Carol Bensick has a Ph.D. from Cornell University in Early and Nineteenth-Century American Literary and Intellectual History and the Nineteenth-Century European Novel. As a Research Affiliate for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women, she currently works on forgotten women philosophers during the rise of pragmatism. Bensick also edited the festschrift for UCLA Michael J. Colacurcio, A Passion for Getting It Right (Peter Lang, 2015).
What excites you about philosophy?
Philosophers.
What are you most proud of in your professional life?
First, having my paper for the 2017 Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy’s Summer Institute on John Stuart Mill’s marginalia in Emerson’s Essays cited in the Friends of the John Stuart Mill Library Newsletter. Second, being contacted by the Concord (Massachusetts) Center for American Studies for information on unknown philosopher Amalie Hathaway based on my report for the UCLA CSW. Third, getting Amalie Hathaway listed in the recent Historical Dictionary of Schopenhauer’s Philosophy. And fourth, having papers on American philosophers accepted for meetings of the Society for the Study of Women Philosophers.
Who do you think is the most underrated philosopher?
James Mill is at least one of the most.
Who is your favorite philosophy and why?
John Stuart Mill. I wanted to read everything he wrote, and all the commentary.
If you could only use one condiment for the rest of your life, which condiment would you pick and why?
Salt. Makes everything taste better.
What would you like your last meal to be?
Something nauseating, to make it easier to die.
Is there a question that you would like to ask those who are reading this?
Yes:
Which languages — ancient or modern — should be required for a philosophy Ph.D.?
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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 to nominate yourself or a friend.
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.
