APA Member Interview: Patricia Marino

Patricia Marino is Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada, where she works in a range of areas including ethics, epistemology, philosophy of sex and love, and philosophy of economics. She also blogs at The Kramer Is Now: Accidental Philosopher Encounters Modern Life.

What are you most proud of in your professional life?

I just published a book called Moral Reasoning in a Pluralistic World, and I’m proud that it’s written to appeal to readers both within and beyond philosophy. When a non-academic reader told me, “This book has the best examples!”,  I was super excited. I’m also very proud of the graduate students I’ve supervised, who are all doing really interesting things.

What excites you about philosophy?

My most favorite thing about philosophy is also my least favorite thing: the way philosophy allows you to abstract away from the contingencies of our world. On the one hand, this is wonderful, because it allows us to take a fresh perspective and imagine realities different from our own. On the other hand, too much abstraction, and philosophy becomes useless, inert, and disconnected from anything that matters.

What do you like to do outside work?

I like to read novels, graphic novels, and comics, and I like to go to the opera, drink wine and cocktails (especially in hotel bars), and shop for clothes and shoes. Also, I enjoy commiserating with other people about the horrible state of the world and the absurdity of the human condition.

What’s your favorite quote?

When one lives among madmen, one should train as a maniac. 

—Alexandre Dumas (père), The Count of Monte Cristo  

What technology do you wish the human race could discover right now?

Green energy—of course! The technology I wish we could NOT discover right now is the Internet of Things.

What’s your top tip or advice for APA members reading this?

Talk about your work to a wide range of people, especially to people who are not professional philosophers, and let those conversations influence how you think about things.

Find out more about Patricia on her website.  

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This section of the APA Blog is designed to get to know our fellow philosophers a little better.  We’re including profiles of APA members that spotlight what captures their interest not only inside the office but also outside of it.  We’d love for you to be a part of it, so please contact us via the interview nomination form here.

Skye Cleary

Website

Skye C. Cleary PhD MBA is a philosopher and author of How to Be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment (2022), Existentialism and Romantic Love (2015) and co-editor of How to Live a Good Life (2020). She was a MacDowell Fellow (2021), awarded the 2021 Stanford Calderwood Fellowship, and won a New Philosopher magazine Writers’ Award (2017). She teaches at Columbia University and the City College of New York and is former Editor-in-Chief of the APA Blog.