Zachary Gartenberg is a PhD candidate in the Philosophy Department at Johns Hopkins University. His primary research interests are in early modern philosophy, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. His articles have appeared in the Journal of the History of Philosophy, Philosophers’ Imprint, the European Journal of Philosophy, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, and A Companion to Spinoza (Wiley-Blackwell). He recently served as an assistant editor for the first published edition of George Eliot’s translation of Spinoza’s Ethics (Princeton UP).
What excites you about philosophy?
I have a very expansive and pluralistic view about philosophy and its purpose. Like most philosophers, I understand the discipline as being fundamentally concerned with ‘why’ questions; but I don’t think that philosophy need be concerned with such questions only regarding rarefied topics or at a high level of theoretical sophistication. Wonder and curiosity are incipient in most people’s everyday experience. I’d be willing to call such states of wonder philosophical in sprit, no matter how trivial. I regard scientific questions, even technical ones, as philosophical too. This is in keeping with the way scientific questions were construed over most of philosophy’s history. My view is best summarized by the words of a friend: “If you’re not utterly bedazzled by reality, you’re not paying attention.” Anyone who pays even a modicum of attention in the relevant sense has ushered in philosophical thinking, I believe.
What really clinches my love of philosophy, however, is the excitement that comes from imparting it to others, particularly to my students. It’s immensely gratifying to watch these youths come to appreciate philosophy as practice—“practice” in the sense of cultivating technical skills in reasoning, argumentation, and textual interpretation, but also in the sense of developing the disposition to bring forth new ideas and shape one’s habits of thinking. Providing others with at least a taste for the love of ideas and reflection, especially when this is done encouragingly and passionately, is the greatest gift a philosopher can give.
What’s your personal philosophy?
I would say that I’m an idealist about the goodness of people and value of humanity, and about people’s ability to recognize goodness and value in others. Every single person, whatever their capacities, in whatever circumstances they find themselves, and whatever their walk of life may be, has a positive, unique potential to add something of value to the world and to themselves, and to affect others in meaningful ways. We should not underestimate this potential in anyone, as a matter of principle. That means doing our best never to denigrate, implicitly or explicitly, the intelligence, creativity, and intentions of any person we meet.
This rather absolute stance invites many counterexamples (e.g., should we give tyrants the benefit of the doubt?). Yet the fact that we can take and seek to justify such extreme stances in philosophy can be valuable and illuminating. It can sharpen our thinking about what’s at stake in living morally (just as it can contribute clarity and heighten demands in theoretical discourse). It shows us in what direction our fundamental values tend. So I firmly stand by these ideals, however naively, and indeed see them as entailing not only respect for human beings but also for animals and the rest of the natural world. Benevolence toward being must extend to all beings.
Which books have changed your life? In what ways?
I don’t have a single favorite work of philosophy. But ever since taking a memorable college course on Spinoza’s ‘Ethics’ with Yitzhak Melamed, I have not been able to stop engaging with that text. While in that seminar, I encountered Michael Della Rocca’s first book, ‘Representation and the Mind-Body Problem in Spinoza’. It was this commentary, alongside Spinoza’s writings themselves, that convinced me I wanted to devote my academic career (mostly) to studying Spinoza. In graduate school I read Gottlob Frege’s writings for the first time. Frege’s work, for me, epitomizes analytical brilliance and has influenced the way I try to think through philosophical problems.
I would also mention two novels – among other works of creative literature – that affected me by richly displaying what stories and writing can do. From Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ I learned how the deft delineation of character, perspective, and plot, and the forceful representation of moral growth and tragedy could create an unforgettable symbol – both universal and historical – of justice and personal discovery. A radically different book, Vladimir Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’, exhibited how the virtuosic control of language and its scintillating effects can make us sensitive to the complexities even of utter depravity and can, disturbingly yet intriguingly, humanize it.
What books are currently on your ‘to read’ list?
‘Bach’s Testament: On the Philosophical and Theological Background of The Art of Fugue’, by Zoltán Göncz; ‘Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy’, by Michael Baxandall; any collection of W.H. Auden’s poetry; Milton’s‘Paradise Lost’; a great deal more Shakespeare than I’ve already read; the Zhuangzi.
What is your favorite sound in the world?
For my senior project in high school, I gave a lecture on the nature and structure of fugues, and for this project I learned to play Bach’s Fugue No. 5 in D Major from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier. I fell so madly in love with this piece, and especially with its ending, that it became my single favorite thing to listen to. It’s short, punchy, vibrant, and, to my mind, simply glorious. Glenn Gould’s rendition is the only one truly worthy of the piece.
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.
