Its that time of year when politicians take pot shots at philosophy degrees, with the most recent

shot coming from Senator Marco Rubio in last nights GOP debate. In responding to a question
about educational policy, Rubio lamented the stigmatization of vocational training that
discourages many from entering into the manual trades. In making this point, Rubio also
claimed that welders make more money than philosophers.
Rubios claim is, of course, false: Sorry, Marco Rubio. Philosophy majors actually make
way more than welders. (We philosophers make a point of attending to the difference between
truth and falsity, which is part of the reason why we make such poor politicians see Platos
Republic.)
On the other hand, Rubios concern about the undervaluing of the manual trades along
with the vocational training they require is well taken. In fact, the students who tend to be drawn
towards philosophy degrees share much in common with those drawn to the trades. Compare
someone learning auto-repair to someone getting a philosophy degree. Both find the subjects
intellectually challenging, but unlike most students who must endure the increasingly common
teach-to-the-test curriculum in secondary education, they see the point and value of the
challenge getting the car to start or making a contribution to a debate about a topic with
genuine significance, such as whether or not we have free will.
Unlike many white-collar jobs in knowledge fields, both the trades and philosophy
value depth of knowledge whether its the knowledge of how to rebuild an engine or the fate
of the concept of causality during the enlightenment. With that comes a low tolerance for what
the philosopher Harry Frankfurt calls BS or what the ancient Greek philosophers (the study of
whom Marco Rubio has repeatedly ridiculed) call sophistry speaking with a lack of
understanding and concern for the truth of what one is saying.
Both require openness to the possibility of being mistaken. A ritual most philosophy
majors endure is having a fatal flaw pointed out by their professor in a paper they were
previously proud of. Logica sub-discipline of philosophyis constraining. Either the
argument is valid or it is not. The physical objects vocational students encounter are similarly
constraining sometimes the transmission fails even after the mechanic student has followed all
of the books instructions.
Rubio might be surprised to know that one of the most passionate, persuasive, and wellreasoned defenses of the value of the manual trades comes from a University of Chicago trained
philosopher who also happens to be a motorcycle mechanic, Matthew Crawford, many of whose
points are mentioned above. Read this if you want to see what it looks like when someone thinks
philosophically about this problem: The Case for Working With Your Hands The New York
Times.
(Davis Kuykendall is a PhD student in philosophy at Purdue who enjoys repairing
mountain bikes, while also thinking seriously about Leibnizs metaphysics of causation under the
direction of our own Professor of Philosophy Jan Cover.)