What to market?
We believe that the best way to market philosophy is to provide objective information ("information", for short) about what it is, what is gives, how one does it, and why this is agreable. "Doing philosophy" may mean may different things (we even have a thematic focus about the topic), but the most salient ones for us are:
- doing a philosophy degree at a Swiss university (de / fr / en / it);
- participating in some of the research activities of academic Swiss philosophers (de / fr / en / it);
- attend philosophical events, in- and outside academia (de / fr / en / it);
- take philosophy courses not for ECTS, at universities or outside of them (de / fr / it);
- participate in reading and discussion groups (de / fr / it / en);
- read books or articles, and tell people about it;
- read philosophical stuff in the Swiss media, and tell people about it;
If you have other ideas, tell us about them.
Our collaboration with Universities
Universities, increasingly even in Switzerland, have an interest in attracting students. We are happy to report that enrolment numbers have been more or less stable over the years:
To allow potential philosophy students to make an informed and reasonable choice, we have put together some reasons in favour of studying philosophy:
https://www.philosophie.ch/warum-pourquoi-perche
More extended argumentation may be found here:
- Gute Gründe für ein Philosophiestudium
- Why Study Philosophy?
- Pourquoi étudier la philosophie? Raisons et motivation
- Perché studiare filosofia? Ragioni e motivi
Once this is settled, the next question, of course, is where:
- wo Philosophie studieren?
- Where Study Philosophy?
- Où étudier la philosophie?
- Dove studiare filosofia?
The different options for BA studies are presented here:
For MA studies, we have:
For those learning to teach philosophy:
- Lehrdiplom-Studiengänge
- Formation pédagogique pour les futur.e.s enseignant.e.s
- Formazione pedagogica per futuri insegnanti
And some are doing or thinking about doing a PhD...:
- Doktorieren in der Philosophie
- PhD Studies in Philosophy
- Faire un doctorat en philosophie
- Fare un dottorato in Filosofia
Our Collaboration with High-Schools
In many high-schools in Switzerland, philosophy is a mandatory or an optional course offer. We are trying to find out what is offered and by whom - any help very welcome!
- Philosophie am Gymnasium
- High-School Philosophy
- La philosophie à l’école secondaire post-obligatoire
- La filosofia nelle scuole superiori
We also have pages for the schools themselves, and the students attending them:
To assist high-school students discovering philosophy, we also offer some courses ourselves:
We would like to encourage philosophy teachers, especially those teaching in high-schools, to share some of their teaching material:
We're also very interested in people sharing their knowledge of and their opinion about existing textbooks and manuals:
Last but not least, we're thankful for every compilation of introductory literature, with comments if possible:
What's Next?
It seems that a major worry about studying philosophy is the mistaken belief that such a choice will make it particularly difficult to find gainful employment. Nothing could be further from the truth!
To substantiate our abstract argument with details, we collect testimonials by former students of philosophy: