Engaged Philosophy and the Public Philosophy Network are partnering to present a special interview series that highlights the work of public philosophers who will be presenting at the 2019 PPN Conference Oct 17-19, 2019.
Barry Lam is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Vassar College, and founder, host, and executive producer of the podcast Hi-Phi Nation, from Slate. The journalism-driven podcast introduces lots of people to the philosophical issues in current events.
What type(s) of public philosophy do you do?
I make a narrative storytelling podcast integrating journalism and philosophy called Hi-Phi Nation for the Slate network. The show is in its third season now, and the fourth season is already funded through the Whiting Foundation Fellowship for Public Engagement.
The show has covered topics in almost all areas of philosophy, including, for example, just war theory, philosophy of language, statistics, music, even mathematics. The only constraint is that there has to be a connection between the philosophy and a story. The goal is to bring philosophy into connection with narrative storytelling and journalism to bring the discipline to people who otherwise wouldn’t encounter it. The audience is people who read the news, keep up with political events, like long-form journalism, and like to think about how the world works. They are typically urban, well-educated professionals who have commutes. For them, I seek a story from contemporary events, history, science, or the arts that has a philosophical conflict, and I use the human compulsion to listen to story to drive the listener toward the philosophical questions that will help them understand the story better.
Give an example of a successful project.
The first two episodes of the third season I consider to be two of my favorites. They are on predictive policing and algorithmic risk assessment in the criminal justice system. I also believe the first three episodes of the first season are very successful. I generally measure success by download numbers, buzz online, links to the episodes in media, both print and social, and newsletters. I also sometimes judge by the kind of feedback I get privately through email. I also judge success by how much an episode is taught in various courses around the country or world, something I can see by seeing sudden upticks in hits on particular episodes coming from university course websites in the middle of an academic semester. I would like successful episodes to eventually have an impact on policy—for example, people listening to the episodes of algorithmic risk assessment might eventually write amicus briefs in court cases about the legality and morality of the practice.
What benefits does doing public philosophy offer to the public(s) you engage? What benefits does it offer you?
The sector of the public concerned with current events, history, and daily life but not particularly argumentation about abstract issues can now have a starting point for philosophy that engages them. It is much more fulfilling to me to reach lots of people with my podcast than a very few with my journal articles.
In the two episodes on criminal justice, I’ve been in contact with line officers in various police forces, defense attorneys, and journalists on the criminal justice beat who had never thought about the issues on the ground in the way that I presented them in the episode. In fact, one officer who is in charge of implementing new technologies in a rather large metropolitan area really appreciated the fair treatment I gave of the moral problems behind predictive policing technologies, and made a decision that I think was informed by the show. That’s not something that would have happened if all I did was publish a paper on it in a good professional journal.
What role does the PPN play in your philosophical work? What role do you play in the PPN?
It is good to see a community of like-minded individuals within academic philosophy who are as passionate about public outreach as I am.
In what ways does your public philosophy inform your work intended for a specialist audience (or vice versa)?
I have learned a lot more about the importance of certain issues in philosophy when I take a deep dive into the investigative journalism side of pieces I now make, and it is much more motivating to me to work on issues that connect in relevant ways to issues of public importance. But it has also given me a deeper appreciation of corners in specialist philosophy that I otherwise would have never encountered, such as philosophy of music. I did two episodes so far on that topic, The Cops of Pop, Season 1 episode 5, and Cover Me Softly, Season 2, episode 5. I’ll just let that work speak for itself.
In what ways does public philosophy inform your teaching (or vice-versa)?
I’ve started to teach a lot more in a narrative-driven way, just like my show, and I incorporate a lot of media other than print in my courses. By narrative-driven, I mean that I introduce and motivate philosophical problems by presenting a story in which they figure prominently. Its analogous to teaching the law using cases rather than starting with argumentation in the abstract. There are virtues and vices to either approach; philosophy taught purely in the abstract allows you to sidestep the complexities of the real world in a way that allows you to maximize generality. But dealing with the real world in all of its complexities allows you to see clearly the number of philosophical questions implicated in any conflict.
If someone wanted to do public philosophy like yours, what steps or resources would you recommend?
I recommend that they go to Transom.org and see all of their manifestos on how to make good narrative audio.
How does your department or institution support your public philosophy? How would you like to see them support you?
My department has allowed me to take extensive unpaid leaves while my work has been funded by outside organizations, such as Duke U, the Marc Sanders Foundation, and The Whiting Foundation. My institution has provided supplemental matching support for all the fellowships I have received. It has allowed me to do the work from part to full-time in the years I have been funded. I would like departments and institutions to count such work as toward hiring, tenure, and promotion as teaching and research.
What advice do you wish someone had given to you before you started doing public philosophy?
Don’t hesitate to start doing it. Unlike in academic philosophy proper, there is no training, no PhDs, no advisors, no job market. Public philosophy is just what you decide to do.
What has been your biggest obstacle in doing public philosophy?
Training myself to be a journalist, making calls to strangers, talking to strangers, and being a poor publicist for myself.
What gets you out of bed in the morning? What is your passion?
The next episode has to go out, whether I want to work on it or not, whether I am prepared to finish it or not. Sponsors have bought space, productions schedules are fixed, there’s nothing one can do but move forward.
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