Matthew Fee is a 4th-year PhD student at the University of Memphis. His research interests are in 19th– and 20th-century continental philosophy, ontology, and philosophy of literature.
What are you working on right now?
I’m working on my dissertation, tentatively entitled “The Ontology of Structure: Deleuze and Differential Realism.” In it, I draw on work by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1925-95) to propose a new ontology of structure. In doing so, I contribute to a recent turn toward realism in continental philosophy by addressing two major questions: what is the specific reality of ‘structure’? And how can we explain this reality such that structures are neither merely subjective nor reducible to collections of physical objects?
Which books have changed your life? In what ways?
Wallace Stevens’s (1950) The Auroras of Autumn
I haphazardly came across this book in high school and carried it around in my backpack. Stevens’s poetry is sometimes dismissed by poets as too abstract and philosophical, but I really enjoyed how ambitious and puzzling it was. I think it gave me an appreciation for reading texts that can’t be easily understood.
Susan Howe’s (2007) Souls of the Labadie Tract
As an undergraduate, I listened to an audio rendition of this book on repeat while driving my Honda Civic around various Utah highways. It’s a poetry book that focuses on the history of Labadists, a small 17th-century Quietist sect in Cecil County, Maryland.
Lyn Heijinian’s (1980) My Life
My Life is a series of seemingly disconnected sentences, which, taken together, form something like a history or autobiography made from nothing but snapshots. This book stayed with me when I later when I took a course in the metaphysics of personal identity—especially in the way that it provides an account of the self as existing through parts that don’t all match up with each other but that nonetheless form a sort of incoherent whole.
What is your favorite thing that you’ve written?
Before starting the PhD, I spent most of my free time writing poetry. One of the things I published was a translation of Genesis (review here). The work was generated by translating the text from one language to another, using all available languages on Google Translate. The result is an alternative history of the world, one in which creation is complicated through lighting malfunctions and forgotten passwords.
What are you reading right now? Would you recommend it?
I’ve recently been working through Karen Bennett’s (2017) Making Things Up. The book focuses on different ways in which things are built out of each other (such as through grounding). I’ve really enjoyed it, especially the argument that metaphysics should not be understood solely as the study of fundamental reality. Rather, metaphysics is also concerned with the nonfundamental, and with how nonfundamental entities are built from more fundamental ones.
What do you like to do outside work?
During the first few months of the pandemic, I became obsessed with board games (which doesn’t make much sense as they generally rely on multiple people being in the same room). Recently, I’ve been playing more in-person again. I also enjoy coding.
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.
