Richard Bett is Professor of Philosophy, with a secondary appointment in Classics, at Johns Hopkins University, where he has worked since 1991. His scholarly work has mostly been in ancient Greek philosophy, with a particular focus on the skeptics. He has translated several works of the Pyrrhonian skeptic Sextus Empiricus.
What do you do at the APA?
I have served since 2013 as Vice Chair of the APA Board of Officers. Besides taking part in the meetings of the Board, this involves occasionally representing the Chair in such things as awarding prizes, and serving as Chair of the Committee on Divisional Coordination, which aims to facilitate cooperation among the three Divisions and between the divisions and the administrative office. I’ve also served as Acting Executive Director (2000–2001) and Eastern Division Secretary-Treasurer (2003–2013).
What is your favorite part of your job?
Speaking of my APA role rather than my “day job” as a professor, what I like most about it is the opportunity, given the annual turnover on the Board, to get to know several philosophers every year who are accomplished, interesting, and dedicated to the future of the profession.
How did you come to be a part of the staff/leadership?
In 1999 the position of APA Executive Director needed filling at short notice. Jerry Schneewind, then a senior colleague in my department and also Chair of the APA Board, appointed me as Acting Executive Director; I served in the position from January 2000 to June 2001. I found it fascinating; it gave me a breadth of perspective on philosophy that you could never get in any one department or subfield. After that, I was easy pickings for other APA positions.
What are you most proud of in your professional life?
Taking on considerable administrative roles, both in the APA and at Johns Hopkins, without this obliterating my scholarly projects.
What do you like to do outside work?
Running, occasionally in local 5Ks; reading a variety of things besides philosophy (novels, often from Australia—my sister lives there and we usually send each other books for birthday presents—news sources, etc.); listening to music (I’m a Mahler devotee and I like a lot of classical music, but also some country); and sampling beers at craft breweries.
If you could have a one-hour conversation with any philosopher from any time, who would you pick and what topic would you choose?
I’m probably in a minority of one here. The philosopher would be Aenesidemus of Cnossos, the founder of a tradition of Pyrrhonist skepticism (appealing to the earlier figure Pyrrho), probably in the early first century BCE. The topic would be the ideas he expressed in his lost work Pyrrhonist Discourses, which we know about only from a brief and much later summary. In my view, this work is the crucial missing link in the long and discontinuous history of Pyrrhonism.
