I am a philosopher AMA

[Booboostwo]

This will probably be the shortest AMA in the (admittedly short) history of AMA, but here it goes anyway.

[eyeswideshit]

What is your favourite topic?

[BubblesInTheTub]

Are you an academic?

What area of philosophy?

[AssassinatedBeauty]

What type of philosophy?

[Hemlock2013]

How do you go about getting that job title?

What great philosophers inspired you?

[SkunkButtRug]

What is the meaning of life?
Who do you recommend to read for beginners in philosophy?

[eyeswideshit]

Oh and do you believe we have free will?

[wasitabuse]

Are you Dr Zeuss?

[mnahmnah]

Who is your favourite philosopher and why?

[JaneJeffer]

Apart from yourself who's your favourite philosopher?

[JaneJeffer]

Great minds mna

[mnahmnah]

[mnahmnah]

Well, we’re all philosophers really

[BastardGoDarkly]

What's your job op?

[JaneJeffer]

That's what I thought when I saw this AMA!

[ApolloandDaphne]

What does a philosopher do?

[LineRunner]

Do you find the way that post-modernism (aka POMO) is being reframed by some activists (e.g. at Goldsmiths) to shut down debate(s) rather than open them up somewhat concerning?

[Booboostwo]

I’ll try to answer these together.

I am a moral philosopher who works mainly on Aristotle’s virtue ethics, so Aristotle is my favorite philosopher! I used to work a lot on medical ethics but have now moved onto to moral education.

I did a BA in Sociology/Philosophy, then I wasn’t too sure what to do so I did an MA in Philosophy. I loved my dissertation so I decided to do a PhD, during which I really enjoyed teaching so I applied for academic posts.

The meaning of life is to discover the meaning of life. We are rational being who are attracted to reason, truth and the good. We give meaning to our lives when we act in meaningful ways, in ways that contribute to reason and the good.

Yes, everyone who has ever had a thought is a philosopher.

[mnahmnah]

Thank you! I teach philosophy at a-level and my students always struggle with virtue ethics. No idea why. Maybe it’s my teaching?! If you could sum it up in three points, what would they be?

[Booboostwo]

I was an academic now I am SAHM and do research. An academic philosopher teaches critical thinking skills and does philosophical research. So, for example, I taught ethics to a lot of medical students. I helped them become sensitized to ethically relevant situations, helped them develop reasoning skills to identify and evaluate different choices and have the ability to express and defend their views. Hopefully that made them better doctors.

My research contributes mainly to academic debates but because I have interests in education I have contributed to practical projects, e.g. teaching ethics to engineers, the development of moral character, etc. When I used to work in medical ethics I contributed to public policy research e.g. consulted with the Nuffield Institute on reforms on pediatric research and experimentation.

[Booboostwo]

Linerunner I am not familiar with this line of thought, basically I am allergic to anything postmodernist, but anything that shuts down debate is incredibly dangerous especially in the times we live in.

[LineRunner]

It's fascinating.

[Booboostwo]

I’d consider Dr Seuss to be a philosopher but I am not he! I have an incredibly stilted, academic manner of expressing myself in writing and I really envy those who can make philosophy come alive for others.

[LineRunner]

Cross-post of doom!

I mean your work is fascinating, not post-modernism.

[Booboostwo]

We have to have free will otherwise there is no point to anything. Academically I wouldn’t touch free will topics with a barge pole for fear I might find out we have none!

Sorry about the muddled responses!

[Booboostwo]

mnahmnah what goes wrong when you get to virtue ethics? Is this of any use? Scroll down a bit to the start of the virtue ethics exercise...it is a way of introducing the topic from the inside in. Rather than telling the students what virtue ethics is, they discover it for themselves.

teachingethics.org.uk/16.html