Luke William Hunt is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Radford University, where he works in political philosophy, jurisprudence, and criminal justice. Prior to entering academia, he worked as an FBI Special Agent. He is the author of The Retrieval of Liberalism in Policing (Oxford University Press, 2019).
What are you most proud of in your professional life?
I’m far more proud of my wife, who works as a clinical psychologist and helps people everyday. In my case, I feel fortunate that I’ve had the opportunity to experience many different things professionally. During my summers in law school, I worked for a couple of law firms and thought I needed to learn to play golf. I hate golf and actually won an award for worst shot in one of the firm’s summer golf tournaments. After law school, I spent a wonderful year working as a law clerk for a federal judge in Abingdon, VA, strolling the Creeper Trail on my lunch breaks. And then there was the first time that I drove through the heavily guarded gates of the FBI Academy on Marine Corp Base, Quantico, where I was to live the next four months while completing New Agent Training to become an FBI Special Agent. My time at Quantico (and as an FBI Agent) was equal parts thrilling and surreal. Seven years later, I left the FBI and found myself at the University of Virginia studying Plato’s metaphysics in the first-year seminar of my doctoral program. Many of my professional decisions have been unusual and financially foolish, but I have no regrets. I value the different experiences and I’m thankful for them all.
What are you working on right now?
The index for my first book, The Retrieval of Liberalism in Policing (Oxford University Press), which comes out in October. I’m happy to report that it includes headings for both Ice Cube and Lou Reed.
What common philosophical dilemma do you think has a clear answer?
The problem of police brutality. There is often no difficult moral question to address in these sorts of cases: If the facts are as they appear (many of the prominent cases were caught on video), then there is not much “practical philosophy” that needs to be done. Still, it’s certainly worth examining why, say, the liberal tradition construes brutality as unjust, and I touch on that topic in my book. But I spend much more time on other problems regarding the limits of the police’s power— particularly with respect to the police’s use of informants, otherwise illegal activity, and electronic surveillance. I think these topics raise complex philosophical and practical questions about the rule of law and the conception of persons in the liberal tradition. Although vague at the time, these were the things that were bouncing around in my head when I left the FBI and arrived at the University of Virginia for my doctoral work.
What do you like to do outside work?
I spend most of my time with my wife and two boys (ages 5 and 8), and that involves a lot of bike riding and general silliness. My primary hobby, though, is trail running, and I do that almost every day because I live on the edge of the Jefferson National Forest. I have no real talent as a runner, but I love getting out in the mountains for a long time. The longest event I’ve completed is the Laurel Highlands Trail Run, which covers the entire 70-mile Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail from Ohiopyle to near Johnstown, Pennsylvania. That one was a pretty difficult course and it took me over seventeen hours to complete. I know this is a relatively odd hobby, but I suppose there are worse responses to middle age.
What are your favorite films of all time? Why?
If number of times watched is relevant to this question, then Rad (Hal Needham, 1986) wins hands down. It had a big impact on me as a kid: I memorized all of the film’s dialogue and I got pretty into Freestyle BMX. I recently gave a copy of the film to my son for his eighth birthday (along with a new BMX bike that’s conveniently big enough for me to ride). Sure, the film is about BMX racing, but it’s also about following one’s own path (in this case putting off the SAT and college in order to train for a big BMX race). After Rad, I’d have to say Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991). And, yeah, it’s about an FBI Agent’s pursuit of a band of surfing, president-mask-wearing, bank robbers, but you could say it’s also about authenticity. Call it sentimental and corny if you like, but when Special Agent Johnny Utah tosses his FBI badge into the ocean at the end of the film, it’s cinematic gold. I’ll take these films over Bergman any day.
What are you reading right now? Would you recommend it?
I’ve read books 1 through 5 of Karl Ove Knausgard’s autobiographical novel, “My Struggle” (the English translation of the sixth and final book is coming out this fall). Admitting that is not completely unlike admitting that you’re addicted to crack. And his work is often described as self-absorbed and narcissistic, so I don’t think this would be a well-received recommendation. Of course, I understand these and other complaints about Knausgard’s writing, but I think he has an uncanny way of describing the insignificant details of life in a way that draws out their broader significance. Details such as taking a shit.
What’s your most treasured memory?
Laying in bed on Father’s Day morning—pretending to be asleep—as I hear my wife and children having a muffled conversation downstairs that leads to my boys pouncing on me in bed, hitting me with pillows, and screaming “Happy Father’s Day!” Fortunately, this has happened each year for a while now, and I hope it stays that way for some time to come.
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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.
