Discussion for article #242719
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I guess to really get to the bottom of this we’d need to somehow compare employed philosophers – if by that we mean people with college-level degrees in philosophy–and welders. I’m going to guess that PhD’s in philosophy who are unemployed make less than welders, but how long they stay unemployed–and what happens to welders who go unemployed–is also a question. Lots to think about, if we’re going to be serious about the issue. Still, given that Rubio’s intention is to suggest that “they” are denigrating welders–while he himself is really all about denigrating philosophy–somehow I think he didn’t work the data too hard.
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I suspect the percentage of welders employed in their field is far greater than the percentage of Philosophy degree holders employed in their field.
I suspect most Philosophy degree holders have made $0 in their field in their life.
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He’s actually right that there is a shortage of welders. Which suggests companies are underpaying these blue-collar workers. It’s a tough job, it requires skill, strength, dexterity, and attention to detail, and doing it day in and day out year after year requires stamina. And if the average welder is making $40,000, that means a lot of new welders are probably getting quite a bit less.
Marco, the laws of supply and demand suggest a simple remedy for a shortage of skilled workers, which is to raise the wage for that job. If you actually believed in market economics, as opposed to crony capitalism, you would already understand that.
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As a philosopher myself, I find that $71,000 a year figure very suspect. That’s tenured faculty presumably. A good portion of philosophy PhDs who are employed (I don’t know the exact percentage) are working as adjuncts for peanuts. In any case, I never realized that a major problem in this country is that there are too many philosophers! There are about 9000 members of the American Philosophical Association (as opposed to 360,000 professional welders ). Yes, this is definitely a huge drain on the American economy.
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I knew I should have gone into philosophy…
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Notice RRrrubio says he wants to make higher education faster and easier, but not cheaper. That’s telling right there…
This “debate” sounds like a joke devoid of reality.
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Facts have nothing to do with his statement. It is just more Republican “egg heads are bad” populism.
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as a philosophy major, fuck you, Marco.
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We need more welders
No, Marco — What we need more of are decent lawmakers —
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Nonsense. This study only includes college professors for the stat on all philosophers? I’m no fan of Rubio, but that is not what he said.
What else would philosophers do as a profession? It seems like if you count all philosophy graduates (even ones who are now accountants, or whatever) then the numbers wouldn’t have any relevance.
I second that. But as a philosophy major shouldn’t you add an “in a sense” or “so to speak” on the end?
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Perhaps, but I know quite a few people who got philosophy degrees, who use the intellectual tools from their education in their work daily, and who have very successful careers in areas ranging from law to information architecture to general contracting and commercial brewing. As a group, they appear to be unusually likely to be entrepreneurs.
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A philosopher by definition is a person who studies philosophy or lives according to a way of life. An intellectual who can be in various fields like writing, medicine, business, publishing, media, law, arts, marketing, etc. Yes, many become professors, but they usually need to get PhD’s for that. Those are the elites in the profession.
A Welder welds. There are different kinds of welding for sure, but they weld. I employ some ironworkers here in NYC. They field weld on construction sites, they make damn good money (well over $100k), and they definitely earn it.
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Philosophically speaking, Marco Rubio is a dumb Cubans idea of a smart Cuban.
Confucius say, Cuban with hole in pocket-feel a little cocky.
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Remember: less money, fewer dollars.
So that would be “fewer philosophers”, you truant hack.
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I think, therefore I am…Too bad that doesn’t seem to apply to Rrrubio.
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Not a fair way to look at it. How many Philosophy majors work in Walmart and the like, not actually using their degree and training. You have to add those to calculate your average.
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Bingo.