In response to "philosophy is useless", let's start with the facts:
Fact 1: Philosophy is the Father of Science and it was through the philosophy of Aristotle, and his theory on deductive reasoning that the scientific method was born. Philosophy teaches an individual how to think, and reason using logic. Where would the world be without the question, "what if?"
Fact 2: Philosophy majors performed SUBSTANTIALLY better than average on EACH of the graduate admissions tests surveyed. Not one other group of majors shows this consistent pattern – not even economics or the physical sciences, whose majors did exceptionally well in some areas but only marginally better than average on the verbal portion of the GRE. Biology majors performed better than average on all tests, but the margins were consistently smaller than those of philosophy majors. SOURCE: US Department of Education studies. By the way, the tests include the GRE, the GMAT and the LSAT
Fact 3: I was a philosophy major and because of my education not only did I learn to use logic, reason and thought, I also became an exceptional writer and strong leader. I am able to see patterns that others miss. I can understand law, science, politics, finance, business and art in a way that others can't because I have learned how to think and analyze key components and their relationship to each other. Through philosophy I gained wisdom, not just knowledge. Knowledge can be looked up on the internet, but wisdom is a skill-set that philosophers are taught. I am now the president of a public technology firm.
Fact 4: The greatest scientific thinker of the 20th century was also a philosopher. Albert Einstein. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/einstein-philscience/
To anybody considering double majoring in philosophy and physics, go for it. It will be a lot of hard work, so make sure you have a passion for both. By the way, my daughter is currently a philosophy and astrophysics major at a top university.
