One of the oldest jokes around for those trained in philosophy includes a punch line about serving fries at insert name of favorite fast food restaurant. Well, it would appear at, at least in the UK, the view of one columnist about the value of philosophy degrees, thanks to the marketability of being a bioethicist, is markedly different–although wholly and utterly wrong.

I was more than surprised to read from The Independent yesterday in its Careers Advisor column the following query: “I am considering a degree in philosophy but am concerned about how it will be seen by employers. Can you help?”

What was even more shocking was the following answer: “Demand for the type of skills honed in three years of studying philosophical tradition is growing – in the NHS, for instance, medical ethics committees and training courses for staff are on the increase.” Jobs for philosophers as bioethicists in the UK are aplenty? Who knew? Unemployed philosophers on this side of the pond–book a ticket now on Virgin Atlantic!

Of course, this statement seems incredibly misleading–for anyone who knows anything about bioethics knows that training in philosophy alone does not qualify one to serve on a hospital ethics committee or to be a “card-carrying bioethicist”–whatever that means. The requisite practical skills in clinical ethics which include actual hands on consultation or policy making practice are not something that coursework in ancient greek philosophy or metaphysics or even moral philosophy will prepare one to do.

I find it provocative that the columnist would try to advance such a claim in the UK or anywhere else in the world for that matter, but ultimately it’s just wrong. It would not be any more true there than it would be here. An undergraduate from Northwestern or Boston University would be no more qualified to be a clinical ethicist at your local hospital than a recent graduate of University College London or Oxford.

Nice try, Careers Advisor, but you aren’t fooling this bioethicist. Let’s hope you didn’t convince any young Brits that a career in philosophy will qualify them for a wide and deep pool of jobs in the NHS either.

Summer Johnson, PhD

For a discussion of bioethics and its comparison to philosophy as an academic discipline and a discussion of the question “Will Bioethics Take the Life of Philosophy?”, read the editorial by Glenn McGee