Why ‘nothing’ matters: Philosophy as a stepping-stone to law
6 – minute read
There’s an old joke: What’s the difference between a philosophy major and a lawyer? The answer: $100,000 in student loans and fewer “why” questions.
But it raises an interesting “why” question of its own: Why do so many law students start off as philosophy majors?
EDsmart, a leader in higher education rankings, lists philosophy as one of the top degree options sought by law school admissions departments, tied with economics for the highest LSAT score among all majors listed on the site. A 2014 analysis of data from the Law School Admissions Council by Derek Muller, a nationally recognized scholar in the field of election law, found that philosophy majors scored sixth best in terms of LSAT and GPA scores and were admitted to law school at a higher percent (75%) than any other major.
Kevin Aho, Florida Gulf Coast University philosophy professor and chair of the communication and philosophy department, understands why philosophy is often the go-to bachelor’s degree for those looking to go to law school.
“One of the foundational skills in philosophy is logical argumentation — learning how to construct and critique arguments,” Aho says. In addition to a philosophy major and minor, the “Law, Ethics and Society” track is available for FGCU students in other disciplines who want to take on a career in law.
“On the LSATs, our philosophy students score higher than any other discipline in the university because they already have the skill set to understand argumentative validity and soundness,” says Aho.
“A number of our students have gone on to law school and are now practicing attorneys,” Aho says, noting FGCU philosophy graduates have received their juris doctorate degrees at leading law schools, including Emory University, Florida State University, Michigan State University and Washington University in St. Louis.
A 2011 philosophy graduate, Jonathan Morhaim received an acceptance letter to the Emory School of Law in which the admissions dean at the time added a handwritten note. “It was something along the lines of ‘Philosophy is the perfect major for law school,’” Morhaim says.
Today, Morhaim focuses on high-exposure tort litigation at the Chicago, Illinois, office of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP. But as a philosophy and Honors College student, the Parkland, Florida, native focused on tracing the history of ideas. “We would learn about some philosophical principle and see where it came from and how it developed over the course of time. That’s a big part of what we do as law students — we take a legal principle and trace it through historical case law and legal scholarship. When you combine that with the importance and nature of argument in philosophical thought, it was a smooth transition from undergrad to law school.”
FGCU philosophy alumni have also secured placements at prestigious institutions like Cambridge and Oxford. The first Eagle to be awarded a Fulbright Fellowship at FGCU, Emilio Feijóo, was a double major in philosophy and English. And two philosophy alum, Maria Barbero and Eli Portella, earned doctoral degrees and have returned to teach at the university.
FGCU’s impressive philosophy alums demonstrate the real-world relevance and versatility of the field, in academia and in broader personal growth. For many of them, it started with thinking about nothing.
Thinking about nothing and asking the big questions
Aho begins his “Existentialism” course by asking his students, “Do you ever feel like something’s wrong with you? Do you ever feel like you don’t fit in? Do you ever feel like everyone else has it all figured out and you’re the only one lost and confused and anxious and unsure about your place in the world?”
Every hand goes up, he says.
“Every student says, ‘I feel that. I feel like I don’t know what my purpose is. I don’t know what the meaning of my life is.’ I tell them, ‘That means you’re an existentialist.’”
Aho’s “Existentialism” course explores the topic of nothingness and the realization that all humans are “adrift in a sea of nothingness,” he says.
“But we are self-fashioning beings who make ourselves through our choices. I chose to become a philosophy professor, which negated all sorts of other possibilities in my life. So, existence, for humans, is one long process of negating former identities, taking on new ones and then slotting out old ones that no longer work for us.”
Existentialism is a way of thinking that explores the “big” questions about the meaning of existence, the nature of freedom and how to face challenges like illness, anxiety and death. Existentialists believe that life doesn’t have a set meaning, so human beings must create meaning through their everyday choices and actions.
Existentialism emerged as a major intellectual movement in mid-20th-century France, shaped by the aftermath of World War II, the Holocaust and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These events forced a generation to confront deep questions about human existence, including death, freedom and the search for meaning in a seemingly chaotic world — questions Aho continues to pose today to the students in his class.
“Only human beings are free in this way. This can be quite unsettling because we realize that we alone are responsible for who we are and what we become.”
FGCU’s philosophy department boasts six full-time professors who have collectively authored or edited 16 books, covering diverse topics such as the philosophy of health and illness, morality and language. According to Google Scholar, FGCU philosophy faculty research has been collectively cited over 1,800 times. This breadth of experience advances academic discourse and ensures FGCU students have the tools to explore fundamental questions about life and purpose.
“You go to college to get a degree, to get a job, to make money. But philosophy is different. What about the meaning of your life? What about purpose? What about doing what really matters for you?” Aho says.
“Existentialism, and philosophy in general, is so attractive for college students. Often for the first time they are living independently away from the authority of their parents and, at a very early age, expected to choose a major that may dictate the next three or four decades of their life. And they still don’t know who they are.”
According to Aho, the concept of nothingness in existentialism isn’t necessarily dark or morose — it’s an invitation to create meaning.
“For students to confront those issues for the first time can be really a powerful experience. College is an incredibly important opportunity for self-realization, to come to an understanding about who they are and what matters to them.”