Professor Steve Ostovich Discusses the Value of Philosophy for Business and Life

Gordon Marino (L) waits for next question from  Steve Ostovich.

I first me Steve Ostovich in June at the Magnolia Salon in Carlton. The discussion that evening centered around Gordon Marino's book The Existentialist's Survival Guide: How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age. Dr. Ostovich, philosophy chair at St. Scholastica, had prepared a series of questions for Gordon Marino, much like William F. Buckley's Firing Line, though with somewhat different subject matter. Ostovich played the role of interrogator.

A good bracing discussion ensued and afterwards I reached out to suggest we share an hour over coffee sometime. The discussion generated themes for an interview relating to philosophy and life.

EN: Maybe we can begin with a brief outline of your career path. 

At Perk Place, Kenwood 

Steve Ostovich: After finishing a BA with majors in philosophy and theology at Marquette U. (in Milwaukee), I went to seminary in North Carolina at Duke University. I quickly found that my questions were not shared by my classmates, so I came back to MU, did an MA in biblical studies concentrating on the Hebrew Bible, and looked around for someplace to pursue a PhD. Lots of opportunities, but I ended up staying at Marquette where I could do exactly what I wanted combining philosophy of science and political theology. It was during this time I was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and did research for a year at the university in Muenster, Germany. When I returned, changes in the department led me to spend two years as an investigator for the Affirmative Action Unit and the City Attorney’s Office in Milwaukee. Eventually I returned to scholarship and college teaching. I came to CSS in 1982, my first full-time appointment, and have never left.

EN: In what ways would the study of philosophy be of value for business leaders? 

SO: The simplest answer may seem facetious, but I don’t mean it to be: “career advancement.” Businesses often look for particular skills in entry-level hires, but when you pay attention to who ends up leading the firm, very often it’s the person who started with a strong liberal education: nothing is more liberating than philosophy. Philosophy develops critical thinking and communication skills, but this is only part of the story. Philosophy fosters leadership ability in working with others—philosophy is based on discussion, thinking deeply and critically and developing visions, and helping the members of a community—business, academic, or other—identify and move in a common direction. This is why leadership demands more than management or administrative skills. People who have pursued philosophy also typically are ethical leaders, not so much because they have studied ethics but because they have learned to value others in the organization or community and the world.

EN: What are the big issues in philosophy today? 

SO: Philosophers are all over the place in the kinds of issues and problems they address; this goes with the territory inasmuch as we’re interested in the principles and ways of thinking that inform whatever we’re doing and in learning to make a good life from our pursuits. But there is a big problem, a common problem, facing philosophy as a community of professionals: inclusiveness. We know better than most how diversity is a requirement for good thinking and living, but the discipline is rooted in a classical, Euro-American centered (that is, white male) tradition. So we, too, are faced with actively pursuing a more diverse philosophical community inclusive of women, people of color, and, in general, voices from other cultures, classes, and parts of the world. And, I’m happy to say, we are making some progress.

EN: How does the study of philosophy help us to become better thinkers? 

SO: First of all, we’re the discipline most centrally concerned with what it means to think; this is why logic is so important to us. We strive to practice good writing and oral communication, skills essential to good thinking. Philosophy also can lead to an awareness of the different ways people put the world together both critically and culturally while providing the tools to evaluate these differences. But all this requires we learn how to listen. Socrates doesn’t seem to have written anything down, but he engaged in discussions in which he hoped to learn from the way truth revealed itself to others as evident in their opinions. To do this, one has to listen closely and openly and respond honestly. This is what we still try to do.

EN: How has Academia changed over the past 40 years? 

SO: We have lost a common understanding of the role of higher education in our society. This is part of a general trend in which private goods defined in economic terms take precedence over the public good, and deeper values all but disappear from public discourse. The consequence for higher education has been a drastic cut in funding and support generally. Fiscal concerns are taking over the academy: boards of trustees and administrators fixate on the bottom line as institutions struggle to survive; faculty and staff are treated like employees and the professoriate becomes a job rather than a vocation; and students become consumers whom we train to be distracted workers rather than active members of a democratic society. It is still possible—indeed, likely—for students to get a first-rate education, but we are turning education into a service industry. We want to be empowered to achieve our wants and desires, but there doesn’t seem to be a place for us to discuss what these should be. So we lose our freedom even as choices proliferate, and while we become good at shopping, we lose the capacity to act. We need to resurrect public discussion of the role of the academy in a healthy society.

