The APA blog is working with Cliff Sosis of What Is It Like to Be a Philosopher? in publishing advance excerpts from Cliff’s long-form interviews with philosophers.
The following is an edited excerpt from the interview with Valerie Tiberius.
[Interviewer: Cliff Sosis]
In this interview, Valerie Tiberius, Professor of Philosophy at University of Minnesota, talks about ruminating on the problem of evil at 5, reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in high school, Prince, thinking about nuclear proliferation and getting into ethics at University of Toronto, feminism, what it is like for a Canadian to adjust to life at Chapel Hill, Hume, Minesweeper, Blackburn, well-being and value fulfillment, imposter syndrome, the Good Place, Cunk on Earth, and what she would do if she were queen of the world.
When did you decide to go to grad school? Did you consider doing anything other than philosophy? Where did you want to go and why?
I was a double major in philosophy and environmental studies, so I thought I might do something in environmental policy or non-profit work. But Doug suggested grad school and I thought: why not? When I was an undergrad, at least at U of T, students weren’t so aware of everything as they are now. There was no website you could go to to look up grad programs, so you had to go by word of mouth and preconceptions. In retrospect, I really had no idea what I was doing.
Was grad school what you expected?
I can’t remember what I expected! I had done a lot of ancient philosophy as an undergrad and I really liked that approach to philosophy—philosophy as a way of life. That way of thinking about philosophy wasn’t quite the thing at Chapel Hill, though I did remain interested in ethics.
Philosophically, what was trending in your department, and in general? Favorite classes/teachers?
I recall that metaethics was big—the realism/anti-realism debate, Geoff Sayre McCord had published Essays in Moral Realism a couple of years before I got there. Michael Smith visited a lot, which was always fun—he was a great teacher. My favorite classes were my advisor Tom Hill’s ethics classes. He had a way of being unimpressed with quick and superficial moves in philosophy that warms my heart when I think about it. He also is just such a deep thinker; I learned so much from him—in particular that nothing in ethics is quick or simple.
What was the dissertation on? Who was your dissertation advisor? Was grad school, or writing the dissertation, challenging?
My dissertation was called Deliberation about the Good: Justifying What We Value. The title pretty much tells you the topic, because I’m not very creative with titles. I worked with Tom Hill, but I wasn’t a Kantian; my approach was (and still is) much more Humean. Simon Blackburn was on my committee and was also a big influence. In retrospect, it was a good thing to have to make my arguments compelling to the Kantian and the Humean—but it was also challenging. And writing was much more challenging then than it is now. I was fortunate to have a Mellon fellowship, which meant that I didn’t have to teach the year I was finishing it, but I developed a serious Minesweeper addiction. When I couldn’t write, I’d play Minesweeper until my hand cramped up. Eventually Minesweeper gave way to Tetris. I’m better now.
Describe Blackburn!
He does a great Scottish accent when he’s imitating David Hume. His comments on papers were often limited to check marks. He was fun to talk to and generous with ideas. After grad school, at a conference in Ireland, he introduced me to a drink called a velvet glove: Guinness and champagne. After that pub experience I think I gave the worst, most hungover talk of my career. I have since forgiven him for that.
Advice for graduate students? Were you encouraged to publish?
We were not encouraged to publish in the 90s. That’s a real change. The job market wasn’t great back then in the olden days, but it’s even worse now. I wish I had good advice about how to position yourself on the job market. But all I can think of is that you should not take what happens personally—there are just too many people on the market and so very qualified, deserving people do not get jobs.
What were your fellow grad students like? Who did you hang out with and what did you do to unwind? What was Chapel Hill like?
I was in a class of thirteen people, including five women. I think the average class size at the time was five or six. They referred to us as the elephant making its way through the cobra. (A Little Prince reference I guess.) The other grad students at Chapel Hill were wonderful—I married one of them and many of them are still among my best friends. I loved the grad student community at UNC. Chapel Hill was a lovely college town, but very different from the city where I grew up. The accent was weird, all the smiling and friendliness from strangers was very weird, the heat was weird, the plants were weird. But I think I adjusted to it pretty well. I remember that my black leather boots turned green from mold in the closet before it got cold enough to wear them. I remember being shocked that magnolias were so green all year round.
Struggles in grad school?
I struggled with imposter syndrome throughout graduate school and I know I wasn’t alone in that. Tom Hill helped a lot! I think I could have learned so much better if I hadn’t been distracted by worrying that I wasn’t smart enough. In retrospect, that was a terrific waste of time.
What role does philosophy play in the world in the future?
I like to think that philosophy will survive the AI revolution. Even if ChatGPT can write a philosophy essay, we will still need to ask philosophical questions about what that means, whether we ought to let it, and so on. I think philosophy will always be important, as long as it doesn’t close itself off in an ivory tower of irrelevance.
Will the problems of philosophy ever be solved?
I hope not.
This interview has been edited for length. The full interview will be available at What Is It Like to Be A Philosopher?
You can get early access to the interview and help support the project here.
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.
