mobiusstripper | I didn't choose the philosofuck life, the philosofuck life chose me

When I was a senior in undergrad, I told one of my philosophy professors that I was considering taking a year or two off and then applying to graduate school for philosophy. I asked her if it was a path that she would recommend, and her reply was, "Only if you can't imagine yourself doing literally anything else." This was not an uncommon response. Many people I've known who went into academic philosophy, including my own academic advisors, tended to recommend against it. It's thankless. It's competitive. It's elitist. It's culturally obnoxious. It's "male-dominated." It's hard to get a job. You'll have to go through 5-10 more years of people who think they're hilarious asking you if you plan to open a philosophy store.

But, fuck me, it's been eight years since I graduated, and I've tried a lot of other things. And I think maybe I can't imagine myself doing anything else. I think it's time for me to get money (or at least course credit and a "Doctor" before my name) for overthinking and reading abstruse texts when all this time I've been doing it for free. Yes, it's competitive, but so am I.