OP: a gem from that controversial "philosopher" Jesus Christ: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.". ;)

...seriously, "Swan" by his?/"her" own admission finds this forum exhausting, hates it and all zyr actions on here point to them trying to pick up men in an uncomfortably edgelordy/nerdy way <gag.> A few seem to be biting too, lol … maybe there should be a dating site cringedating.com or something to relieve people who are actually on forums like this to engage in legitimate intellectual discussion from deadweight sh!tposting wherein people hijack threads to twist the words of others and foolishly ascribe motives to them to try look edgy/cute or whatever ...

To get back to the actual, original post: I've engaged with philosophy in both a formal academic setting and on my own. In an academic setting where I've taken courses produced by the actual philosophy department (e.g. metaphysics, environmental ethics, etc.) I've found the study to be very disheartening and depression-inducing but I think this is because most of these professors seemed to be nihilists at heart. I find it very hard to learn from people with nihilistic tendencies. Additionally there was this whole "pissing contest" vibe within the philosophy department at UCSD (my alma mater) that made me truly hate it. When it seems like there is no room for debate, authentic exploration and discourse in a discipline, it really turns me off.

However, I've tangentially encountered philosophy in my religious studies coursework (this was my major) and, when approached from a multi-disciplinary standpoint I found it to be fascinating, enriching, and sometimes legitimately epiphany-inducing.

I seriously think that isolating philosophy into one discrete discipline is bizarre and elevates the act of "philosophizing" to some holy institution that is reserved for long-dead white men. I also feel it decontextualizes philosophies from their original geographic, temporal and sociological context which, in my opinion, makes it impossible to grasp the totality and actual gestalt of certain philosophical concepts.

TLDR: When I've studied philosophy within discrete "philosophy-department" academic courses I've found the study to be depressing. Whey I've encountered philosophical concepts in interdisciplinary study of other things (i.e. religion, politics) I've found it to be very enriching and even sometimes uplifting.

B.A. magna cum laude in Religious Studies from an ivy league with heavy philosophy component ...looks like I'd better upload a copy of my diploma to "prove it" though, right? ...seeing as how there's a credentials cop who checks on this thread once an hour to flame others?