Philipa (Pippa) Friedman (she/her) works in social and political philosophy, particularly political epistemology and democratic theory. She earned her PhD in December 2021 and is beginning a career in policy analysis with the federal government.
What are you working on right now?
This is a really hard question for me in some ways, because I think the way it’s framed implies that I’m working on academic publications. I am doing that, but I’m also working on some exciting non-academic stuff!
In terms of academic work, I’m working on a really fun paper in political epistemology. Basically, I’m trying to understand what counts as political knowledge and how people come to attain political knowledge. There’s a pretty big subset of political philosophers who think that political knowledge is the sort of thing that we learn in universities by studying things like political science, economics, and sociology. This definition is troubling because it is often leveraged to exclude folks from political participation and to justify calls for “epistocracy” (“rule of the wise”). My concern is that this definition of political knowledge is implicitly classist and also that it ignores kinds of political knowledge that aren’t often conveyed in university settings, like knowledge about political organizing and coalition-building. I’m borrowing from lots of social, feminist, and anti-racist epistemology to create a definition of political knowledge that includes those kinds of – both formal and informal – communal knowledge practices.
In terms of non-academic work, I am about to start a career in federal policy analysis. Currently, I’m devoting a lot of time to understanding the policies and practices that govern my agency so that I can do a good job of making policy recommendations and advocating for particular practices at that agency.
What is your favorite sound in the world?
There is a bush one block over from my home that has these really gnarly branches, and that bush is always full of sparrows. Like, fifty sparrows at a time. There’s an identical bush next to it, but they only hang out in this one bush. It’s a lovely mystery. Anytime I walk by that bush, I hear this lovely chorus of sparrow chatter, and it always brings a smile to my face.
What is your favorite holiday and why?
My favorite holiday is Pesach (Passover) because it’s the one that my husband and I always host for our friends. It’s traditional on Pesach to sit reclining to the left, and it’s become our custom to invite a ton of people over to our home, move all of the furniture out of our living room, and lay out blankets and pillows so that folks can all stretch out on the floor to eat. It ends up being basically a giant indoor picnic! We make all the traditional foods, but we sub the shank bone on the Seder plate for an orange because we’re vegetarians and it’s a feminist/queer Jewish tradition. We do a really bad job of remembering all the words to the songs, but we get through it and always have a blast!
What are you reading right now? Would you recommend it?
I am finally reading Alexis Shotwell’s Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times. I assigned a chapter of it for an ethics class I taught last year but I never sat down to read it cover-to-cover. I’m so happy to be reading the whole thing now because a) it is a fabulous book and b) she includes a really insightful analysis of vaccine skepticism as endemic to this ethos of bodily purity that we have cultivated in our culture that is hugely relevant to our current moment. This book came out well before the pandemic, but I think it’s a testament to Shotwell’s efforts to ground ethical theory in lived experience that it’s only becoming more relevant as we reckon with covid, climate change, and other weighty issues that bear on our moral lives. Can’t say enough good things; 12/10 would recommend to a friend.
What do you like to do outside work?
I’m a great baker and a terrible mandolin player. I love both things very much. Honestly, I think having a hobby at which you are not the best is so wonderful; it reminds you that you can love an activity without the pressure of becoming an expert in it or feeling that you have to somehow make it into a side gig.
What is your least favorite type of fruit and why?
My least favorite fruit is easily pineapple. If it’s not enough that it wildly overpowers any other flavor in a thing, it also contains bromelain, which is a digestive enzyme. Basically, as you eat pineapple, it eats you back, and I find that a little creepy.
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.
