“One of the great things about philosophy is that we’re able to study a lot of big questions that we kind of take for granted and really look into why we do certain things and does it make sense,” says Ellen Carroll ’13, a philosophy major and philosophy, politics, and economics minor from Portsmouth, R.I.
A scholar in the Glynn Family Honors Program, Carroll finds philosophy to be a challenging major. “It really teaches you that you have to have a strong argument, you have to learn how to present yourself and your argument clearly, and you have to be able to stand by what you wrote. I really enjoy that kind of challenge.”
Carroll’s senior thesis focuses on moral philosophy, specifically whether donations to aid organizations should be considered a “free choice” or “something that we have a duty to doing.” She adds, “What really is the best way to help people who desperately need help? I think that’s a really interesting thing to think about.”
After graduation, Carroll will work at Boston Consulting Group in Chicago, where she has accepted a position as an associate. “I think that philosophy has prepared me for whatever I will be taking on after graduation,” she says.
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Originally published by Todd Boruff at al.nd.edu on November 29, 2013.