College of Charleston philosophy professor Jennifer Baker will be featured on the national Peabody Award-winning radio show “To the Best of Our Knowledge” on January 23, 2011. Air times for the Public Radio International/Wisconsin Public Radio show vary by station, but a podcast will be available here. Philosophers Mark Kingwell and Chrisoula Andreou are also featured in the show.
Baker is interviewed by Steve Paulson about procrastination and whether it should be considered a vice. Baker contributed a chapter on the subject to Oxford University Press’ “The Thief of Time: Philosophical Essays on Procrastination.” She also has a blog for “Psychology Today” and has dedicated a post to this issue.
“I argue that most of our reasons for condemning procrastination as a vice are bad,” Baker says. “What would Aristotle, the Stoics, and the Epicureans say about procrastination? Some find the rush of procrastinating pleasurable. Others can be described as “avoiders” and “decisional procrastinators.” The avoiders seem to be afraid of being judged by their product. The decisional procrastinators, who cannot make up their minds, prefer to think of all the options being left open. Each of these types are easily fit into Aristotle’s descriptions of how we go wrong. But this is human nature, not vice. If Aristotle’s explanation leads to any advice, it might be the sort that gets professors to require several drafts of papers to be turned in: something to get us out of the predictably bad habits we fall into.”
“To the Best of Our Knowledge” produces two hours of audio magazine-style programming every week. Each hour has a theme that includes air commentaries, performance pieces, occasional reporter pieces, with the majority of the program being interviews. Jim Fleming is the host of the show and Steve Paulson and Anne Strainchamps handle many of the interviews. More information about the show.
For more information, contact Jennifer Baker at bakerj@cofc.edu or 843.953.7272.
