Holly Wilson, Ph.D., is a Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Louisiana State University at Alexandria. She calls herself a Kantian and a Carmelite Secular (OCDS) and is trying to bring together reason and faith in a new synthesis that privileges compassion and virtue over cognition.
What is your favorite thing that you’ve written?
My favorite thing I have written is The Happiness Experiment, which is a manuscript still in progress. It is a synthesis of philosophy and religion: Kant and Carmelite Spirituality. I developed it into an online class and, so far, the students have responded very well to it.
What are you most proud of in your professional life?
What I am most proud of in my teaching career is that I was able to become a compassionate teacher. One of the things I learned in some of my philosophical education was how to win arguments, because that was what I was witnessing in the culture of philosophy. I learned that philosophy was about being right and winning arguments. But when it was my turn to teach, I kept working at encouraging discussion in my classes and giving everyone an opportunity to express their views. Eventually, I learned how to give students credit for what they were saying, and then I learned how to listen to their inner hearts and respond with kindness while still challenging them to think.
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
My greatest accomplishment as a scholar was getting my revised dissertation on Kant’s Pragmatic Anthropology published after about twenty years of rewriting it. Going through the denial of tenure and having to apply all over the United States for a new job, and then having to adjust to new teaching assignments, delayed my progress on getting it rewritten. So, while it was first written in 1986–87 as a dissertation, I didn’t get it published as a book until 2006. By that time, other Kantians were also getting interested in Kant’s Anthropology. My second major accomplishment was the article “The Green Kant: Kant’s Treatment of Animals,” which was anthologized in several Environmental Ethics and Food Ethics textbooks and, I think, gave a pretty good defense of how Kant could be used to support animal welfare, since he philosophically distinguishes an organic being from a thing.
What is your favorite holiday and why?
Thanksgiving, because it always reminds me of how Dr. John Compton, my philosophy mentor at Vanderbilt University, would invite me, since I had no family, to his family’s Thanksgiving celebration, and we would play football while waiting on the cooking. He was the quarterback, and I was the receiver. I was playing against his son, Johnny. Prof. Compton would give me the route to run on his hand, but I never ran it. I always just went out “to get free.” This strategy was not very successful. So, the very last play of the game the score was tied, and Prof. Compton looked at me with disappointment in his eyes, but no reproaches on his lips. In that moment, it finally clicked in my awareness that I was not following his directions. So, he told me: “Go long,” and I forced myself to follow his directions for the first time. I ran straight to the end zone and when I turned around for the ball it was already in the air. Johnny tried to block it, but it went right through his arms, and I flew to get it and caught it. We scored and won the game, but the biggest accomplishment I had was that I learned to trust an adult, and I ultimately chose to go on to graduate school in philosophy because of Prof. Compton.
What is your favorite book of all time? Why? To whom would you recommend them?
The Science of the Cross by Edith Stein, which I was required to read in my formation as a Carmelite Secular. I can’t say I understood everything in it, and I can’t say I could teach the book, but it transformed my heart, and after I was denied the Dean position at my current location, the book suddenly inspired me to write The Happiness Experiment and turn it into a class for credit. This book did not form my intellect and cognition, but rather it formed my heart and my virtue. I became a more compassionate person for having read it. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to form their heart and their faith. It is not meant to form your intellect and cognition.
Who is your favorite philosopher and why?
Kant and Socrates. Kant, because he was able to argue that morality is based in our reason and that it is universally valid. Socrates, because he used his critical thinking skills to show up arrogant know-it-alls. He taught me the Socratic method, and I’ve modified it quite a bit in my teaching so that it does not lead to exposing ignorance so much as it gets student to think about their opinions and let go of them when they are not well-founded. Socrates also taught me to listen and ask questions and be open-minded, rather than promote my own ideas at the expense of others.
Where is your favorite place you have ever traveled and why?
I love South Tyrol, in Northern Italy. First of all, the Dolomite mountains are spectacular, but then when you go hiking it is civilized hiking. You trek up the mountain and see some beautiful streams, Haflinger horses, and delicate wild-flowers, and after enjoying that you head to the Gasthaus and get a beer or wine and have some spaghetti. Then you sort of tumble back down the mountain. It is not unacceptable to have poles to help you.
What graduate school professor made the biggest difference in your life?
That would have to be Dr. Thomas Seebohm. When I told him I wanted to write on Immanuel Kant, he asked me: “What have you read by him?” I admitted that I had read the Groundwork and the Critique of Pure Reason. He responded quickly: “You have to read everything by him before you write on him.” So, we commenced an independent study on Kant, and I read everything that was then translated in 1982. That was when I discovered Kant’s Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View. That book turned into my dissertation topic and my scholarly life work. Dr. Seebohm came back from Germany at his own expense to be at the defense of my dissertation. I will be eternally grateful.
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.
Alexis LaBar has a Master’s degree in Philosophy from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Before attending West Chester, she graduated from Moravian University with a Bachelor’s in Philosophy, a minor in Global Religions, and an Ethics certificate. She is the recipient of the 2022 Claghorn Award in Philosophy, awarded by West Chester University, and the 2021 Douglas Anderson Prize in Philosophy, awarded by Moravian University. She is the Editor of the Teaching Beat and Work/Life Balance Beat.
