opinions on Physics/Philosophy double major

comfortablycurt
Mon, 16 Feb 2015 07:31:15 +0000

The two fields don’t have as much in common as many people think that they will upon going into them. I started college with the intention of double majoring in physics and philosophy. I took courses in both, and I quickly realized that they really had nothing at all to do with one another. There are certainly some philosophical aspects to certain ideas in physics…but as far as doing physics is concerned, these philosophical aspects have no real significance. The vast majority of philosophy is in no sense at all related to physics. Some areas of philosophy have some parallels with basic ideas in physics, but these relations are tangential at best in most cases, and almost misleading in others. I ultimately decided that a second major in philosophy wasn’t going to help me get where I wanted to go, so I’m double majoring in physics and math. It kind of depends on where one intends to go. I plan on going to grad school for physics, so a physics/math double major is the best option for me. A double major in physics and philosophy would be very intellectually fulfilling, but I’m not sure that one would really benefit from it in terms of employment or anything like that.