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Liberal Arts and the Advantages of Being Useless

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Liberal Arts and the Advantages of Being Useless
Liberal Arts, and the Advantages of Being Useless| 1

Nicholaos Jones Department of Philosophy University of Alabama in Huntsville nick[DOT]jones[AT]uah[DOT]edu 1 Introductory Remarks
The trees of the mountain bring their own destruction. The oil in the lamp burns itself. The cinnamon tree is edible, so it is cut down. The varnish tree is useful so it is cut apart. All know the advantage of being useful, but no one knows the advantage of being useless. - 莊子 [Zhuangzi] (364-290 BCE), Zhuangzi, "Transactions in the World of Men"

When we are young, it's easy to figure out what to do next. At least, that was my experience. In high school, I knew what I was going to do after each school day: sports practice (I was a jock), then eat, then watch some TV, then sleep. And I knew what I was going to do after high school graduation: go to college. And I knew what I was going to do after each school day again: go to work (I was poor), then eat, then watch some TV, then sleep. I even knew what I was going to do after college graduation: go to graduate school. Of course, I ended my undergraduate schooling with a philosophy degree. So it wasn't much of a surprise to anyone that I went to graduate school. After all, what else was I going to do with a philosophy degree? Law school, maybe. But anyone who knew me also knew I didn't have a penchant for lawyering. And everyone knew I also had no desire to flip burgers or deliver pizzas. It seems my hand was pretty much forced: graduate school or bust.

Liberal Arts, and the Advantages of Being Useless| 2

Lucky for me I got admitted to a graduate program. Otherwise, who knows – I might still be unemployed, or stuck flipping burgers like all the other philosophy majors who don't go to graduate school. I mean, if there's any college major that's totally useless, it's got to be Philosophy! Of course, I don't mean to be biased toward Philosophy. There are lots of useless college majors: History, English, Music, Sociology …
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