A friend of mine, when I told him that I was a philosophy major in college asked me “What’s the difference between a philosophy major and a large pizza?” With a fair amount of trepidation I answered “I don’t know.” He replied, “A large pizza can feed a family of four.” I would often get inquiring looks from people when I told them I majored in philosophy in college; especially since I work in the IT (information technology) field. The question that is asked (or assumed) is why did I choose to major in philosophy? The answer to that question is the same now as it was when I graduated from college 19 years ago: Because I wanted to!
I won’t bore people with the story of my life, but I was re-enrolling in college after about a five year hiatus. I was originally a mathematics major at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), and when I was trying to get back into school, that was the major I wanted to pursue. I ended up re-enrolling at Loyola University of Chicago and as part of the whole transfer process, there were some general education courses I needed to take. One of them was Introduction to Philosophy (PHIL 120). After finishing that class, I knew I needed to switch majors from mathematics to philosophy.
