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Computer Science Major and Philosophy Minor

LazyTheGreat

Bluelighter
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Apr 6, 2016
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Greetings, I plan on earning a bachelor's degree in computer science with an emphasis in the security side of computer science and obtaining a minor in philosophy. Would the minor in philosophy aid my career?
 
Totally dependents how you integrate it. If it's just something you're studying that is about stuff unconnected to your major, it will be of limited value or branding potential. But if you can use the minor and apply it to focus in on a specific area of your major that you're interested in (security, for instance), it could be very useful.

If it is of any use, it will be overshadowed by the major. It doesn't seem that PR folks give a lot of weigh to minors on things like resumes or anything. But it have the potential to be useful if you can integrate it into your major course of study, if nothing else as something interesting to discuss with potential employers that demonstrates your unique abilities (basically if you use the minor to enhance your overall course of study and demonstrate this in your application/job history/interview, your minor and how you approached it can help make your overall academic study more impressive).

So much of career is about how you brand and sell yourself.
 
I don't know much about computer science, but I do know a lot about (analytic) philosophy, so keep that in mind when considering my response.

There probably isn't that much philosophy which would transfer directly to computer science, but philosophy does sharpen your ability to think critically, solve problems and communicate effectively; these are skills which I think are sought after in any industry.

I think that the area of computer science which philosophy would be most useful for is working in AI. Familiarity with contemporary views in philosophy of mind, as well as the problems associated with them, could be quite helpful. I think that ethics would be an asset here as well. Self-driving cars are a fairly current example where work in AI raises important ethical questions, I am sure there are numerous others. I don't know anything about the security side of computer science, but perhaps there are significant ethical issues there as well.

Formal logic is a branch of philosophy, there is a chance that could come in handy more generally; though, I would expect that by the time you majored in computer science there wouldn't be a great deal that an introductory course to philosophical logic could teach you, perhaps I am wrong. I took an advanced philosophical logic unit last year, we were looking at normal modal logics and relevant logics, a few weeks of the course were devoted to looking at an (unsuccessful) attempt by a group of computer scientists who work in AI to use a modal relevant logic as an epistemic logic which was not susceptible to the problem of logical omniscience. If the philosophy department at your University has faculty with a background in philosophical logic then they might offer something similar. Assuming your computer science studies give you some familiarity with propositional and first-order logic there is a chance you might be able to enroll in more advanced philosophical logic units without having to take the introductory logic course offered by the philosophy department.

I think if you want the philosophy to aid your career in computer science then your best bet is to stick to logic, ethics (mostly applied, maybe some normative; I don't see how metaethics would be useful), and philosophy of science. If you think you might want to work in AI then philosophy of mind and/or language might be relevant as well. I don't think that stuff like political theory, metaphysics or the history of philosophy is likely to aid your career. Also, if your University has a focus on Continental or Eastern philosophy I think it is significantly less likely to be useful, however, I am not particularly knowledgeable about those areas and could be wrong about that.

I think philosophy is worth pursuing for its own sake (though I am biased), and if you are interested in it then you should take the opportunity to study a little while you are at University. You are already majoring in computer science, hopefully that is good enough for you to pursue a career in computer science. In my view, there is more to education than just preparing for the work force.

Are you only interested in philosophy because you think it might help your career? Or do you have an interest in philosophy and you are trying to justify minoring by relating it to your career aspirations? If the former, then while I think philosophy is the most relevant arts/humanities discipline in regard to computer science, there are probably other things you can study under a BSc which are more relevant. If the latter, I wouldn't worry so much about relating it to your career, but if you are particularly stressed about it you can be strategic with your unit selection and get something vocational out of it.

Assuming you are interested in philosophy for its own sake, what branches of philosophy are you particularly interested in?
 
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I'm not sure if philosophy would tie in very well with a Computer Science degree, especially in the field you plan to be in. You'd be better off doubling up Computer Science with Psychology or Criminology if you plan on working the cybersecurity side of things. I don't see how understanding the criminals/intruders you plan to keep out in depth wouldn't score you a few extra points with an employer :)
 
even the people i've met who have *majored* in philosophy have remarked to me that it has been extremely helpful in other careers. something very lacking in cs these days is ethics and studying philosophy is a good proxy for that. also, logic is a significant component of both philosophy and cs so you may even find the overlap helpful in understanding both fields better!

fwiw i minored in philosophy and ended up dropping out to later pursue a cs education, and i still see interesting relationships between cs and more philosophical topics. the logic lessons i took from philosophy in general really paid off in cs
 
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