Jefferson's letter

In 1787, Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to his nephew, who was looking for advice from his uncle as to what to study. Mr. Jefferson's reply is quite interesting.

• Study Spanish. It's going to be useful.
• Don't study moral philosophy. A farmer could give you as good an answer to a moral question as a professor. Read good books and you'll have a proper sense of right and wrong. "And, above all things, lose no occasion of exercising your dispositions to be grateful, to be generous, to be charitable, to be humane, to be true, just, firm, orderly, courageous, &c"
• On religion: Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.
• And on travel: "This makes men wiser, but less happy. When men of sober age travel, they gather knowledge, which they may apply usefully for their country; but they are subject ever after to recollections mixed with regret; their affections are weakened by being extended over more objects; & they learn new habits which cannot be gratified when they return home." He is damning of young men traveling and the full text is worth reading.

Link.

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While getting a philosophy degree in college, I thought one way to try to make money with my degree would be to create a "Dial-A-Philosopher" number. People could call up with life's questions, and I would tell them what a dead Greek classical philosopher or maybe a dead German existentialist would have to say about their situation. Pretty silly, right?

In this Internet Age, it seems like anything is possible. I just learned of this service called http://www.liveperson.com/ that will chat with you online about your questions in a variety of fields. This includes...philosophy. There are over 200 people who will collect up to $18.00 per minute to answer your philosophical questions (in addition to tens of thousands that will help you with everything else from legal, business, romance, and lots of other subjects).

I don't remember much of my philosophy studies, but maybe I could sign up to be an expert on Surfing the Internet for Random Stuff...