I have two degrees in philosophy. I quit my PhD with an MA after I realized academic life wasn’t for me.
When people find this out about me… they rarely react positivity anymore. Most are confused, some look upset, others get defensive or crack cliche jokes about how I got a job with a useless degree like that or if I work at McDonalds.
It seems to have gotten way worse the past few years. In my late 20s/early 30s people seemed to react a lot more positively to this fact about my life? People would ask me about it and why I did it and what I studied specifically. I really liked those conversations.
I feel naive as to why philosophy is so controversial for the average person, anymore than English or History is? I really enjoyed my studies and still do them as a hobby now.
Just speculating here, but I think the economic situation becoming much more difficult for many people might be a factor. When it’s hard finding a decent job even after studying something “good”, spending years of your life and possibly lots of money on a degree with no immediate economic benefits might seem like quite a ridiculous luxury.
My guess is that due to the economic situation and also climate crisis situation, people do more things they don’t feel comfortable with morally, and so when you’re the guy who thinks about what’s morally right or wrong, your existence confronts them with their wrongdoing.
So, it’s their own actions they don’t like, but they can just not think about it until you show up.
That’s my pet theory anyways. Being clean-edge and vegan, I’ve had that experience a lot…