In 1978, Catherine Holzle was entering her junior year, and, just like everyone else around this time, she was figuring out what she wanted to do with her life after graduation. She knew she had certain strengths academically and had a strong background in foreign languages, being fluent in French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. Having a background in music and arts, she considered the life of an artist but knew that she was “never going to be a world class pianist.” Thinking that it would be difficult finding a career in teaching and writing, she started to think about law. “I could make a living as a lawyer,” she remembers thinking. In considering what discipline would be the best for practicing law, Holzle discovered the Department of Philosophy.

In the course of interviewing a number of graduates of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, a common theme of my conversations was how philosophy serves not merely as an interesting discipline in which the ideas of Kant, Hume and Plato are discussed or the meaning of justice or truth is debated, but studying philosophy also provides the essential analytical, writing, and communication skills necessary for a successful career.

“If you go into law, having a background in philosophy is ideal,” states Catherine Holzle. For the fundamental skills that law demands—an ability to debate, persuade, and use of language—philosophy and logic ended up serving Holzle as a solid foundation for a successful legal career. “One of the nice things about the philosophy department was its size. The instruction was practically individualized, and it provided a good change to interact with students and professors.” Holtzle found all of her philosophy courses to be stimulating, and she “never regretted it as a foundation.” Graduating from Maryland in 1980, Catherine Holzle entered law school and is now working for the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“Any coherent legal system,” says Judge Leif Clark, “is nothing more than a construct developed out of basic philosophical notions of, among other things, how the world works, how people work, an appropriate ethical scheme, and an appropriate way to speak.” Judge Clark, a 17 year bankruptcy judge for the Western District of Texas, states that philosophy forms an integral part of his work as a judge. Using legal principles is not merely a mechanical application of rules to concrete cases; rather, it is a balancing process involving considerations of societal good, moral values, precedence, logic, and personal interests.

Entering the University of Maryland, Judge Clark initially wanted to pursue a career as a minister and was told by his uncle that philosophy would provide an excellent foundation for studying religion. Philosophy, Judge Clark states, provided the “basic grounding in larger concepts that often form the basis for religious thinking.” After graduation, Clark entered seminary school and performed missionary work in Detroit, MI. Finding that life as a minister was not for him, Judge Clark pursued a legal career and eventually worked his way into a judgeship on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas. Judge Clark states that philosophy provided him with an understanding of how to navigate the intricate considerations of statutes, societal good and precedence in determining the law.

Entering the University of Maryland in his mid-twenties, John Herman, after pursuing a career in the printing business in Arizona, decided to focus on a liberal arts education. He reports that philosophy, conceived by many to be inapplicable to the working world, has proven to be highly useful. It provided him with the communication and writing skills that many lack. The analytical skills involved in deconstructing problems have served him well as the Vice President of E-Business and Marketing for RDO Equipment, an agricultural equipment distributor in South Dakota. Providing some of the most intellectually rigorous and stimulating moments in college, a seminar on Spinoza with Professor Manekin and a philosophy of sex course with Professor Pasch stand out. He also remembers the long hours spent working with Professor Levinson on his honors thesis on the definition of art and how art that is generated by chance can be understood as art. Having an appreciation for the liberal arts education, Herman states that he became a well-rounded person as a result of majoring in philosophy.

Terrell Roberts has been practicing law in Prince George’s County for the last 25 years. He has been primarily focused on civil rights and police misconduct, “of which there have been not a few in Prince George’s County.” Influenced by his father, Roberts was inspired to pursue a liberal arts education and major in philosophy at the University of Maryland. He remembers a rigorous advanced logic course he took with Maryland Professor Sam Varnado. “The courses were tough but I recall that I liked them very much. The professors were intellectually top notch, and I was inspired by them.” Upon graduation in 1971, Roberts pursued a law degree and found the logical and rigorous approach of philosophy to be a “very good background for law.” After starting his own firm in 1985, Roberts has focused on issues relating to police misconduct. During this time, there were many incidents of canine attacks on the residents of Prince George’s County. Publicizing these stories in the news media and through litigation, Roberts worked to reduce the injustices of the police force and states that today “the number of dog bites is practically nil.”

The stories I heard from some of the alumni of the University of Maryland’s Department of Philosophy reminded me of the influence and power of philosophy. It is not limited to the domain of academia but can have a profound influence on one’s life pursuits and provides one with the analytical and communication resources necessary for advancing oneself in the world. Taking the “Contemporary Moral Issues” course in the Philosophy Department, Suzanne Badawi became interested in the issues of “abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia. These issues inspired me to go to law school. Everybody in my classes had a different opinion, and a different basis and reason for it. I wanted to go out in the world and advance the positions I believed in.” Badawi graduated with a B.A. in philosophy in 1993 and went on to law school. She is now practicing intellectual property in Los Angeles at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP.