I see philosophical conversation as offering a means to reflect on how we understand ourselves and our approaches to living. I think this kind of reflection is valuable for ethical issues, questions about meaning, value, and identity, as well as for topics of traditional academic philosophy. I think it can also help us think through the past and present, both in terms of ideas and forms of life in which we may find ourselves embedded.

Marx said the point of philosophy is not merely to interpret the world, but to change it. I think this spirit applies to the thought of many of the great thinkers—especially concerning the self—both in dharmic traditions and built into the activity Socrates said he would never quit.