I Actually Used My Philosophy Degree!

I have zero regrets when it comes to my education choices.

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My former professors would be appalled. (Well, most of them.) My years studying philosophy formally in university resulted in me writing about spiritual topics. They taught me to think and analyze, and despite their efforts to have me think in terms of what’s observable in the material world, I went the opposite direction. I used it for introspection.

I was at the University of Otago for five years. In New Zealand, I could get a bachelor of arts degree in three years, but I chose to go for an “honours degree” that requires one more year and a dissertation. Then, after studying philosophy for that long and loving it, and having no desire to leave that beautiful country, I stayed for a master’s degree in the subject.

Although New Zealand is gorgeous and the people there are the nicest, the best part of my five years in this place was the tightly knit community of philosophers at the University of Otago. It’s NZ’s oldest university and the main part of the economy in the Scottish-founded, Southern city of Dunedin — a place of lively parties, couch burnings, car races on very steep streets, cold winters, and tons of excuses to go to the pub. At least it was in those days.