Meet Sam Roberts

by James Messina

I’m originally from the UK, from a town called Swindon—which is primarily, but very mildly, famous for having a roundabout made up of lots of smaller roundabouts. I’ve also lived in Oslo, Norway, and Konstanz, Germany, before I came to Madison.

 It was a mix of disposition, luck, and happy accidents. I had no idea what philosophy was when I applied to college—in the UK, college is where you go between the ages of 16 and 18 if you’re intending to go to university. I only took it because my mum had a hunch I'd like it, and since I didn’t know any better, I followed her advice. I was lucky to have an extremely charismatic and engaging philosophy teacher. At that point, it was one of the very few times in my life I'd been interested and engaged at school. Not interested enough to do any of the homework, mind you, but enough to turn up to class of my own volition and enjoy it. 

I made it to university, but quit shortly after. I had no desire to be there; I only went because of parental pressure and a lack of clarity and willpower on my part. A year into a "normal" job I realized that spending one’s time trying to better understand the world is pretty great, actually. So, I went back. This time I worked hard and applied myself, and I was again lucky to have engaging and supportive lecturers. Philosophy became the thing I wanted to do as much as I could for as long as they’d let me. I was fortunate to receive funding to pursue it through an MA and then a PhD, again with incredibly engaging and supportive supervisors. It was only in the second year of my PhD that I realized I might be able to do philosophy professionally. 

Beyond that, I think I connected with philosophy because I’m drawn to very general, foundational questions. Quite often, when I try to understand what others find obvious and straightforward, I’m led to distinctively philosophical questions and assumptions. I think this is also why, within mathematics, I’m most at home in foundational areas like set theory. 

I’m particularly interested in questions about the nature of infinity, possibility, and existence. For example: What infinities are there? And how might we come to know what infinities there are? Is infinity inherently potential in character, as Aristotle thought? Is reality fundamentally comprised of objects, or are there other kinds of entities among the furniture of reality?

My favorite philosopher is Gareth Evans. As I remember it, I spent a great deal of my undergraduate degree wrestling with his views on reference. It’s been so long, though, that I can’t really remember what those views are. So, maybe I need to pick someone else?

I can't listen to music while I work! I find it hard to do even mildly intellectual tasks if I’m listening to music. But I do like listening to music when I'm not working, often between work sessions. I like all kinds of music. For example, here’s a few songs I’ve been listening to recently: Fleetwood Mac Landslide; Sam and Dave Soothe Me; a bunch of things by Doechii; Stromae La solassitude; Aldous Harding Horizon; Arctic Monkeys Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts; and Songs: Ohia Just be Simple.