10 Philosophical Theories for a Career in Philosophy

Philosophy – a term that instantly evokes images of white-bearded men standing in poses of debate in ancient Greece. It is a discipline that ascended at a time of great intellectual progress all over the world, and shaped much of it. Today the term is often watered down to mean one’s opinion about something, applying to sport, politics, and even cooking. Philosophy was formed from the words ‘philos’ meaning love and ‘sophos’ meaning wisdom. Academically, this love for wisdom applies to asking questions about things such as (but not limited to) existence, the meaning of life, logic, and knowledge. Deciding to embark on a career in philosophy must ideally be preempted by a basic grounding in philosophical theories.
With trends favouring the reign of liberal arts education in India, and how important the liberal arts are in recreating societal perspectives, philosophy makes for an intriguing addition to a student’s choice of subjects by dint of its widening of thought processes.
 
Ten Must-Know Philosophical Theories for a Career in Philosophy:
1. Stoicism
“You can dance in the rain, or sulk in the rain. It will rain regardless.”
A philosophy that is very much in vogue today, Stoicism represents a possible answer to one’s search for structure and meaning in life. Rather than change the world, however, it seeks to alter one’s reaction to the random and haphazard events of life so as to attain true tranquility. There is no point, according to the philosophy, in getting worked up about things that you cannot control or burden your soul with such matters.
Often misrepresented as merely about being emotionless, Stoicism, in reality, is more to do with being aware of one’s negative reactions and developing self-control as a means of achieving emotional resilience. So potent is its impact, that its tenets have formed integral parts of cognitive behavioural therapy over time and are recognised as being adaptable to every age. Eminent Stoics across history include Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, philosopher Seneca, and Marcus Brutus, an honourable man.
 
2. Nihilism
Nihilism is another well known but misunderstood philosophical theory that is often associated with German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his proclamation, “God is dead.” Nihilism is derived from the Latin word, “Nihil,” which means “Nothing”. The philosophy’s core tenet is that nothing has any meaning: meaning does not exist in the universe, neither in the pursuit of the meaningful, nor in an individual’s construction of it.
Nihilism was, at its inception, a philosophical dead end of sorts. Over time, offshoots of it sprung up in the form of absurdism and existentialism. In pop culture, nihilism is often depicted by the edgy, angsty teen who hates everything, but in real life, an all-encompassing nihilism is difficult to find. Most true nihilists are more nuanced and are nihilistic about specific things.
 
3. Absurdism
“Gazing up at the dark sky spangled with signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart out to the benign indifference of the universe.”
In philosophy, Absurdism arises from the clash between the human need to seek answers to everything and the supposed apathy of the universe towards this quest. Albert Camus highlights this in his book, The Myth Of Sisyphus, wondering how humans live for the hope that tomorrow will come, despite being subconsciously aware that tomorrow is but a step closer to death and the end of their time. The world is a strange and inhuman place that no human will ever be able to fully comprehend, but we continually strive for meaning and to attach significance to the things we can do and become. It is in embracing this absurd quality of life, that nothing will matter, and revolting against it by living authentically in spite of it, that the absurdist finds his/her place.
In The Myth Of Sisyphus, Camus elucidates the key takeaway from this philosophy, when he tells the story of Greek hero Sisyphus, who is forced to push a heavy rock up a mountainside for all of eternity. Upon reaching the top, the rock rolls back down, condemning Sisyphus to this mundane and repetitive task. Camus argues that Sisyphus must be happy and his existence is very much like the lives most of us lead; claiming that our Fate only seems horrible when we place it in contrast with something that seems preferable. If we recognized the absurdity of our predicament instead, we would truly be free to experience life wholeheartedly.
 
4. Existentialism
A philosophy that took root in the 1940s and 50s, existentialism is more or less summed up in the quote, “existence precedes essence.” This means that the purpose and meaning of one’s life is not something that one is born with or given by God (i.e one’s essence) but what one’s deliberate actions lead them to create. Existentialism makes you the captain of your own voyage, dispensing with superfluous external forces.
Existentialists accept life as inherently meaningless and then strive to impose meaning upon it by dint of their effort. It was a radical departure from the notion of cosmic forces paving the path for individuals to follow, making the individuals responsible for the actions that they take and follow.
 
