Why Bother?

In March, I spoke about the value of philosophy at a benefit conference for Ukraine. I was invited to be more personal than I was: my talk was about the contrast between ameliorative and existential value, and how it relates to “activist” public philosophy.

I avoided the personal because my thoughts on that front are too navel-gazing and too negative. I’ve never felt less “sharp” as a philosopher, and the deficit prompts a measure of shame. I tell myself it’s a function of being too caught up in administrative work, and that the greater part of being “sharp” in philosophy, as in most things, is putting in the time. This is the fabled “growth mindset,” a therapy for “imposter syndrome.” When someone is “effortlessly brilliant,” their brilliance is, in almost every case, the visible 1% of an iceberg of hard work.

But hard work is hard work, and there are problems of motivation as well as time. In my case, they turn on the evidence for three psychosocial claims.

1. If I am curious about a que…