Doing things with philosophy - an interview with stage magician Larry Hass

I started the blog Doing Things With Philosophy about 4 years ago to give philosophy graduates a sense of potential careers outside of academia. It has brief interviews with philosophers who have a variety of professions. Especially close to my heart is this one with Josh Parsons -- formerly a philosopher with a permanent position at the University of Oxford who gave up a position there for a job as senior policy advisor at the New Zealand Ministry of Transport, a job that he told me made him a lot happier than his Oxford job. 

Anyway, the blog was on hiatus for a while but I am starting it up again. Today I posted this interview with stage magician Lawrence Hass. Lawrence (Larry) Hass has undoubtedly one of the coolest philosophy alt-ac jobs I can imagine, being a full-time professional magician. Read the whole interview, but particularly this bit: 

my career advice is to marshal your knowledge and skills in the service of work that you are passionately interested in pursuing. One of the most challenging things to do is say “Yes!” to your most passionate pursuits in the face of so many people and a society that will say “No” to them. If I had let the no-sayers shape my decisions I never would have become a professional artist, much less a philosopher or even a philosophy major.  Good Luck!

I think this is really valuable advice. There is so much disheartening stuff out there, and so much of our life and our careers is up to luck, but it's important to at least sometimes dare to pursue your dreams (many of us have done so already, or we would not have gotten a PhD--I think except for very senior folk that many of us went into this with few illusions). Similarly, if you think about an alt-ac path there are so many who say it can't be done, and that academics are only really good for academia. But, as this interview and many others I hope to still hold show, this is not true. A philosophy degree is very flexible, and with creativity can be harnessed in many other contexts!

Comments

[Amanda]

I guess I'm not sure what to think about this because so many people pursed philosophy, against advice not to, precisely because it was their dream. They either assumed(consciously or otherwise) that their philosophical passion would result in either, (1)beating the odds, or, (2) being happy just with the experience in itself, even without an academic career.

Yet I think there are so many suffering, hurt, and bitter philosophers out there - and surely the number will only grow because of COVID - that realized their expectations re their philosophy dream is responsible for a lot of personal grief. They realize they actually won't beat the odds, or they realize that despite previously thinking they'd be happy with "just" a PhD, the culture of the profession has eaten-away at their self-worth and they can't escape the feeling of failure for not "making-it," even while knowing how truly difficult and unfair "making it" turned out to be.

Given the above, I would best many philosophers are extremely hesitant to follow the same dream path again - especially now that they are older and might have a family, etc. Doing the dream career makes some sense in your early 20s, and of course, there are always stories of it working at any age. But takin that kind of risk, again, in your 30s? There are situations where it would make sense: you are single with no kids and have no one counting on you, and you honestly wouldn't mind living in a van for a year if it came down to it; you have an unusual and dependable source of wealth/income and are unlike others who might face financial ruin; you have the safety net of a special skill that you are very confident could result in a stable, well-enough paid job if you pursued it, etc. But I think those situations are in the minority. I am not sure if I would recommend people pursue their risky dream career post philosophy PhD, if only for their own mental health and well-being.