Why Philosophy? Ryan Johnson
Philosophy as a Collaborative Practice
What is philosophy to you?
A practice. Before all else, philosophy is something I do, or rather something I do with others. What is written down, published, etc. is just the frozen transcription of life, a fossil record of action, and so lacks the beating heart of a way of doing – of living – philosophy. Maybe philosophy is even more of a living than a practice? Fossils, to be sure, can tell a great deal about how organisms lived, what they ate, how they died, etc. But philosophy, for me, is a living practice. Essential to this practice is collaboration. It is a “doing with,” to twist Heidegger’s mitsein. I seek out collaborations all the time, even though 99% of people turn me down! I’ve co-edited four books, co-written one book, co-written many articles and chapters, co-organized conferences and residencies, co-choregraphed a dance, etc. I am constantly emailing people who seem interesting and asking them to meet, which I jokingly call a kind of “academic dating.” My point is that philosophy is something I practice with others.
How were you first introduced to philosophy?
I’m not sure exactly, but I have a few stories that must, together, contain some truth. When I was a kid, my dad said he took a philosophy course in college, which sounded intriguing. Then I read about these “intellectuals” in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (which every suburban white American boy seems to read). I was a pretty sad kid, which led me to look for something more meaningful than a very isolating, wan white American life. Eventually, Plato’s and Nietzsche's books showed up. When I read Thus Spoke Zarathustra, I had no idea what was going on but it was thrilling! Listening to blues and classical music felt similar to reading Nietzsche, so there must have been something philosophical there. Looking back now, first, it was music and poetry, which led to and combined with philosophy, then eventually to Heidegger, Lucretius, Deleuze, Davis, Moten, etc.
How do you practice philosophy today?
Collaboratively, improvisationally, and strangely. As I said about “academic dating,” I’m always emailing people, asking them for coffee or to Zoom chat. Usually, these are one-offs, although some lead to friendships, academic or personal. I say “strangely” because I didn’t go to Ivy League schools, so most of those who did are uninterested in me and how I practice philosophy. What I think is philosophically interesting seems to confuse many in the discipline. For example, I’ve done lots of philosophy of food and view eating as a modality of doing philosophy. Similarly with walking and playing/listening to music. Central to this collaborative practice is teaching. My classes often seem strange to other philosophers. I never lecture. I teach books I haven’t read yet. Students design their own exams. I almost always teach outside. Hence my classes are collective improvisational ensembles, not unlike New Orleans jazz collective improvisation – or at least that is what I dream them to be! Through it all, I have developed a writing pedagogy that continuously integrates my writing and teaching into a single philosophical practice.
Why is philosophy important to you?
Because I cannot imagine doing anything else. Right now, like too many academics, I do not live in the same city (or even country!) as my partner. It’s horrible and we are urgently trying to change it. As we’ve envisioned ways to be together, I’ve seriously considered what else I might do. Yet I can’t! It’s embarrassing to admit that I am not sure what else I could do. I think about philosophy every day. Or rather, I am constantly thinking about things that I consider philosophical, whether or not SPEP or the APA does. Philosophy is how I grapple with the world, something I learned from George Yancy. Dr. Yancy was at Duquesne when I studied there, and he practiced a kind of living practice that still informs my own. As I – a white, American dude – moved to the South, along with my immigrant partner, I started to see how philosophy could help me reckon with race. And this is what I see myself doing for the rest of my career and life.
What books, podcasts, or other media would you recommend to anyone interested in philosophy?
- John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, especially the live Seattle recording
- Everything Fred Moten writes, as well as his YouTube talks
- Spinoza’s Ethics
- The TV show Atlanta
- Saidiya Hartman’s Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments
- Luis Buñuel’s film The Exterminating Angel
Ryan Johnson is associate professor of philosophy at Elon University in North Carolina. He writes books in pairs: two on Deleuze and the ancients (The Deleuze-Lucretius Encounter and Deleuze, a Stoic), two on Hegel (Phenomenology of Black Spirit [with Biko Mandela Gray] and the forthcoming Three American Hegels), and his current books are variations on John Coltrane (The John Brown Suite and A Love Spinoza). He loves trains, walking with his wife, and making up songs on his guitar that he immediately forgets how to play.
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