5. Empiricism
Empiricism is a philosophical theory that claims knowledge is based solely on what one’s senses can experience and confirm. This is in contrast to the more abstract reasoning that its counterpart rationalism employs, and the two are often seen as at odds with each other, even though most knowledge in the world of today comes from a combination of the duo.
As an example, in the 18th and 19th century, many women were dying during childbirth and leaving doctors at the time befuddled. This was before the advent of Germ Theory and sanitation practices and the established medical theories could not come up with a reason for this childbed fever. A Hungarian physician named Ignaz Semmelweis experimented with hand washing and disinfection in obstetrical clinics, and suddenly the death rates in the wards plummeted. His ideas were in direct conflict with established medical literature, and he had no explanation for why his methods worked. His actions were based on empirical data that was reproducible, and not the prevailing reason of the time.
As Stephen Fry so eloquently puts it in his interview with psychologist Jordan Peterson, “ It’s experimenting in the crucible of human activity and observing what people say and hear. The rationalist would say that there’s no reason why … could be right. But a true empiricist would say it almost doesn’t matter what the reason is. The fact is it’s repeatable and verifiable.”
 
6. Rationalism
Rationalism is a philosophy that relies on reason as the primary source of knowledge. It claims that truth does not come from the evidence of one’s senses but instead is deductive in nature. Combined with empiricism, these thought processes produced rapid growth in science, mathematics, and even politics.
The biggest exponents of rationalism across history are names familiar to us, with Pythagoras being one of its earliest adopters, Plato considering it the highest kind of reality, Baruch Spinoza who inspired Einstein with his discourse, and Immanuel Kant. While rationalism has plenty of positives, and has given much to the formation of the world we know today, one can’t help but be acutely aware of its limitations (which one can say about empiricism as well). It is as Sherlock Holmes once said, “If the art of the detective began and ended in the armchair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived.” In its most extreme form, rationalism ends up being too theoretical and bound by the knowledge of its time, too much of an armchair philosophy with few practical outlets.
 
7. Confucianism
In the 6th century BC in China, the philosopher Confucius instituted a way of life called Confucianism that was part philosophy and part religion. Its influence spread eventually to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, becoming a part of their developmental foundations. The marrow of what formed Confucianism predated even Confucius himself, who merely saw himself as a preserver and transmitter of past Chinese cultures and sought to reimagine and reinvigorate them.
Confucianism is about correct behaviour, obedience to hierarchy, and ethics. It prioritised family over individualism, and pushed merit and intelligence as the paramount importance within the officials in positions of power over family name and wealth. It formed the bedrock of what a lot of East Asian culture and practices are derived from today.
 
8. Determinism
Most of us are acquainted with some version of the story “The Appointment in Samarra”, in which a merchant’s servant encounters Death in a market in Baghdad and hurries back home to his master. He borrows a horse from the merchant and escapes the city in haste, hoping to ride to Samarra by nightfall to avoid Death. The merchant, perplexed, goes to the marketplace and demands from Death the reason for scaring the servant. Death answers that he was merely surprised to see the servant in Baghdad, when he had an appointment with him in Samarra that night.
Hard Determinism is the philosophy that believes there is no such thing as free will, merely the illusion of it. All events are caused by a chain reaction of past events in such a manner that nothing other than what does occur could occur.
 
9. Objectivism
“Do not lose your knowledge that our proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. … Check the road and the nature of your battle. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it’s yours.”
Coined by Ayn Rand, author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Objectivism is a philosophy that envisions man as a heroic being, with his moral purpose being his own happiness, reason at his core, and productive achievement his highest form of expression. This philosophy is embedded deeply in the heroes of her novels, Howard Roark and John Galt, whose actions are always in accordance with it.
 
10. Utilitarianism
Part of the Ethics doctrine of philosophy, utilitarianism is a theory that professes that the morally right action in a situation is the action that causes the most pleasure and happiness as opposed to the one that causes the most pain. Before this be accused of being too selfish and hedonistic a mindset, utilitarianism regards the pleasure and happiness of others as equivalent to one’s own, and advocates trying to produce the greatest good for the greatest number.
Utilitarianism comes under teleological ethics, that is to say it decides right from wrong by the consequences of an action and not its motive. When used to make decisions for social welfare, economics, or poverty, it is beneficial for society as a whole due to its altruistic nature.
 
Conclusion
I once read a great analogy that said philosophy was like the game you played as a child where you asked your parents “Why?” after every statement they made. Only in this instance, it was to do with questions about life and purpose. Where you stopped asking why defined what philosophy you identified with; if your “why” stopped with “Because God wants it to be so,” you would be a Divine Command theorist, and if you could conceivably keep asking why without being satisfied, you would probably be a nihilist. Understanding philosophy can be enormously difficult, but if you have seldom been exposed to it, you can bank on it, broadening your horizons in a way few other academic disciplines can.
To know more about a career in philosophy or whether you should opt for it as a subject, reach out to one of our experts for career counselling online.