Welcome to a new weekly segment here at Micaiah Sells Out called:

“4 quick questions and 1 strange one with…”

Our first “4 quick questions and 1 strange one with…” is with Tim Smartt who is currently studying for a Masters of Philosophy at the University of Sydney. Tim loves books, a good TV series (especially the West Wing), “good” music and a quality cup of coffee. He is also the obscure guy who gives a clap and a “Yeah!” whenever philosophy is mentioned in a talk. Tim is the author of Insane Angels a very insightful blog that is devoted to thinking through the relationship between philosophy and Christianity.

Tim Smartt

1) Tim, you are currently studying for a Masters of Philosophy at Sydney Uni, could you briefly tell us what philosophy actually is and what you specifically are philosophising about in your Masters?

I like to think of philosophy as essentially a human activity. It is something you do, and it is by no means something you have go to university to do. It is the activity of realizing that you are a complicated person, who lives with other complicated people in a complicated world; and then thinking about the best way to describe all this complication, and perhaps even the way we ought to improve all this. At university, this activity is done through reading and conversation – not for the sake of learning doctrines and truths, but for having others prompt you into the activity of thinking about how best to describe and improve yourself and the world. At university, this is done through reading some time-tested books, and applying yourself to some typical ‘philosophical questions’ – what does it mean to describe something as true? What exists? What is the best form of political organization? What does it mean to describe something as good? How does soceity work? etc. All of this can happen outside university, and of course, it does.

I’m researching what two brilliant philosophers had to say on the purpose of Philosophy – Plato and Richard Rorty. They are seperated by over 2,000 years, but I hope to show that they are closer than people might think.

2) Who is your favourite philosopher and why?

This is a toughie. Philosophy teaches you to question and to disagree, and so sometimes that makes it hard to have a favourite philosopher, because you end up disagreeing with everyone! Two philosophers who have been extremelly influencial on the way I think philosophically though, have been Plato and Ludwig Wittgenstein. I dig both for their inability to accept simple answers, and to reveal that the confidence that their opponents had in their simple answers was ill-founded. This seems like something the philosopher should be doing. They both also have a place for the spiritual in their worldviews – being unable to reduce everything to neat material causes and explanations. Special mentions also go out to John Rawls, Richard Rorty and Soren Kierkegaard.

3) I know as a philosopher you will have a natural bias, but is Philosophy important?

It seems that the majority of philosophising is reading the works of men who lived thousands of years ago or 100 ago who were discussing issues that were relevant to their time but inconsequential for us in our post modern world! Although their thoughts can be interesting, is it really important? Is it worth the ordinary person/Christian putting in the time and energy required to do/read philosophy?

Ignoring the irony that you use a philosophical idea to argue that philosophy is not relevant, I disagree! It is certainly important. Like I said, philosophy is an activity, and this activity does not necessarily involve reading millions of books. In universities, this is the shape it takes, but a philosopher can just be someone who wonders, and who has a certain set of questions about themselves and the world which they are convinced are important, and through dialogue with others moves forward to answering these for themselves. So, no it is not crucial to read books by dead people (men and women, by the way, though mostly men unfortunatley) to be a philosopher.

Having said that – it is important that someone is reading these books! Philosophy in Australia today has a tendency to alienate itself from the philosophical tradition, and to undervalue what the tradition could contribute to our present concerns and problems. This is precisely because of the reason you mentioned – you can’t escape your context, and philosophers will always be bound by their historical contingencies. But good philosophers have a way of being prophetic – like Nietzsche or de Tocqueville. They anticipate the way culture is going. Also, the giants of philosophy will just always be important I suspect: Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Hegel etc. These guys wrote the questions, and we are still speaking their language, so it is important for some people to be familiar with them and be able to import their lessons into todays conversation and culture. But this is not for everyone.

4) If the answer is ‘yes’ that reading/doing philosophy is important, than as a 20-30ish Christian, who/what should I be reading (in philosophy) that would be both accessible and helpful to me in my daily life?

I do think thinking Christians should have a go at reading some philosophy, thought it is not for everyone, and need not be construed of as a mark of spiritual maturity. It will help you in your ability to think abstractlly which then helps with theology, it will help you be more culturally conversant, it may give you greater confidence and ability in articulating the Good News of the Gospel, and may (I say, may) even enrich your faith as you learn more about God’s world and the condition of humanity.

I also just think it is a rewarding and beneifical human activity – just like taking an interest in politics, art, sport, literature, food, world cultures, craft etc helps you express your humanity in different ways, reading philosophy can be another rewarding activity in itself. I think, if you have the time and ability, you should have a go at reading Plato’s Republic. It deals with the biggest questions of philosophy – ethics, politics, truth, metaphysics, art, religion, mind and knowledge; it is written in a dialogue format which makes it a bit easier to read then a tract/book/essay; it is funny (once you get the hang of it); it is one of the classics of philosophy; and it is not too long. If you read it, you will have an understanding of ‘Platonism’ which never-ever goes away in philosophy, and will have been promted by one of the greatest minds to think about all these interesting philosophical concepts. It also contains the allegory of the cave which, despite the cliche’s, is pretty amazing, and the original magical invisible ring that Tolkein appropriated!

If you want a more overview type book, I wholeheartedly recommned Think by Simon Blackburn, and What Does it All Mean? By Thomas Nagel – two of the best living philosophers. Think really got me excited about philosophy as few years ago.

5) A boy is about to go on his first date, and is nervous about what to talk about. He asks his father for advice. The father replies: “My son, there are three subjects that always work. These are food, family, and philosophy.”

The boy picks up his date and they go to a soda fountain. Ice cream sodas in front of them, they stare at each other for a long time, as the boy’s nervousness builds. He remembers his father’s advice, and chooses the first topic. He asks the girl: “Do you like potato pancakes?” She says “No,” and the silence returns.
After a few more uncomfortable minutes, the boy thinks of his father’s suggestion and turns to the second item on the list. He asks, “Do you have a brother?” Again, the girl says “No” and there is silence once again.

The boy then plays his last card. He thinks of his father’s advice and asks the girl the following question: “If you had a brother, would he like potato pancakes?”

As a philosopher, please comment.

Ha! Good joke  As a philosopher I say, ‘How did you get a girl to go out with you? Cudos!’