Tiffany E. Montoya
PhD

Why Philosophy?

I have an insatiable curiosity about the world, I am fascinated by the way humans find meaning, and how they express (aesthetically) and assert (politically) their humanity. Like the rest of our species, I am also traversing through this wondrous fog of existence, reflecting on different interpretations of "the good life", finding meaning and my place in nature and the cosmos, and trying to remain loyal to my ethical commitments. As a good philosopher should, I spend a lot of time reciting a succession of "whys?". 

 

Philosophers play an important role in constructing the foundational theories for all the other fields of study. We are interested the furthest edges and limits of human inquiry. It is not knowledge alone that we seek, but the wisdom to discern the purpose, function, and use of this knowledge. There will always be a theory of values (implicitly or explicitly) at the base of every science. The 'philo' (love) of 'sophia' (wisdom) is our raison d'etre.

 

My approach to philosophy is dialectical, it combines critique with imagination. It is futile to talk about “the good life” or an ideal "life worth living" if the social conditions necessary for such a life are unavailable to many people. Part of my work therefore involves identifying the avoidable barriers that prevent human flourishing—such as poverty, racism, poor health, and environmental destruction—and critically examining the ideas, habits, and social structures that sustain them. But philosophy should not only criticize the world as it is; it should also help us imagine what a more just and flourishing world could look like.

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My approach to normative political theory is interdisciplinary, relational and internationalist. I examine ethical and political problems by tracing the connections between different domains of social life—public health, race, political economy, environmental systems, and history. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari, this could be described as a "rhizomatic method". Just as a rhizome spreads through networks of interconnected roots, social problems rarely exist in isolation: racism intersects with political economy, inequality is shaped by the histories of capitalism and colonialism, and colonial reasoning continues to influence ecological destruction. Naturally, my approach is therefore also relational and internationalist, in the sense that "an injury to one, is an injury to all"; our globalized world makes this unavoidable. Our grasp of ethical or political problems is most effective when approached through an understanding of the systems, and network of relations, that the problem is embedded in.​​