Philosophy Now Forum

Hello to all,

I finished a 3 year biology degree and have decided I want to study philosophy at the undergraduate level. I have been interested in philosophy for many years and have been studying it by myself for some time.

I have noticed that joint honours courses are available and I am interested in a few combination.

Philosophy and Anthropology
Philosophy and Mathematics
Philosophy and Psychology

Too name a few.

I am not sure if this is the proper section of the forum to ask this but I will anyway. Can someone give me advice on which subject would be best to combine with philosophy. Going with my interests I have narrowed it down the the three above.

All suggestions are welcome

Thank You

I would encourage you to be guided by whichever of the other subjects you would find most interesting. Depending on how the courses are structured, you are likely to spend something like 40% of your time on each of the two subjects separately, and only 20% on the overlap, so you had better like the separate subjects in their own right.

If the overlap is the important thing, then I would suggest thinking about which area of philosophy you find most interesting. If it is philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of science, then the philosophy and mathematics course will have a lot to recommend it (especially as a lot of the most active topics in the philosophy of science are concerned with the mathematical sciences, especially physics, and it really helps to be able to follow the mathematics). If the philosophy of mind entrances you, then you might favour philosophy and psychology. If you are interested in the philosophy of the social sciences, then anthropology could be helpful, although there are also connections between anthropology and the philosophy of mind and of language. Having said that, I think you will find more points of contact between philosophy in the analytical tradition and either mathematics or psychology, than you will between that sort of philosophy and anthropology.