Beth Barker is a philosopher in transition from the University of Missouri’s PhD program in philosophy, where she completed her MA, to Northwestern University’s. Her interests in philosophy are social epistemology and social philosophy of language. In particular, she likes thinking about spaces of epistemic exchange besides testimony, and the nuanced ways knowers might wrong each other and perpetuate systemic injustices in such spaces.
What excites you about philosophy?
Two things come to mind. First, I tend to like the people who do philosophy. Because ambiguous communication drives me a bit wild (never mind in poetry and other creative forms, where ambiguity can be meaningful, of course), I love the ways philosophers often express themselves: necessarily very precisely, articulating ideas very carefully. Also, the philosophers I’ve met and worked with have been kind and generous. The faculty and students who compose the University of Missouri’s philosophy department have been especially encouraging and supportive of me in my early career and have motivated me to keep at it.
Second, I love the sense of creative freedom I have when writing philosophy. I enjoy writing the kinds of papers that explore the boundaries of some concept instead of critiquing extant views for their shortcomings.
What are you most proud of in your professional life?
I’ve found writing philosophy to be rewarding in my own inchoate career, but perhaps what I’m most proud of is, at times, my teaching, or my students. I had the opportunity to teach some courses on my own at the University of Missouri, and one of my students recently told me that her friend chose to major in philosophy (in large part) because of me, or one of the discussion sections I had led my first year. This was moving — to discover my teaching and discussion-leading have been so meaningful to some. Several students also tell me they’ve decided to eat less meat thanks to the sections I teach on animal ethics, and that makes me proud — that my attempts to indoctrinate students to become vegetarians are successful in part.
What books have changed your life?
Well, Infinite Jest,changed my life, I think, just in virtue of the time it took me to read. Who knows what else I could have accomplished in those three months? I enjoy reading David Foster Wallace’s writing because his sardonic descriptions often shock me, delightfully. He has also expanded my notion of what a sentence can be and made me feel free to coin or hyphenate strings of words as needed, to the chagrin of my advisors, who then must remind me what grammatical constructions in philosophy should be.
More seriously, I read Albert Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus — inspired by my French professor’s contagious enthusiasm for the French existentialists — at what was already a turning point in my thought life. I was working in a grey cubicle in a grey office where I was expected but failed to believe propositions like life is inherently meaningful (a precious gift, even!). Camus’s absurdism and the image of Sisyphus in particular resonated with me at that time, when such doctrines seemed to me no longer believable. Not only did I feel that working in that grey cubicle for eight hours each weekday was a Sisyphean task, but, for me, Camus’s philosophy accomplished something like what Fanny Howe says is the point of art: “to show people that life is worth living by showing that it isn’t” (in “Bewilderment”).
What do you like to do outside work?
I love eating good food, taking in good films, and biking. And this is what I already very keenly miss about Missouri — there’s a fantastic trail for biking, the Katy Trail, that stretches from St. Louis to Kansas City, right through Columbia. If I weren’t frequenting Chicago’s best bakeries just now, I’d be on the Katy Trail. Chicago has no shortage of good food, though, so I’m content even if my eating and exercising are currently wildly disproportionate.
What time of day are you most productive and creative?
Around 5am, when I have yet to press the coffee steeping in my French press and I’m too groggy to be critical of what I type into Word. Admittedly, this is a narrow window of peak productivity/creativity, so I have to take routine advantage of it.
What’s your top tip or advice for APA members reading this?
To grad students: I’ve found routine and (self-)forgiveness to be key to my growth in the academy. As for routine, it heightens productivity but also occludes a sense of guilt, knowing what to expect of yourself at a given hour of the day, whether work or leisure. And forgiving yourself for not (yet) knowing, not (yet) having read, or for having had a less than brilliant day or poorly expressed an idea in seminar, perhaps, is necessary. Dwelling on these things can be undermining. So, I forgive and forget for my own sake while saving and revisiting all of the encouraging emails from my advisors.
Photo Credit: Fernando Alvear from the Philosophy Department at the University of Missouri
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.
Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall is an editor at the Blog of the APA who currently teaches philosophy, religion, and education courses solely online for Montclair State University, Three Rivers Community College, and St. John’s University.
