Congratulations to Mary Gregg, a recent UConn Ph.D. Alumna, for being selected for an APA Member interview! This section of the APA Blog is designed to get to know our fellow philosophers a little better. Profiles of APA members spotlight what captures their interest not only inside the office, but also outside of it.
What excites you about philosophy?
Its ability to reach, unite, and inspire persons from all backgrounds and disciplines. As a discipline characterized by critical reflection on the beliefs, assumptions, and principles we often leave unquestioned, philosophy encourages its participants to think carefully about why and how they think the way they do about the world around them in ways they might not have thought possible. In its aptitude for constant reflection and revision, philosophy provokes a useful humility in its thinkers, which cultivates a learning environment marked by openness and curiosity in such a way that even the often unflinching instructor-pupil power differential is usefully broken down, allowing each person to learn, with gratitude, from one another, both in the classroom and beyond it.