Rebecca Lowe

Reading, Writing, and Thinking about Freedom

What is philosophy to you? 

I love working out definitions, to the extent that I have a podcast focused on doing this. But I’m going to resist trying to define ‘philosophy’ here, and say instead that philosophy, to me, is a way of life. I mean this both in the sense that I organize my life so I can spend as much of it as possible on reading and writing philosophy. But also in that, the more I think about this, the more I realize that doing philosophy is the only ‘mode’ I really have. My instinct, for instance, is to think up objections to whatever things are said to me. Sometimes, it can be hard to hold back from sharing these objections, when clearly I should stay silent! But the more I accept that this is what I am like, the happier I feel, and the greater the opportunities that seem to arise for me.

Rebecca Lowe

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How were you first introduced to philosophy? 

I don’t remember! My parents are both philosophers, so philosophy was all around me for all of my childhood. This was literally the case, in that the house was lined with philosophy books — even the staircases. And it also dominated pretty much every conversation. Of course, I often didn’t realize that philosophy was what we were doing in those conversations, particularly when I was very small. But I can’t think of a better childhood. There’s little I’m more grateful for.

How do you practice philosophy today? 

I’m extremely fortunate to have a job that I love — Philosophy Senior Research Fellow, at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University — which enables me to spend most of my working hours reading and writing philosophy. In a very loose sense, I count my ‘working hours‘ as including the evenings and the weekends, because work, in the sense of doing philosophy, is what I enjoy and value doing the most. Indeed, I'll admit that when I’m doing other things, I usually feel a bit frustrated. More narrowly, my job contract says that 60 per cent of my job time is reading and writing philosophy, which I think is likely a rare, wonderful thing, because most philosophers have lots of teaching and admin duties. The other 40 per cent is spent directing a cool program for emerging scholars, which I also enjoy a lot, and which often involves talking with interesting people about philosophy!

What is a philosophical issue that is important to you?

I think a lot about freedom. I’m extremely interested in working out what freedom is and why it’s important. At the moment, I’m writing a couple of books addressing these questions — one focused on free speech, and the other on the space for freedom within accounts of the good. Much of the other writing I do touches on these questions, too. And they are broad questions, of course. They allow me to move beyond political and moral philosophy, which are my key areas of focus, into doing some metaphysics and philosophy of mind, which I find very exciting.

What books, podcasts, or other media have stood out to you as a philosopher? 

I tend mostly to read twentieth-century analytic philosophy. I do read current stuff, but I find the opportunity cost high. There is just so much good twentieth-century analytic philosophy for me to read and think hard about! I have to admit that I don’t listen to podcasts much, though I do often read transcripts. I also enjoy Philosophy Twitter — and increasingly Philosophy Substack, very much. I have this assumption that as AI breaks down the monopoly that the universities have on the production of academic goods, blog posting will become much more central to philosophy. I think this is a good thing. I’m not interested in publishing in philosophy journals at the moment, because I think the general set-up is morally and intellectually lacking.

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Rebecca Lowe is a philosopher with a particular interest in freedom and rights. She is Philosophy Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center, where she is also Director of Emerging Scholars. She is working on two books: ‘Freedom in Utopia’ and ‘Speaking Freely’. She writes a Substack called ‘the ends don’t justify the means’, and hosts the Working Definition podcast.

Check out her personal website!

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