them: unlike your commenters, they understand the concept of irony.

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