Wyoming students aren’t allowed to get a degree in philosophy.
Wyoming will become the first state in the US where you cannot receive a B.A. in Philosophy. The University of Wyoming will be the only R1 institution, the only state flagship university, and one of two land-grant universities that do not offer a B.A. in Philosophy.
It is unclear what the justification for this decision is.
It’s not unclear at all. Wyoming is a very Republican state, and the people who run the government there are doofuses who’ve never taken a philosophy course or even thought about philosophy. Ignorance breeds ignorance.
Yeah, let’s get rid of critical thinking tools that inevitably connect to every human pursuit. Since when does science, technology, engineering, and mathematics require logic or epistemology?
How much more factual evidence do people need before they accept there is a magat xtian terrorist war on education?
As a person with a BA in Philosophy, I can say that it has never been terribly useful to me in any jobs I’ve had…at least not obviously so. And, with two PhDs in Philosophy we were developing an “ontology” for structured product knowledge and a knowledge graph about those products. Not philosophy in any usually sense I think.
That said, I think my Philosophy degree offered me a lot of flexibility in the various jobs I had in the tech industry including early on as a QA lead for system software development, technical and end user content development, and finally, a taxinomic classification of product info.
MAGA nominee in key House race says schools shouldn’t teach history.
Scarizona is so full of magat crap!
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/24/800074405/elections/arizona-first-district-jay-freely-history-censorship/ by Emily Singer
“They talk about how bad this country is,” Feely said in a speech after winning the GOP nomination. “They continually talk about slavery and the things that happened in the past instead of talking about the greatness of this country and where we can go.”
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth deleted Pentagon webpages that spoke about the heroism of minorities in the military.
I know, he didn’t literally say ‘don’t teach history’. But, it’s obvious he just wants to limit it to a twisted, waspy, pollyanna-ish view of this country and ignore the gritty reality of its history.
The philosopher’s toolkit, logic, fuzzy logic, reason, science.
“people who run the government there are doofuses who’ve never taken a philosophy course or even thought about philosophy”
No, not the reason. The reason is they don’t want students thinking.
Let’s not catch any cowboys in Wyoming doing any cowboy poetry!
That is something up with which we will not put!
/maga sarcasm
You would think a right wing state would have carved out an exception for Nietzsche and Heidegger. What…no Ayn Rand, Aleksandr Dugin, Nick Land, or Peter Boghossian in Wyoming?
No need for any exceptions.
They are not doing philosophy, are they?
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I checked the claim; true enough. I am surprised only one uni there offers a proper degree, that being UW.
Well, offered, soon.
Yeah, the “Freedom Caucus” in this state is anything but free. The state legislature has got its hooks into the university, and the university is just taking it for fear of losing funding. Not that there hasn’t been pushback. I think a few programs were dropped from the chopping block because of it, so there’s that. But a lot of the population here finished high school and saw no reason to get more learnin’.
Why study ‘general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, knowledge, mind, reason, language, and value.’ (Ty wikipedia) when you can just either religiously decree them and/or let the market sort it out?
@4
from what I can see all history is gritty and nasty no exceptions
also from what I can see the radical conservatives and the ultra-religious political seem to fear any semblance of objective thinking and prefer their own mythology over everything else, belief over reality
driven by the desire for power and control.
I get the impression that most right-wingers (in the USA at least) regard education, especially higher education, as useless unless it helps one get money and power. Given this view, most of the liberal arts and many of the sciences are considered useless wastes of money and time.
It is pretty simple, Philosophers are thinkers, the right only wants nonthinkers.
Philosopher
Core Meanings
Seeker of Wisdom: A person who explores truth, existence, and knowledge.
Deep Thinker: Someone who asks big questions about right and wrong, the mind, and the universe.
A philosopher is a thinker who seeks wisdom, studies fundamental questions about life and reality, and stays calm during hard times.
That explains why a deep red state doesn’t want Philosophers in their state.
“Philosopher” literally means, “lover of thinking”, or “lover of argument”. No surprise fascists are opposed.
Fill-oh-so-fee is thinkin!.
Thinkn is unTrumplican.
Thinkn makes folks question shit.
Shit can’t be question’d.
When shit is in charge.
Coz then folks will realise shit stinks.
Can’t have that when the shittest & stinkiest of shit is incharge can we now?
Alkso if we ignore reality & facts then that reality & thsoe acts just goez way’yah?
(No.)
Well, it’s not as if philosophy is one of the core disciplines that founded the very idea of universities to begin with. I’m sure the business schools won’t even notice that it’s missing.