I want to be able to say "my major is philosophy" and so I looked up the word
for philosophy, but I'm not sure if it would be correct use the same word when
talking about it as a major in college?

In other words, would this be correct?

私は専攻が哲学です。 【わたしはせんこうがてつがくです。】

Thank you!!

ありがとうございます！
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2018-10-04T22:51:55.883
61974
2018-10-05T17:21:20.550
31466
question
translation word-choice
Is 哲学【てつがく】 the correct word to use when talking about Philosophy in regards to the Major?
Yes, 哲学 is the correct word for philosophy (the subject) in Japanese.

The word 哲学 was basically invented in the 19th century for this very purpose
and popularized by Nishi Amane ([journal source here](http://philosophy-
japan.org/wpdata/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Tetsugaku_Vol1_12.Kanayama.pdf),
[wiki](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%93%B2%E5%AD%A6)).

In Japanese, philosophy is sometimes applied by extension to non-Western
thinkers, but if someone wants to avoid calling non-Western things philosophy,
then [思想]{しそう} is often used instead.

Put another way, 哲学 is exactly the right word for Western philosophy, because
it is a word that was created precisely to translate the term philosophy.

As naruto explained to me, your sentence is a natural way of stating your
major:

> 私は専攻が哲学です
>
> 私は哲学が専攻です

In addition, you could use:

> 私の[専攻]{せんこう}は[哲学]{てつがく}.

or in many contexts,

> [哲学]{てつがく}[専攻]{せんこう}です.
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2018-10-04T23:01:13.717
61975
2018-10-05T17:21:20.550
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer