Although I agree with Matt Coleman’s call to elect people who will govern with grace and dignity, there was also much to disagree with in his recent op-ed (Jan. 16), “What happened to grace and dignity?”

I also found it amusing that he admits he has “proudly voted Republican since 1980.” Presumably, this means he voted twice for Donald Trump — a man severely lacking in grace and dignity.

Putting aside Coleman’s apparent hypocrisy, I want to focus on his assertion that earning a philosophy degree renders people unable to pay back their student loans. The denigration of philosophy — and the liberal arts in general –is a familiar trope, but it is profoundly wrong. It’s a shame that the vice-chairperson of the Marshall School Board doesn’t know better.

As a philosophy teacher for the past 21 years, I have encountered the denigration of philosophy many times. My wife’s grandfather once asked me, “How does that put meat and potatoes on the table?”

While it’s true that philosophy majors aren’t likely to see a “Philosophy Major Wanted” sign, philosophy majors with no other degree actually do quite well for themselves. According to data collected by PayScale that was published in The Wall Street Journal in 2017, among those with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and no other degree, the mid-career median earnings of philosophy majors exceeded that of majors in any other humanities field and was 16th highest in a study comparing salaries across 50 majors in the U.S.

In fact, the earnings of philosophy majors were even higher than majors in marketing, accounting, information technology, business management, and nursing.

This might seem surprising, but philosophy — literally the “love of wisdom”— studies the most fundamental questions that human beings ask themselves. Because philosophy isn’t typically taught in the U.S. K-12 education system, people often don’t understand what it is.

Philosophy includes the areas of logic (the study of arguments), ethics (how should we act?), epistemology (what can we know?), metaphysics (what kinds of things exist?), and aesthetics (what is beauty?).

It’s been said that liberal arts disciplines don’t teach you how to make a living; they teach you how to make a life. Making a living is necessary, of course, but it is not the point of education.

However, it just so happens that the skills philosophy majors learn are ones that the marketplace rewards. Philosophy majors learn how to think critically, communicate effectively, and act wisely. As such, they are exactly the kind of employee employers want.

In fact, in a survey conducted by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, 93% of the employers surveyed agreed that “a candidate’s demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than their undergraduate major.” This is why some people regard philosophy as the most practical major there is.

The usefulness of philosophy is why Michael D. Higgins, the President of Ireland, has advocated for the study of philosophy in Irish schools. And just this month, Scotland’s The Scotsman also called for a greater emphasis on philosophy in education, arguing that “we need to vaccinate ourselves against the virulent lies of people like Trump and the best way to do that is to teach the wisdom of Socrates and company to our children.”

Contrary to what Coleman might think, the study of philosophy –logic and ethics, in particular — will bring us closer to his preferred ideal of electing those who will govern with grace and dignity. Without such study, people are more likely to fall for bizarre conspiracy theories and get suckered by sophists like Trump and his apologists who have asserted that “truth isn’t truth,” pushed “alternative facts,” and claimed that “what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

The cure for what ails us is more, not less, philosophy.

— Dr. Brett Gaul is a Professor of Philosophy at Southwest Minnesota State University