Philosophy Professor

Job description

Professors prepare lectures and course materials, grade assignments and exams, and lead discussions with undergraduate or graduate students on topics ranging from ethics and logic to religious history. Many combine teaching with scholarly research, staying current in their field through reading, conferences, and conversations with colleagues, and publishing articles or books of their own. The role runs on a structured academic schedule with real independence in how a course or research agenda is shaped.

A typical day

The 9:30am section of Intro to Ethics opens with the trolley problem, and the professor's craft is holding forty undergraduates in productive discomfort — steering the argument without ending it, because the course's real product is students who can distinguish a reason from a reflex. Office hours follow: one student genuinely wrestling with a paper on Kant, another negotiating a deadline, a third quietly asking the big questions the course stirred up, which is the job's secret best hour. The afternoon splits between the profession's two other lives: research — two hours with a draft article on moral responsibility, rewritten against a referee's objections — and service, a curriculum-committee meeting that runs long. The evening seminar on philosophy of religion goes deep with eight graduate students on a single chapter. Grading waits at home, as it always does. The academic market is brutally competitive and the professor tells honest students so — and also that the training itself, learning to think in public with rigor, has never once felt wasted.

Tasks at the job

• Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
• Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students and the community on topics such as ethics, logic, and contemporary religious thought.
• Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
• Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
• Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
• Write articles and books.

Workplace & working conditions

Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting, and most of the day is spent sitting at a desk.

There's a regular, moderate amount of time pressure, and you're expected to exercise significant independent judgment day to day. The work is highly structured, following set procedures.

Education necessary or common

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the relevant field

Common college majors

Career path

Related fields

Courses to take

• AP English Literature and Language — close reading and argument are the discipline's tools
• AP US History or European History — ideas in their contexts
• AP Calculus or AP Statistics — logic's formal cousin; many philosophers come through math
• World Language or Latin — primary texts reward it
• Debate — argument as craft

Clubs, activities & competitions

• Debate team — the closest activity to the actual work
• Ethics Bowl — a national high school competition built exactly for this
• Philosophy club or reading group, or found one
• Model UN — normative argument in practice

First steps you can take now

• Compete in the National High School Ethics Bowl if your region has one
• Read one short primary text (Plato's Apology, Mill's Utilitarianism) and write out its argument in premises
• Take a free online intro philosophy course
• Learn the career math early: PhD required, academic jobs scarce — and philosophy majors also thrive in law, tech, and policy

Related videos

Philosophy | Day in the LifeColumbia International University