Ellie Anderson interview: phenomenology and philosophy today

Part 1 of 2: for part 2, where Dr. Anderson discusses her own research on love and sex, see:

Philosophy professor and Overthink co-host Ellie Anderson, Ph.D., talks about the nature of phenomenology, including its approaches to lived experience, the continuity between classical phenomenology and critical phenomenology, and how her work fits into the traditions of phenomenology, poststructuralism, and more. She also gets into her role as public philosopher, including how she feels about podcasting, how she got into posting YouTube videos, and the varieties of venues for philosophical education.

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[bryce]

I'm currently in my fourth year of a philosophy undergrad, and I just wanna say your videos have helped me so much... Not just in clarifying concepts better than my professors, but also in introducing me to other perspectives on authors I thought I already understood, and thinking about philosophy as it relates to our current world as an academic discipline, social force, etc.

I wish I had enough patience and dedication to push through grad school, but as a consolation prize for not going, I get to hear you explain a lot of good reasons why its so hard to practice philosophy as a career... Sometimes it can feel like you're insane studying continental philosophy in the US, with people undermining the value of philosophy as a whole and 'continental' philosophy already being excluded from philosophy in a lot of people's minds. It's been awesome to hear you talk about not just philosophical concepts but also your experience in the job market (if I didn't know better, I might say the phenomenology of being a philosopher) which is a perspective that's hard to get from your undergrad professors. Keep up the great work <3

[Philover]

Great content with both questions and answers well thought out! Given the prevalence of social media, I think public philosophy will become even more important in the coming years.

[santacruzman]

Thanks this treatment of phenomenology and the great reminder to venture out of Plato's allegorical cave!


“The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become definite, finite, obvious; common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities are contemptuously rejected. Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts it raises, is able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom. Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be; it removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those who have never travelled into the region of liberating doubt, and it keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect”

~ Bertrand Russell

[robertalenrichter]

I'm of Canadian origin and live in Berlin, follow German and French media/culture on a daily basis. I would say that philosophy and philosophers have almost as prominent a role in German society as in France. There was even a federal minister of culture who is a philosopher, Julian Nida-Rümelin. Philosophers get invited onto talk shows. I read once that such a degree can be of interest on the jobs market, as certain employers view it as a combination of analytical skills and cultural knowledge, not to mention, the ability to articulate. As for the concern that thumbnail sketches of philosophers and their ideas on YouTube might be too superficial, I don't think so. I love that old adage, "one thing leads to another".

[DjTahoun]

29:23 So that a guy like me living in Egypt can get a chance to learn philosophy 😇

[BillyMcBride]

❤ Thank you, Ellie for inspiring another purpose in my life. For fourteen years, you might call them multiple selves, but I call them separate Angels within me, and my YouTube channel is a music one, with some audiobooks that I wrote. You have given me the idea to take philosophy and philosophers, and interview my own heavenly Angels as to how they feel about them. I love reading anything, but the best thoughts that are thought, that thought that comes from our many diverse traditions, including philosophy, deserve to be talked about. And, I have these Angels, so I might as well make some YouTube Interviews with them on Hegel, Nietzsche, Ponty, Derrida, Descartes, Heidegger, Sartre and many others. Though I am not an academic, but a common reader, my friends who love my Angels tell me that I make a pretty good teacher. So asking such celestial beings what they think of this or that figure will be interesting, and I have no idea what they will say just yet, but I know that they are good and fair always.

This is cool, I will start very soon. Thank you for your inspiration and public service. It will surely be better than asking ChatGPT what it thinks about philosophers and philosophy.

Wish us luck! 🎉

[cyberneticqualanaut]

Great interview. A really succinct definition of phenomenology.

I particularly liked your brief mention of "the self." I've spend a lot of time reading and thinking about the philosophy of mind, but I don't know much about the perspective from Continental philosophy. Whom do you recommend on that subject? Merleau-Ponty, maybe Sartre. Others?

[willfranklin]

'Great expose on Phenomenology!

Perhaps, moreover, the Deleuzian might broaden the perspective a bit on selfhood: "The self is a door between becomings...". In other words, self-ness is a retrospective of the compendium of thoughts that leads one onto a particular line of flight/plane of consistency.

And as for The existence of a coherent self, per Kant you might say that selfhood is by definition the coherent outcome of any particular strategy of thought> action. n other words, we know we're a self t the extent that we can reflect upon the general ontology that drives our decisions. Therefore, in a particular, individual sense, Ontology is Univocal.

But only that. here, it;s to be understood (or contested) that sarre utterly destroyed Husserl's project of finding tropes of "Universal Consciousness". Rather, that all consciousness is particular.

And ditto with Derrida in regards to language. Even within a particular cultural matrix, meaning slides so much as to take on significance only between users. In other words, it's the differing nature of language itself that makes a General Phenomenology quite impossible...

[fede]

While there are more technical or abstract aspects to philosophy that deserve to be treated in a purely academic setting, we shouldn't miss the forest for the trees. What is left of a philosophy that doesn't take life as its leit motif? And what kind of awareness of this are we bound to have if philosophy is sealed off from everyday life?

[amigadecachorros]

When I was in college 20 years ago, my boyfriend was into theory and wanted me very badly to learn it. As you all know, it’s hard. So he bought me these comic books that explained postmodernism and structuralism- because he knew I liked comics. Lol. This is what this discussion needs. I can still hear him saying “deconstruction doesn’t mean what you think it means.😂😅 i think phenomenology is so important and the language we use is so hard to understand. I wince thinking about charlatans like Jordan Peterson using Disney movies to illustrate his points against continental philosophy.

[opticalmixing]

What is life, really, if we subtract all the ads, social media, and entertainment that keep us occupied daily, reeled in? What are we? Time is going so fast. What are we living for? This is the question

[anonymoushuman]

It's troubling, to me, how a major role of higher education is to legitimize the basic distinction between working classes and "educated" classes. It seems to me that we shouldn't accept this state of affairs as a fact of life, nor console ourselves with the belief that we inhabit a just meritocracy. But what to do?

[dilbyjones]

I was happy having the prof read with commentary. I guess it's necessary to have a Q & A. Too distracting.

[tcmackgeorges]

The thumbnail for this is so funny and cute :3

At 36:50 he asks a doubly meaningless question: firstly because the question had already been answered. Secondly, because it makes no sense to assume that exposing more people to an unknown subject could impede, or even harm, their interest in in-depth knowledge about the subject -- the worst that can happen is that they discover that they really have no interest in delving deeper into that subject; place they were already before being exposed to the subject...

[UmarFarooq-nitl]

I tried my best to study philosophy and understand philosophy, ,, but I failed .

[otpglobal]

Cogito versus Culture ... Critical Phenomenology is a powerful tool that need not be applied to "social justice" ... ie Heidegger's position on blood and soil as it relates to authentic Dasein, and possibility of multiple Daseins [Russian Dasein, German Dasein, etc]

[bobcabot]

i totally disagree in every possible aspect! but not philosophically off causa...