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Peter Saint-Andre's avatar

1. What is your “official” philosophy or religion?

Although I used to joke that I was a taoepicurandistotelianietzschean, and I'm probably more of an Aristotelian than anything else, "officially" I am most deeply committed to philosophy as a verb: the activity of loving and practicing wisdom.

2. What are your most favorite novels or films?

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It's a world unto itself!

3. What are your most favorite works of music?

Recognizing that this is impossible for me to answer, I'd likely put Bach's Cello Suites at the top of the list because I could listen to and study them endlessly.

4. What is your favorite proverb or philosophical saying?

It's difficult to top Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living."

5. What is your idea of common sense?

Respecting experience and being reasonable.

6. Who are some of your heroes?

Even if I wouldn't emulate them in all respects, I have great admiration for two kinds of people: those who have been prolifically creative (such as Aristotle, Shakespeare, Bach, Victor Hugo, Duke Ellington, and Keith Jarrett) and those who have maintained their intellectual independence in the face of extreme societal pressure (such as Socrates, Peter Abelard, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Jan Patočka, and Václav Havel).

7. If you were a virtue, which one would you be?

Wisdom.

8. If you were a vice, which one?

Cowardice. I don't think I'm an especially courageous person.

9. What was your favorite cartoon or fairy tale as a child?

I loved the story of John Henry the Steel-Driving Man.

10. What is your favorite poem?

Another impossible question, but I'll cheat and claim an epic poem: the Iliad.

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Mark Sulkowski's avatar

Okay, I'll bite:

- What is your “official” philosophy or religion?

I probably shouldn't be asked this question when I'm planning a philosophical novel, since I've put so much thought into what certain characters think. But I'll say that while I'm certainly influenced by Ayn Rand's Objectivism and Aristotelianism, plus several other similar thinkers, my official philosophy is Markism. Yes, it probably is a coherentist hodge-podge of things, but it is certainly epistemologially optimistic and related to virtue ethics.

- What are your most favorite novels or films?

Novels: I will include Atlas Shrugged here, though I prefer the Fountainhead. I also like J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. As for movies, I have to include 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Elephant Man, and Excalibur at the top of the list.

- What are your most favorite works of music?

I'm not especially oriented towards music, or at least towards any particular kind of music. I like a wide range of things. I like quirky things such as "I Feel Love", "Whip it" and "The Safety Dance". Yes, I like cultured beautiful music as well.

- What is your favorite proverb or philosophical saying?

"Whatever you do, earn your self-respect". But that's of my construction.

- What is your idea of common sense?

Forged in life experience. Ignored by most people.

- Who are some of your heroes?

Elon Musk when he's standing in front of rockets.

- If you were a virtue, which one would you be?

Sophrosyne. At least on my better days.

- If you were a vice, which one?

Gluttony.

- What was your favorite cartoon or fairy tale as a child?

Thundarr the Barbarian! Ookla! Ariel! We ride!

- What is your favorite poem?

Robert Frost's "The Road Less Travelled", misread to mean that travelling that road was actually a good idea.

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