From Classroom to Life: When Ideas Start to Matter | David Goldblatt | Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Denison University | Part 2 | Season 9 Episode 11 | #147

reeducated

In this episode, I sat down again with David Goldblatt, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, to talk about how philosophy moves from theory to practice—and why that movement often doesn't happen. We reflected on how routine and academic settings can limit our thinking, and why breaking out through travel, art, or even a conversation in a roadside bar can shift our sense of what matters. David shared how he sees philosophy not as an abstract endeavor, but as something that shapes—and is shaped by—how we live, vote, and act, even when we don’t realize it.

We explored identity, language, and what it means to call something the “self.” Through examples ranging from ventriloquism to tattoos, interpretive dance to jazz, we talked about the ways in which expression both reveals and creates who we are. We also touched on the tensions between personal life and philosophical thinking—whether philosophy professors have a responsibility to attend to the impact of the ideas they share, and how theory can subtly or dramatically reshape a life.

This conversation is less about offering conclusions and more about tracing connections between experience, expression, and thought—how books, art, and politics all become personal, and how sometimes the question isn’t whether philosophy matters, but whether we’re paying attention to how it already has.