Quotations from alumni

Teacher: "Obviously the systematic inquiry as well as divergent thinking acquired in philosophical training has assisted in my teaching....I learned and grew through the Maples and am proud to be a graduate of the program."

Case Manager/Supervisor for mentally handicapped adults: "I am faced with many ethical decisions. The things I learned at the Maples helped me to make clearer, better decisions...I continue to read many of the great philosophers."

Graduate student in public policy: "Philosophy has helped me immensely with my writing and analytical skills."

Teacher: "My undergraduate teachers...taught me to read and study vigorously for the delight found in the exercise of the human mind and for the power found in human knowledge....The study of philosophy has been very helpful [in my commitment to my family] -- allowing me to step back and look for the logic of the situations we encounter."

“A BA in Philosophy has definitely been helpful.  As an occupational therapist, I am constantly analyzing and interpreting data……I really feel that the background in Philosophy has helped me to do this – in general, this background helped me learn how to think, how to analyze information, how to form ideas, and how to put everything together in a way that is logical and makes sense.  I am so grateful for that education and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
 ---Occupational Therapist working with children with disabilities

“Critical thinking, reasoning, problem solving and logic [were] basic essential skills for critical decision-making [in my job].”
---Vice President, Human Resources

“Probably the only useful aspect of philosophy in terms of my job are my writing and analytical skills….But it has been useful to my life.  Of course, I don’t know how people can live without examining their lives.”
---Capacity Building Assistant, World Hunger Year

“Yes [a B.A. in Philosophy was a useful degree], but it took time to realize this.  This degree helped me to understand how and why people think as they do – therefore, it helped me to relate and empathize with others, which enhanced my ability as a teacher of mathematics, and as an administrator.”
---Intermediate School Principal

“My undergraduate training provided me with skills in critical thinking and analytical writing abilities which have made further studies and application processes less daunting.  I relied on these skills to construct my application to medical school and rely on them more than ever in my clinical work.  I am planning on specializing in psychiatry and I find that my knowledge of philosophy is useful in this field.  But I also find that many physicians in this field have undergraduate degrees in philosophy.  Having that common experience with my mentors and colleagues also provides a certain advantage.”
---Medical student

“Yes, my BA in Philosophy was useful.  It inspired my curiosity which inspired my subsequent intellectual development.”
---Assistant Professor of English

“A door opened for me when I first took philosophy courses at U of M….inchoate questions that I had struggled with as a youth were permitted to surface and become engaged under the kind and persistent mentoring of Professors Skorpen and Treadwell and others….My life’s work has centered on the creation and sustaining of meaning in individual lives and in the societies in which we live.  It has been an arduous work through the various manifestations of my career:  working with drug addicts, alcoholics, prisoners, as a psychology professor especially in the clinical and counseling areas, as a professor teaching graduate courses in philosophical psychology, and finally as a psychotherapist dealing with deeply troubled individuals and families….I find myself thankful for the manner in which the philosophical enterprise has helped me to encounter what is most difficult in life with a kind of ‘tragic-optimism.’  Philosophy has shown me that even the quiet life can be lived as a great adventure if one can cultivate solitude and attend to life itself – in its simplicity and directness.  In a sense, the philosophical enterprise continues in my life as a way of being:  questioning, encountering, giving thanks.”
---Psychologist, retired

“Personally, I learnt about many views on thinking and understanding the world and other people’s thought processes and different outlooks.  Philosophy helps you recognize a ‘bad’ argument and hence you are not easily swayed by irrational attempts at persuasion.  The ethical studies give you a peace of mind and the aesthetic, an appreciation for the good/beautiful in life.”
---Purchasing Manager

“Most of my undergraduate work was more closely related to religious studies.  That said, the courses I took sharpened considerably my critical thinking skills and allow me the pathways for synthesizing wide-reaching and often disparate information.  All of this is critical to my work as a musician; I’m an abstractionist, and I pull from very deep traditions in the hopes of contributing something of aesthetic value to a pan-cultural worldview….about six years ago I wrote a piece of music inspired by Professor Sarah Halford’s teachings on Julia Kristeva.”
---Musician

“I received a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science.  These two degrees coupled together gave me a very grounded view of the Judicial System as a whole…I’ve always maintained that the philosophy courses were for my mental health while I was at the University.  They gave me the thirst for knowledge that I still have today; and would explain why I continue to take courses as I get older.”
---Deputy Clerk/Training Co-ordinator, U.S. District Court

“I believe my philosophy background has improved my ability to make logical arguments and to understand others’ arguments.  It has also made me realize weaknesses in arguments, which affects my understanding of news reports and various other media as well as my legal pursuits…My Philosophy degree and professors have helped shape my personal hobbies and interests.  The books I choose to read and even the music I choose to listen to are different than they would have been had I studied, say, Economics.  I continue to read essays, literature, and sometimes treatises from philosophers I read as an undergraduate.”
---Law student

