I just read something ‘that only 5 percent of college require a class in philosophy to graduate.’

I remember this line from an 80 song ‘Philosophy is the talk of the cereal box religion the smile on the dog.’ What is philosophy? It is love of wisdom and a search for truth. Carrie Gress PHD in philosophy wrote ‘there is more certitude in philosophy than most people believe.’

I graduated from a Catholic college in 1992. I remember that each student had to take 2 philosophy classes to graduate.’

Why this collapse in interest in philosophy? College used to be a place where students debated question such as..Does God exist? Now these questions rarely come up because the very question is now seen as irrelevant.. Philosophy is seen as answering questions that no one is asking.. in a world where ‘you have your opinion I have mine.’ When everything becomes a matter of opinion rather than truth than philosophy leads no where?

The Church Fathers taught ‘philosophy is the handmaiden of theology.’ Philosophy deals with ‘what we can know by reason alone.’

I suspect the reason philosophy has dropped out of favor is our pragmatic view of education., which we can thank Dewey.. Basically put knowledge only has value if it ultimately makes money.. Students ask ‘is this on the test? ‘ While this is understandable to a degree we have lost our love of learning.

But in the end philosophy might be the most marketable skill. What skills will be needed in the market place. One billionaire said that in the past you needed specific marketable skills, and the more specialize the better. He argued that this will no longer be true in the future. An employer will need employees who can think on their feet and adapt to new tasks, some times on a daily basis.

We all need philosophy. We all need a guiding principle on how to live. Because.. we will all face the ultimate questions such as ‘why do I exist? Is there a God? What happens after death?

A member of generation Z told me that her generations buys lots of self help books. This tells me we can’t get around philosophy we will all need to face the questions posed by philosophy.