مکالمه ی اول

Listen to a conversation between a student and her philosophy professor.

Professor Miller.

Hi Laura. Everything alright?

Yeah. I just wanted to let you know, after this semester, I have decided to change my major.

Really? Why? I thought you loved philosophy.

I do! But，I don’t know. I have to be practical. Its great to take all these philosophy classes but I mean “l need to start thinking about finding a job after I graduate.

Because, uh, see, people with a degree in philosophy donJt have anything to offer employers. Right?

Well, kind of. Lots of my friends are business majors. I need to study something that 11 actually prepare me for a career.

Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I heard that. Okay. Studying something like business is great preparation of course, especially for people who already know their career goals.But for those who don’t well What’s yours? What are your goals?

I have no idea.

So for you, perhaps its not the best option.

That’s a good point.

With a major in philosophy, besides the possibility of grad school, which I think would be wonderful for you, you know lots of things that are valuable in any career.

Like what? How Johnson tried to refute Berkeley’s empiricism?

Well, what did Johnson do?

Well, you know, what Berkeley said was that we can’t really know any objects we can just perceive them .Its all about our senses perceiving things.

Berkeley basically made the point that it doesn’t really make sense to believe in actual physical matter. What Johnson did was, Johnson was trying to disprove that.

So he kicked a big stone. He said that refuted Berkeley.

Uh huh. So what do you think of that?

Well, not that I’m convinced by Berkeley either, but I really don’t think Johnson refuted anything and I think Berkeley would just say that Johnson still doesn’t know anything apart from what he senses. Seeing the stone, feeling his foot hurting after he kicked it.It’s all still just based on his perceptions. Johnson can’t argue that he knows anything other than what his senses have told them.

You know what you just did?

Told you something thats not relevant anywhere but a philosophy class?

No, you demonstrated well developed analytical skills.Philosophy majors can critique other people’s reasoning, make a convincing argument summarize, and communicate very effectively.These things are important in any career and in life.

Okay, but still, you don’t see any of that in job descriptions.

Really? I think you do.I have seen so many articles lately by heads of companies, in all kinds of fields, complaining that its hard to find employees who can do that. Ask at the career services office. They II tell you the same thing.

Well, I guess career services would know.

Also, why don’t you think about -you know, our department always has information about summer internships. That will give you some concrete experience to put on your resume.

That’s an idea.

An internship could help you get your foot in the door.

get in as much observation time as you can.