Schools Grad School: Philosophy of Physics & Math, Logic & Paradoxes

AI Thread Summary
Pursuing a graduate degree in the philosophy of physics, math, and logic can be challenging, particularly in securing a university teaching position. The discussion highlights that obtaining a PhD is often necessary to have a reasonable chance of employment in academia, as the job market is highly competitive. The limited availability of programs, with Columbia being one example, indicates the niche nature of this field. Additionally, the metaphor of fundraising for research illustrates the difficulty in attracting financial support for abstract subjects, which can further complicate career prospects in academia. Overall, while a graduate degree in this area is intellectually rewarding, the path to a stable teaching position is fraught with challenges.
cragar
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I was thinking about going to grad school to study philosophy of physics and math, and logic and paradoxes.
I was googling around to try and find a school, Columbia has something like it,
If I get a Masters or doctorate in this field, would it be hard to get a teaching position at a university? Or should I do something more applied.
 
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The field would be work in philosophy.
Note: it is hard to get a teaching position at a University - period.
A minimum standard to have a reasonable hope would be a PhD.
 
cragar said:
I was thinking about going to grad school to study philosophy of physics and math, and logic and paradoxes.
I was googling around to try and find a school, Columbia has something like it,
If I get a Masters or doctorate in this field, would it be hard to get a teaching position at a university? Or should I do something more applied.

https://www.physicsforums.com/blog.php?b=4536

... and people thought getting a job in physics is difficult!

Zz.
 
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The fact that you have identified exactly one program will give you some ideas of how competitive the job market will be.
 
Something that's really helped me in my academic career has been to imagine the following scenario...

You are given the task of raising the money to fund your research. You have a large amount of time - say one year, but the only way you can raise the monye is by randomly approaching people on the street, explaining whatever you want about the research in two minutes or less and asking for a donation.

As you can imagine, this will be more easy to do for some subjects than others.

Some problems may be so abstract that the only way you can get any money at all for them is to lump them together and sell them as "the value to solutions of abstract problems" but then, you have to split your pot with everyone else who is working on a related abstract problem.

While this metaphor has it's limitations I think it gives you a good idea of how easy it is to get a job doing academic work of any kind.
 
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