Scott Samuelson holds a joint appointment at Iowa State University in Philosophy & Religious Studies and Extension & Outreach. The winner of the 2015 Hiett Prize in the Humanities for his work in bringing philosophy to the public, he’s the author of several books: Rome as a Guide to the Good Life, Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering, and The Deepest Human Life—all published by the University of Chicago Press. Along the way, he’s worked as a movie reviewer, a talk-show host for community discussions about ethical issues in the news, and a sous-chef at a French restaurant on a gravel road. His latest book is To Taste: On Cooking and the Good Life. Email: ssamuelson1973 [at] gmail.com
by Scott Samuelson During our disturbingly subdued celebration of the Declaration of Independence’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary, one of the many things I’ve been thinking about is our natural right to “the pursuit of happiness.” As I’ve reconsidered the philosophical tradition that the Committee of Five was drawing on when they lit on that memorable phrase, seven…
by Scott Samuelson The first noble truth is that life is full of needless suffering. The second noble truth, only slightly less well-known, is that the cause of needless suffering is maxxing. What’s the problem with maxxing? As I see it, it involves replacing our enjoyment of the goods in front of us with a…
by Scott Samuelson I’ve been interviewed a few times for radio shows and podcasts. In the runup to the interviews, I used to fantasize about bubbling up with witty and insightful points in shapely speech paragraphs of grammatically flawless sentences. Sometimes (I’m embarrassed to admit) I’d even write out answers to potential questions and try…
by Scott Samuelson I’ve noticed something peculiar when I’m at an academic talk. While the paper is being read, I tend to become increasingly skeptical of it. Sometimes I dismiss it because I can’t track its jargon or follow its argument. But even when I do follow its every twist and turn, I often experience…
by Scott Samuelson One of my early memories is lying awake at night, trying to discern through the sounds of the wind the creeping of an Iranian on the roof outside my bedroom window. For a few months, when I’d look both ways to cross the street on my walk to school, I’d scan less…
by Scott Samuelson I had a long drive ahead of me. Sick of podcasts that all blur together, news programs with their predictable slants, and algorithm-controlled radio stations, I dug around in a pile of old CDs and found a mixtape labeled “Songs for Sisyphus,” compiled for me by my friend Jane Drexler (who also…
by Scott Samuelson When Confucius was asked what the first thing he’d do if a king were to let him administer the state, he said, “Without question it would be to make sure names are used properly.” His shocked student replied, “Really? Isn’t that a little farfetched?” It’s easy to share the student’s incredulity. How…
by Scott Samuelson Once I’ve hung a picture on the wall, I pretty much never look at it again. It goes right from the forefront of my mind to the background of my room. It’s only when a guest comments on it that I bother to see it again. A similar thing can be said…
by Scott Samuelson When I turned fifty, I went through the usual crisis of facing that my life was—so to speak—more than half drunk. After moping a while, one of the more productive things I started to do was to write letters to people living and dead, people known to me and unknown, sometimes people…
by Scott Samuelson I was a freshman in college when I first read Plato’s Apology, his version of the event that probably made the biggest mark on him: his city’s trial and condemnation of Socrates. I recall how a fellow student in Humanities 101 was skeptical of the claim in the Apology that the unexamined…
by Scott Samuelson Though universities have traditionally been associated with educating students, I don’t think that it makes sense anymore. There’s too much at stake. Education requires wonder, discipline, personal attention, liberal learning, standards, mentorship, transformation, reading. Let’s face it. These things don’t scale well, especially when it comes to generating the revenue universities need…
by Scott Samuelson When it comes to the subject of help, contemporary philosophy is rarely helpful. Its discussions tend to revolve around things like if it’s morally acceptable to buy a cappuccino when children are starving somewhere, or what percentage of your income you’re entitled to keep, or (I’m not kidding) how much donating money…
by Scott Samuelson Though I can’t say that I’ve made any great effort to learn how to meditate or be mindful, the experiences I’ve had have left me cold. Not only am I no good at emptying my mind, I don’t want to empty my mind. I enjoy thinking. Plus, the only times I’ve been…
by Scott Samuelson Studying in Leipzig back in 1993, I took the train down to Dresden and visited the Old Masters Picture Gallery. As I meandered among the masterpieces, I was stopped in my tracks by Johannes Vermeer’s Young Woman Reading a Letter by an Open Window. The droplets of light on her braids. Her…
by Scott Samuelson One of my big regrets in life, the kind that tortures me at three in the morning, may not seem like a big deal when you first hear about it: I once said that I hated the Beach Boys. In the wake of Brian Wilson’s death, I want to apologize for that vicious…
by Scott Samuelson The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room. —Blaise Pascal In its “Recovered Books Series,” Boiler House Press has just republished Christopher Burney’s Solitary Confinement, originally released in 1951, a profound, steely, and even sometimes funny account of the five-hundred and…
by Scott Samuelson Some people tell me that God takes care of old folks and fools. But since I’ve been born, they must have changed his rules. —Funny Papa Smith Though Nicole Kidman is compelling as a CEO having a risky affair with her young intern, I don’t particularly want to talk about Babygirl. My…
by Scott Samuelson But lo! men have become the tools of their tools. —Henry David Thoreau The other day I was talking to some university students, and I asked them to what extent AI could be used to do their required coursework. Would it be possible for ChatGPT to graduate from their university? One of…
by Scott Samuelson Though I’m at best a mediocre tennis player, I’ve achieved something in the sport that the pros achieve only at their finest, which I’ve taken to calling “tennisosity,” a hybrid of “tennis” and “virtuosity.” I coined the term several years ago, in the sweaty aftermath of a match in which my opponent…
by Scott Samuelson When we conjure up what thinking looks like, what tends to leap to mind is an a-ha lightbulb or a brow-furrowed chin scratch—or the sculpture The Thinker. While there’s something deservedly iconic about how Rodin depicts a powerful body redirecting its energies inward, I think that the most insightful depictions of thinking…