EN: Who would you say are your favorite philosophers? Are there any that you especially align with? 

SO: One of the benefits of teaching at a small liberal arts college is I have to teach a wide range of courses in philosophy. This broadens my experience and reading which is good for me as well as for students. Having stated this, I would say my favorite philosopher to read, teach, and discuss is the eighteenth century Scottish empiricist David Hume. What makes him attractive is not so much that I agree with him but his style of thinking and writing, both of which are characterized by humility regarding the possibility of knowing truth. Other favorites (and philosophers about whom I have written in most cases) are: critical theorists like Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, the still vital Jürgen Habermas, and Hannah Arendt, whose collection of essays Thinking without a Banister, I currently am reading; twentieth century French thinkers like Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty whose work I am reading with a post-baccalaureate student; and Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, American pragmatists whose concerns are still important and whose style is delightful. Also, my German Doktorvater, the political theologian Johann Baptist Metz. Finally, I still treat the Hebrew Bible as an important philosophical resource for thinking differently.

EN: How about favorite authors? Who are you currently reading? 

SO: Sherman Alexie broadens my world and W. G. Sebald feeds my melancholy. Among essayists, I will always read a piece by Tariq Ali, for even when I don’t understand him or when I disagree with him, I always learn something from him. Among living poets, my colleague and friend Ryan Vine writes lines that speak. My brother and wife now have me reading the mystery novels of Louise Penny. And I just finished a non-fiction history of the Vienna Circle, Exact Thinking in Demented Times, by Karl Sigmund.



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Current and Recent Readings: Too Many Books, Too Little Time

There really are so many good books out there. We read them for different reasons. Some serve as simply a diversion. Others provide nutrition for our souls. Still others give our "brain muscles" a workout. Here are a few books that I've been enjoying right now or recently completed.

Symmetry by Marcus du Sautoy
I picked up this gem after recently re-reading my interview with Portuguese artist Margarida Sardinha regarding her 2015 project Symmetry's Portal which led me into revisiting (via books) the remarkable features of The Alhambra.

The Red Book by Carl Jung
The Amazon listing about this volume calls it "the most influential unpublished work in the history of psychology." My friend Dan introduced me to this hefty volume so I could see the illustrations, more than 200 in all. But the substance is Jung's private wrestling with the meaning of Self, consciousness and universal truths about who we are. Four decades ago I read Jung's Memories, Dreams and Reflections and was impressed with his candor.

50 Philosophy Classics by Tom Butler-Bowdon
I finished the audiobook in December. Having found it to be such a valuable resource I purchased the paper version to use as a reference. A great thought-stimulator. Useful tool for stirring up themes to cogitate upon so you can produce the illusion that you're a deep thinker.

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Exceptionally insightful.  Listened to the audiobook this past month and will do it again. Utilizes insights from the latest research in neuroscience. Compelling stories bring home essential truths. Yes, we're creatures of habit, and when those habits are bad ones we need to apply ourselves to cultivating new ones. We begin by becoming aware of our triggers.

Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
Duhigg's book uses stories from a variety of sources. One of these sources was Claude Hopkins, an influential ad man from the first half of the twentieth century. I'd read Hopkins many years ago because my own advertising guru, David Ogilvy, consider Hopkins his own shining light. Were you aware that it was an ad campaign by Claude Hopkins that prodded a whole nation of people to regularly brush their teeth?

Illustration from The Red Book

The Light on Synanon by Dave Mitchell, Cathy Mitchell and Richard Ofshe
Current bedtime reading. When I read it in the early 1990's it triggered an idea for a story which later became an unproduced screenplay. Still gonna try to resurrect that project if I live long enough.

Rocket Men by Craig Nelson
Currently reading this one as I commute. Absolutely compelling thus far. Reminds us of the context when that first moonshot took place, during the Cold War. The Russians had already embarrassed us with Sputnik and other achievements. A moon landing would be a major PR coup, which really amounted to a "puff our chests out" opportunity to gloat. Had the Russians been first on the moon would that have meant Soviet communism was superior to our democratic capitalism? Rocket Men is an excellent addition to the many other books about the story of NASA. An good follow up to Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. (EdNote: A few reviews on Amazon indicate that this book may not be entirely reliable in all its facts, though for now it's been a good read.)

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What are you reading these days?