Mike Gadomski is a PhD candidate in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, working in political philosophy and meta-political philosophy. Born and raised in southern New Jersey, he lived in Vermont and Massachusetts before returning to Philadelphia for graduate school.
What excites you about philosophy?
For me, doing philosophy means having the time and space to work things out, to see if you can get clearer on ideas, make sense of them, make them fit with one another. Plus, you get to do this with other people—friends, students, strangers, old people, young people, dead people, and so on.
That’s one exciting thing. The other is philosophy’s tremendous critical potential. But I’m also wary of this idea. Philosophy can be paralyzingly uncritical, especially if it’s not self-aware.
What are you working on right now?
I’m chipping away at my dissertation. My overarching goal there is to work out an approach to global egalitarianism with contingency and context at its center. I argue that while this is difficult, it’s both possible and desirable. And hopefully at least interesting. On a personal level, it’s an attempt to reconcile the stuff I like in metaethics and metaphilosophy with the stuff I like in political philosophy. Roughly, the first half deals with the meta issues—universality, objectivity, normativity—and the second half deals with political issues—global inequality, self-determination, and borders and migration.
What common philosophical dilemma do you think has a clear answer?
I’m not sure this counts, but I don’t think that we’re living in a simulation. Maybe I’m wrong.
What do you like to do outside work?
The biggest thing is that I try to get outside as much as possible. This mostly means riding bikes, and snowboarding during the winter. I also like playing music and going to shows.
What time of day are you most productive and creative?
Somehow, I’m still trying to figure this one out. I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m much more focused late at night, but I keep resisting the idea because it seems like a real hassle to arrange my life around that. Predictably, this stubbornness leads to frustration.
Who is your favorite philosopher and why?
At the moment, probably Bernard Williams. I’m quite taken with his ideas about what philosophy is, what it’s for, and what it should and shouldn’t try to do. And I just enjoy reading him.
I once heard a professor (whom I admire) remark that many of Williams’s papers would be rejected by contemporary philosophy journals. One could take this as a critique of Williams, but insofar as it’s true I take it to be a critique of contemporary philosophy. What the remark accurately points to is that if you set out to write like Williams, you run the risk of ending up with something pretty bad. I know this from experience, as does my dissertation committee. So I try to be careful in this regard.
Where is your favorite place you have ever traveled and why?
New Zealand and Japan. New Zealand is just an outrageously beautiful place to be outside. As for Japan, I’ve only been to Hokkaido, and it was mostly for the snow. The snow is really, really good. But I loved just about everything else about being there, and I’d like to go back and explore more.
What is your least favorite type of fruit and why?
I’ve hated cantaloupe ever since I was a kid. I have no idea why, I just know that I have an unpleasant visceral reaction to it. This ruins a lot of fruit salad for me, which is a shame, because I like pretty much all other fruits. In fact, for a while I thought that I didn’t like fruit salad. Turns out it’s just the cantaloupe. Every so often, I’ll have a piece to see if my taste has changed. It hasn’t yet. But I remain hopeful.
What’s your poison? (favorite drink)
Grab yourself one of these if you ever get a chance. Yum!
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.
