Raw LLM Responses

i. A lot of philosophers can be dry. Which philosophers are fun to read? I love reading David Lewis. I think his writing is incredible and he is one of the greatest minds I have ever come across. Although, he wouldn’t be where I would start my philosophical exploration? I don’t think you can go wrong with Plato! That’s probably where I would start. A different approach would be to start by thinking about a problem you are already invested in understanding more about and then find thinkers who have written on that. For example, there has been a lot of discussion about the ethics of self-driving cars recently. If that problem grips you then you can start by thinking about that problem first and then start reading philosophers who have written on that or read about various ethical frameworks that can help you better make sense of that problem. I often find that the more interested I am in the problem the more interesting I think the thing I am reading is! ii. Do you assent to an unpopular or surprising philosophical position? Could you tell us what it is? I am a consequentialist but one who holds a very strange and expansive view of consequentialism. iii. What is a 'key to success' that most graduate students overlook, or don't realize? I love your stuff! Treat it like a job. Grad school is this incredible combination of having a lot of freedom and being around likeminded people. It’s really easy to get caught up in that! If you want to be successful in graduate school (by which I mean, you want to be a professional philosopher) then treat it like a job. Set a schedule and a weekly plan and stick to it in the face of other options and your weakness of will! Also, being a professional philosopher is just one way to be successful at graduate school. If there are other things you are interested in doing (e.g. consulting, working in technology, working as a journalist, whatever) then try to explore those careers. Leverage your school's recruiting and try to get an i