What the photographer who’s taken philosopher portraits thinks of philosophers

AK: You don’t think that’s true in the Arts? SP: Not in the same way. In the arts, a lot of the judging is outside of your tribe: curators, galleries, even museums. Philosophers are judged more from within. Also, much of philosophy is not for public consumption, or at least, it sort of is but sort of isn’t. You’re ultimately making things for your own family and they’re the ones judging you. The Arts function in a different way.

I have a degree in analytic philosophy, and this is definitely true. It's something I both miss and think is a serious issue with the field of philosophy, at least in the Anglosphere. It's very, very tempting to stay in the isolated, intellectual world of academic philosophy, where rigor matters and the petty sociopolitical problems of the world outside can be safely ignored. The vast majority of analytic philosophy doesn't really comment on contemporary ethical issues in the first place, which is ultimately where that buffer comes from, instead focusing largely on language, logic, and similar areas.

But it also leaves you feeling like you aren't really engaging with the world and with everything that the field of philosophy has to offer, especially when contemporary times are IMO full of real-world problems in desperate need of philosophers.

Fascinating, thanks for sharing! I’ve gotta buy this book one day. The interview got a little goofy towards the end — I think we can all sorta guess what professional photographers think of digital cameras and Instagram filters, and it kinda felt off topic - but overall very heart warming stuff. I do like thinking of philosophers as a family… wonder how true that is today, in the midst of intensely empirical + results-driven academic culture.

Reminds me of the Adler quote;

  What binds the authors together in an intellectual community is the great conversation in which they are engaged. In the works that come later in the sequence of years, we find authors listening to what their predecessors have had to say about this idea or that, this topic or that. They not only harken to the thought of their predecessors, they also respond to it by commenting on it in a variety of ways.

Strange. Why is every single one of these photos out of focus?

Now do it for hackers :-)