Mary Domski specializes in the history of modern philosophy, Newtonian science and the philosophy of science. She is researching the correlation between the natural sciences and philosophy during the early modern period. Domski was named UNM’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year for 2006-2007 and won the 2009 Award for Teaching Excellence from UNM’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Daily Lobo: So, you have a Ph.D. in history and philosophy of science, and you are working on the correlation between natural science and modern philosophy, could you tell us how you got into this research?
Mary Domski: Well I went to Indiana University where there is a philosophy department, but also a separate department in the history and philosophy of science in particular. So, when I teach modern philosophy I teach in the context of both the Protestant Reclamation and the Scientific Revolution, looking at how people like Locke, Barkley, Hume and Kant are responding to Newtonian science, which is coming at the end of the seventeenth century. Newton to me is an area of specialty. I work on Newton in my research. So, I try to bridge the gap between the historical context and the philosophies being developed.
DL: You also have done some research in the field of mathematics. Did your studies with Newtonian science play a role in that?
MD: Yeah, when I work on Newton I look at his mathematical work and how he relates it to nature. I look for the connections.
DL: Where do you want to take your findings with natural science, philosophy and even mathematics in your research and your teaching?
MD: In my teaching, I think it’s important because for the most part I think people believe philosophy is very sterile, like it doesn’t apply at all to the world. But when you put it in this historical context you see that the ideas are being developed for a reason, and I want students to see that. If you do it out of context, it sounds silly, but to see why these philosophers are doing it and what they are trying to make sense of gives it a little more substance and makes it more approachable to the student.
DL: So are you trying to evoke some sort of credibility in philosophy that you feel doesn’t already exist?
MD: I would say I’m trying to evoke personality. I am trying to show that these are not just people sitting in a back room, they are very involved and aware of what is happening in the world, and that is where philosophy at its best comes from.
DL: Where do you think this perception of philosophy being a “sitting in a back room” field comes from?
MD: I just had this conversation with a student, where she said philosophy is like math – either you get it or you don’t. So, I think there is this initial sort of intimidation of what it is. On one side you have those who think it’s too abstract. I mean we talk about things like, ‘What is being?’ So the abstractness of it is what leads to that image as philosophy being removed from the world.
DL: Do you believe that can be a reason for a possible decline in the interest of philosophy?
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MD: Not at UNM. Our enrollment keeps increasing. In part it’s because we have a younger faculty who are great teachers. It’s like a youth movement in the department where we are able to keep students with us. They’ll take my 101 course and then they’ll take a 200 and a 300 with me. We are keeping students in the department. Here there is no decline in the interest in a philosophy major.
DL: So where do you see philosophy on an academic level in the future?
MD: When students come to me for advice, I always tell them to couple philosophy with a more practical major, career-wise. Many of our students couple philosophy with psychology because both fields are dealing with similar questions with different strategies, empirical evidence versus rationalization.
