think tank forum

which should i end up in, ultimately? academia or the private sector?

if academia, i should get a ph.d in philosophy, because i don't like academic economics as well.
if private sector, i should get a ph.d in econ and/or an mba. but i hate the real world.

money isn't much of an issue, but i have health problems and i need very good insurance in addition to some money to cover co-payments and deductibles. money would be nice for side projects as well.

another thought: isn't it better to always make as much money as possible? it's a sort of valuation of your contribution to society. if you can couple a $1m salary with a yearly philanthropy of $0.9m, how isn't that the best of both worlds?

Personally I find it important that I contribute to the betterment of society in a concrete way. I'd argue that a pursuit in the teaching of philosophy would be not very beneficial to society. Additionally I'd argue that a philosopher not exposed to multiple ways of life wouldn't be a very good philosopher.

Money shouldn't matter to you. But you need to decide what does matter to you. And then follow that.

So yeah... that's my suggestion.

do what you love, period. I personally feel that you shouldn't do something just for the money if you hate what your doing. In the end you will be happier and more content with yourself.

Both. A recent lecture in my history of phil. class kind of struck me. A woman came up to a philosopher (I can't quite remember which philosopher it was exactly), but to the story. The woman starts to poke fun at the philosopher asking him if he's so smart, why aren't you rich? The philosopher stares and takes a minute to respond and finally he says I don't know. he immediately began thinking and bought all of the wine processors in the region. He cornered the market and became instantly wealthy.