Bio of the Philosopher
What got you into the field of Philosophy?
I’d split this into a more “formal” and “informal” introduction into Philosophy. Formally, I took a political philosophy course in my senior year of university which taught me so much about different types of conceptions of justice. Informally, I think, like everyone else really, I’ve always had questions or instinctive reactions to questions of everyday life that I’d wondered about and tried to answer.
How has Philosophy has helped you in your everyday life?
It’s helpful – as you think of the questions you have to ask everyday, whether personal or professional – to have a framework or several frameworks in which to try and answer them. Of course, some questions are strictly technical. For example, “How does a flute make the sounds that it does?” But there are other questions which can’t really be answered technically. For instance, “If there were three people in the room, how would I choose who to give the flute to?” Do you give it to the best player? How about the one who needs it most to make money for their family? Or maybe just give it at random?
Why do you think Philosophy is so uncelebrated in today’s society?
I’d say more that it’s uncelebrated only because most people, by definition, have to be personal philosophers to deal with everyday life, only that they may not think it counts as philosophy. For instance, choosing whether or not to, say, postpone a given spending to the future requires some philosophy on how you view the future. So, I’d say that, in the day-to-day issues where there is no one right answer (there can be several wrong answers), we do turn to philosophy to try and justify our choices.
Do you think (honestly speaking) that philosophy has any real value in the world of employment?
Yes! As above, in situations where there isn’t a right answer – happens all the time at work – we need a way to frame how we think about making a given choice. And this isn’t as simple as a personal preference between, say, ice cream flavours (vanilla for me), but for a question like, “Which job should I pick? The one that pays me more or the one that is better for my long-term career prospects”
There’s philosophy in everything, so be on the lookout. And you don’t have to read the classical texts (which can be very dry with anachronistic language) to wet your toes. Watch movies – start with Watchmen or watch TV series like Game of Thrones. Philosophy isn’t and shouldn’t be about folks in ivory towers pontificating about the nature of life; it’s something innate in all of us as we make decisions everyday in our lives.