Student Spotlight - Brian Cordero
Brian Cordero
Q: What is your current class standing and anticipated graduation date?
Currently I am a junior. My anticipated graduation date is 2019.
Q: What are your major(s) and/or minor(s)?
My major is Philosophy with a minor in LGBTQ+ studies.
Q: Why did you choose to become a philosophy major?
Well, when I first started college, I wanted to do Neuropsychology, then Journalism, and then finally Philosophy. I think what I was really looking for was some sort of "truth," and I thought I could find that in the other fields, but really "truth" as I wanted it was better found in philosophy than the other fields (and also the ability to critique anything as harshly as you want as long as you could back it up is pretty fun). LGBTQ+ studies are also in many ways clearly philosophical. It's actually very strange that we don't read more philosophical investigations into unquestioned social distinctions like gender and sexuality in the department. The modern view of these constructions clearly needs a philosophical eye.
Q: What are your goals for the future? Do you have plans to attend graduate school, or do you have a career in mind upon graduation? What type of career are you seeking upon graduation?
I definitely plan to apply to graduate school, and I'll be honest, this question reminded me that I'd better start looking at prospective programs right now (but actually I'll procrastinate and keep answering these questions).
Q: What are your interests in philosophy?
Peter Kropotkin, Emil Cioran, and Dostoevsky have probably been the most influential people on my personal relationship with philosophy. I'm profoundly interested in nihilism, and radical political critiques of liberalism from an anarchist perspective. However, these writers were mostly starting points for critiques that became intensely more specific, as academic philosophy requires these days. Recently, I have also developed an interest in Daoist philosophy, but I don't really have the grasp on it that I would like.
Q: Do you have a favorite quote by a philosopher?
"A battlefront runs through the whole of society, continuously and permanently, and it is this battlefront that puts us all on one side or the other. There is no such thing as a neutral subject. We are all inevitably someone’s adversary."—Michel Foucault
I like this quote a lot because often we think of intellectual pursuits as neutral, and usually we think of ourselves as neutral until we make some type of thing we consider a "decision." However, everything we do is a decision. Every action we take places us on a side. Philosophers often have the illusion that they can be without place, time, biology, or history. They think they can reach this impossible level of objectivity, but they cannot.
Q: What is your favorite book in philosophy?
This is going to line up perfectly with the people I mentioned earlier. The Conquest of Bread, by Peter Kropotkin. The Heights of Despair and The History of Utopia, by Emil Cioran. Of course, Dostoevsky's classics, such as Notes From Underground and The Brothers Karamazov.
Q: Have you had any recent accomplishments such as conferences you attended/presented at, awards/scholarships you have received, contests you have won, publications you have made, and so forth?
I very recently became part of the Mellon Mays Fellowship.
Q: What are one or two fun facts about you?
I'm the treasurer of the Puerto Rican Alliance here on campus. I've lived in every borough in New York City.
