{"id":166262,"date":"2024-04-10T11:13:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T09:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=166262"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:17","slug":"for-sophie-van-balen-philosophy-only-gets-interesting-if-it-involves-the-real-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/04\/10\/for-sophie-van-balen-philosophy-only-gets-interesting-if-it-involves-the-real-world\/","title":{"rendered":"For Sophie van Balen, philosophy only gets interesting if it involves the real world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philosopher Sophie van Balen is fine with reality clouding theory. The more detail the better. The same applies to her PhD research on air pollution at the Erasmus School of Philosophy. It is also the reason she is enthusiastic about the book Ons soort mensen<\/em> (Our Kind of People) by Juli Zeh.<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLeroy Verbeet<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Philosopher Sophie van Balen wants to bring the lives of real people into her philosophical research into air and pollution. She believes that philosophy should be more than just theory, which led her to drive to the north of the country to convince a cattle farmer to cooperate in her research. The farmer was not easily convinced. She lists the characteristics that posed a barrier during the first contact with farmers: \u201cMy research deals with climate disruption, I am a university lecturer, I am also a philosopher and live in the big city. And not just any city, I live in Amsterdam. I was not exactly welcomed with open arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

After having coffee for three hours, she was invited back to three different farms. Van Balen wanted to know what cattle farmers mean by suffocation and how they think about air in relation to their animals. \u201cPeople are easily led to believe that farmers are using animals and that animals are in turn victims of people wanting to eat meat. Farmers are said to be indifferent to clean air, but it is not that black and white.\u201d One of the farmers she spoke to suffers from asthma and also works with animals in a barn. That makes breathing difficult, so air is most certainly an issue. \u201cAs a philosopher, I rarely get to see the small things I got to see on those farms.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

\n\t\t

Number of books a year:<\/strong> 5<\/p>\n

Favourite genre:<\/strong> Literature<\/p>\n

Last book read:<\/strong> Dagen van glas<\/em> [Days of glass<\/em>] – Eva Meijer, very beautiful<\/p>\n

Primary motivation:<\/strong> Relaxation<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

We need air<\/h2>

Through her research, she aims to get a finely detailed picture of how people interact with their environment. \u201cFrom the moment we start to breathe, we depend on a polluted environment. We inhale and exhale carbon dioxide, our breast milk contains microplastics, and factory emissions find their way to our vegetable garden. This becomes palpable when we experience ourselves as breathing beings.\u201d In other words, the social relevance of the subject was a prerequisite for getting a PhD. For Van Balen, philosophy only gets interesting when it interacts with the world.<\/p>\n

Exchange of perspectives<\/h2>

She attributes this belief to her upbringing. Her parents, \u201clefties to the core\u201d, urged her to connect \u201cwith all kinds of different people and not just highly educated people who talk in such a way that they only understand each other\u201d. Her mother worked with homeless people, refugees and children. Her father, \u201ca pacifist\u201d, turned his back on thinking and started working with his hands. It did not stop Van Balen from going to grammar school and studying philosophy, a subject devoted to thinking. \u201cI never stopped seeking out interaction, which explains my research on farms\u201d, says van Balen.<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t