h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If you think about any subject hard enough you will discover underpinning all topics are certain basic assumptions and fundamental ideas. Uncovering those and subjecting them to scrutiny is just one application of philosophy.

Could this be changed to:
If you think about any subject hard enough you will discover underpinning all topics are certain basic assumptions and fundamental ideas. Uncovering those and those who support those topics and subjecting them to scrutiny is a route to deeper philosophical understanding.

Nope.

Because philosophy is about ideas, not the people who happen to hold them at a particular time. Philosophers are interested in ideas even if there is no-one who actually believes them. More on this at: A800425

The study of why certain people believe certain things is the domain of other subjects - psychology, sociology, politics.

Otto I'll get there in time. Just need to look at a few basic assumptions and fundamental ideas.

I have had a quick look around and got the general idea of where you are coming from. To date I find it all rather sanctimonious.

So far investigation shows philosophical reasoning as a conversation stopper.
Without compromise everything boils down to which came first the chicken or the egg.
Revealing as they may be todays world does not allow time for such thoughful luxuries unless of course you are in the position of total independence, with others to provide all you needs.

< Earliest philosophers among the Ancient Greeks were also mathematicians and scientists. >
Now that's interesting. Are we to assume that they were mathematicians and scientists before turning to philosophy ?
The very nature of philosophy would suggest that it came later in their lives otherwise they would have no base for their philosophical thinking. More than likely it ended their mathematical and scientific exploration and they died philosophising.

'Think about it' would seem to be the sole objective of the philosopher. Any motivation to 'think about it' is hard to comprehend. Having thought about it, it is even harder to comprehend what a philosopher then does about it.
A philosopher has to breath whether he thinks about it or not. Can a pure philosopher as such exist? doing nothing until the whys and wherefores are fully understood.
A philosophy must be something that has been thought about by others and must therefore, at some stage, have involved compromise.
Philosophy would seem to be a very obscure applied science.
'Think about it' as much as you like but the world goes on.

What job prospect are there for philosophy graduates ?
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The simple answer is that philosophy graduates have pretty much the same job prospects as other undergraduates on non-vocational degree programmes. Obviously if you want to be a vet, a philosophy degree isn't the thing to do! But if you want to work in human resources or advertising or the civil service -- or even in careers that require further qualifications, such as law or accountancy -- you're as well qualified as pretty much anyone else. (So for example in the UK a standard LLB law degree is 4 years. A standard philosophy degree (in England and Wales) is 3 years, after which you can do a one-year 'CPE' conversion course, which will bring you up to the same level of qualification.)
Philosophers are fond of claiming that a philosophy degree equips you with distinctive skills that are highly prized by employers -- the ability to think logically, independently and creatively; the ability to defend a position with good arguments; the ability to understand and clearly express complex ideas; etc., etc. I'm inclined to think this is true, although admittedly I don't have any concrete empirical evidence that philosophy graduates do any better on the job market than english or history or sociology graduates! In general, though, in my experience most graduate employers take the view that specific job-related skills can be taught on the job and they can train you; what they're looking for is the more 'transferable' skills, such as those listed above.

The 'Philosophical and Religious Studies Subject Centre' has produced an employability guide for philosophy graduates that you might find helpful -- it's available at http://www.prs.heacademy.ac.uk/publications/emp_guide_for_web.pdf

Helen Beebee
Director, British Philosophical Association

http://www.quotegarden.com/philosophical.html

We all have abnormalities, can the norm be defined.?
It would seem that life in this world is pre programmed with a genetic code that determines the life form that evolves, the species and the gender. The code for humans has been identified but remains to be fully understood and related to the individual human life form that it produces. It would also seem that the environment in which this life form lives plays a vital rolle in the direction it evolves once it has been intitially derived from the two mating individuals. It is even suggested that environmental conditions whilst developing in the female womb can influence the outcome of the evolving life form.
Natural evolution is a slow and chaotic form of development but there is a stong feeling against tweeking the code to give mating couples a choice in the life form they are to produce. The simple choice of gender is seen as tampering with nature.

Philosophical Quotes

http://www.similaritiesanddifferences.info/philosophical-quotes/