Is the Job Market for Professional Philosophers as Bleak as They Say?
Yes and no. Yes, there are as many as 700 applicants for beginning jobs at the most prestigious universities (say, at MIT or Princeton). But this statistic can be misleading, since typically job seekers apply for many jobs nation- and even world-wide. According to the American Philosophical Association, the ratio of job candidates to job advertisements hovers around 2:1. And true, as universities and colleges seek to cut costs, jobs are at best leveling off, and at worst disappearing. But what is true for the many may not be true for the few. Universities–as conservatives often bemoan–are bastions of liberalism, and have been seeking to diversify both curricula and faculties. There is a huge demand for Ph.D. philosophers who can teach courses on African American philosophy (or at least can teach courses in traditional areas of philosophy like ethics and American philosophy using texts from African American traditions). A similar situation obtains for feminist philosophy, African and
Related Questions
- What have we done to protect the interests of Princeton students in the job market and in admission to graduate and professional schools?
- What’s happening to the fortunes of Princeton students in the job market and in admission to graduate and professional schools?
- Is graduate or professional school necessary for being competitive in the job market?