 “Philosophy helps with critical thinking.  In addition, Philosophy helps you to know when to question and when to follow the status quo.”
---Project Manager

“My degree from UMaine has been very useful since I found that it prepared me for graduate school.  I found that the courses and format of courses…in graduate school are very similar to those I took at UMaine in philosophy – which has I think put me at an advantage in my doctoral program.”
---PhD graduate student in Philosophy

“Even if I had not gone on to get an advanced degree in Philosophy, my undergraduate major in Philosophy would have been a significant event in my life.  To paraphrase Graham Greene, it was an inoculation (against the unreflective life) that ‘took.’”
---Professor of Philosophy

“A BA in Philosophy has proven to be very useful in the workplace – especially in technology.  Most technologically-educated people are trained to see specific problems and solve them separately.  In other words, a tactical approach to problem-solving.  Philosophy helped me to see problems from a strategic point-of-view.  This latter approach allows one to develop solutions to business issues, instead of individual tactical tweaks.  I believe this is an important aspect of leadership.
“Along with writing skills, Philosophy training is a good lesson in courage.  Maybe the courage is latent but people that speak up about, against, etc something; people that are willing to try something new – are usually the people that make a difference and win….
            “The biggest functional skill I received from Philosophy was my writing ability.  To write clearly one needs to think clearly.  Philosophy helps one think clearly.”
---V.P., Marketing, Tech start-up

“I use my Philosophy degree every day (or, rather, the training I received for that degree).  Through the study of Philosophy I learned, firstly, the rudiments of logical thought and the skills necessary for the weighing of information and the formulation of cogent arguments.  A grounding in the various philosophical systems of thought gave me a perspective on the long duree of history – an understanding of humanity’s attempts at wrestling with the weighty (and sometimes not-so-weighty) questions faced in the course of human development.
“I am an Archaeologist and find that my Philosophy degree helps me consider a wider range of behaviors than do many of my ‘hard science type’ colleagues.  While quantification is certainly a part of what I do, a study of Philosophy has helped me to see human behavior as a nuanced data set – it has led me to believe that ‘why’ is every bit as important (if more ephemeral) as the ‘who, what, when, and where’ that are standard archaeological questions.”
---Associate Lecturer in Anthropology

“Being able to write well is, I think perhaps the most useful practical application of a liberal arts education.  Close behind writing – actually, they are intertwined – is the ability to think critically.  I have also found my Philosophy training to be helpful in other specific ways.  One, it gives you the ability to look past the immediate to have a broader, slower perspective on contemporary life and the ‘popular view.’  Two, it has served as both a gateway to and a connective thread through my interests in history, literature, religion, and even – more recently – environmental issues.  Three, it often enhances and informs my life as a Christian believer and gives me tools and perspective when conversing with both Christians and those of other faiths and beliefs….
            “I also found my Philosophy degree very helpful in the (substantial) Masters-level literature component of my MFA…When I encountered and had to work with literary theory (esp. deconstruction) and other manifestations of postmodernism, I wasn’t completely thrown.”
---At-home Mom, former writer/editor/proofread, prospective freelance writer

“...my primary responsibilities include cognitive psychology and statistics.  I have been interested in the philosophy of mind since my undergraduate days at Maine.  I consider my philosophy degree to have been crucial in developing my career in cognitive psychology and judgment research.  Like many in my field, my hero is William James.  My specific interests in cognition led me to take a rather narrow range of courses involving epistemology, language, pragmatism, and ethics.  As it turns out, these were essential to what I do.”
---Associate Professor in Psychology

“I remember taking Dr. Virtue’s freshman philosophy course that opened a world of mental exploration that I had never experienced.  When I went to talk to him about majoring in philosophy, I asked him whether philosophy would help me find the answers to all my questions.  He said, ‘No, it will help you find the doors, and you will have to learn how to open them yourself.’  It was advice that I have kept with me.
            “I enjoyed logic at Maine, and used it throughout my career in casualty claims, because they involve understanding and constructing solid logical, legal arguments.  I specialized in surety, environmental, product liability, and medical malpractice claims, and so legal analysis was always complex and interesting…..
            “So, what is the importance of philosophy today at Maine and where should you take it?  I would love to see it used as a lens through which to examine all the important issues of the 21st Century.  Climate change, long term economics, endocrine disruption, the role of the US in the future of the globe are only a few of the areas that might be examined through and matured by philosophy.”
---Equity trader and PhD graduate student in Conservation Biology and Conservation Ethics

“I think that a Philosophy education especially combined with a 2nd major gives the student a great advantage in understanding the context of the many complicated issues we face in this ‘sound bite’ dominated society we live in.”
---Executive Director

“Training in critical theory and the ability to write clearly have translated very well into my professional experiences….Philosophy is my intended career – either in academia or in industry.  It has made significant contributions to my life and work, directing me to issues of environmentalism and technology.”
---PhD graduate student in Philosophy

What alumni have done