The simplest response to this question is to point again at to the questions  philosophers raise, and appeal to their intrinsic interest and importance. Philosophy is a part of our human inheritance, available for anyone to take up.

But it is also worth keeping in mind that the skills you will develop in your study of philosophy have application beyond it. Whatever else you do when you study philosophy, you will acquire a keen sense of what is involved in reasoning effectively about important but challenging questions. Most good employers are impressed by a philosophy qualification for precisely this reason.

See more about philosophy and careers.

Career enhancement is not the only reason people study philosophy, of course. Becoming a philosopher – which is what you will do if you decide to study it – can be transforming within or beyond the workplace. In the words of Socrates, one of the Western tradition’s earliest philosophers, ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’.

What else to study with philosophy?

Another reason to study philosophy is that philosophical questions crop up in other disciplines all the time. In fact, philosophy works very well as something to study alongside other subjects. This is reflected in the choice of degrees we offer. For more information see study philosophy with us.