By Eric Bryant, Presidenta
Gnosis Arts, A Multi-Service Arts Company
http://www.gnosisarts.com

Does Philosophy Pay?

Answer: Absolutely!

I am a graduate of the UT school of philosophy, class of '98, and I'm actually using my degree in my professional and entrepreneurial pursuits. (Despite the fact that it took me 10 years of meandering around in the taverns pondering the meaning of life over cold pints...but who cares, as long as you get there, right?!)

Currently, I am a Philosophical Practitioner in New Jersey . I do I Ching counseling with my clients and I get to incorporate many of the ideas I learned in my Continental Philosophy concentrations (Hey, Dr. Kelly, if you're still there, thanks for teaching me about Kristeva, Lacan, and Deluezian psychoanalysis; I'm actually USING that stuff - can you believe it!?)

I'm also a published writer, a public relations professional and a paid researcher. And I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the writing and analytic skills I gained through my degree have benefited me immensely in my career.

Not to mention, I started my own business, and it's starting to thrive. And I didn't have to attend business school to figure out how to do it because Philosophy taught me how to problem solve and create the self I want (a la Sartre). I've been successful at multiple business and entrepreneurial endeavors, and the UT Philosophy department professors played a very significant part in that. I'm a freelance writer (and yes I actually make a living freelancing); I do Internet Marketing, Advertising, P/R, research, speech writing, pure HTML coding (who said logic is useless??); taoist therapy, and music composition (Dr. Higgins was the first person to really challenge me to ask, "What makes good art, anyway?"); and I tutor philosophy as well. In short, I'm certain my life is fuller and richer than it ever could have been had I just gone the "safe" route and got a boring old business degree.

So you see, what my philosophy degree gave me you can't put a price on. It gave me the ability to create ability, where there seemingly was none. How? Because it taught me how to THINK. It taught me to be true to mine own self.

...And, like Socrates said, when you know yourself, you know all you need to know.

(For more info, check me out at http://www.gnosisarts.com).