America doesn’t need “more philosophers” Sen. Marco Rubio said in a 2015 presidential debate, echoing politicians on both sides of the aisle who have, unfortunately, derided education in the humanities.
One man who evidently disagrees is Bill Miller. The legendary Baltimore-based investor, who made his name while exceeding the S&P 500 benchmark index for fifteen consecutive years while serving as the sole manager at Legg Mason Value Trust, just committed $75 million to the philosophy department at Johns Hopkins University. According to the Baltimore Sun, the “$75 million will be used to nearly double the department’s full-time faculty members in the next decade from 13 teachers to 22 and to create nine endowed professorships, including one for the chairman of the renamed William H. Miller Department of Philosophy. In addition, $10 million will be allocated for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The university also aims to encourage more undergraduates to study philosophy by offering new courses.”
Prior to his career as an investor and fund manager, Miller served as a military intelligence officer. He then pursued graduate studies in philosophy at Hopkins. He and I had a brief email conversation about his remarkably generous gift to Hopkins—and about the value of philosophy.
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TWS: How did the study of philosophy affect your career?
Bill Miller: Philosophy involves critical thinking and reasoning about highly complex issues. At its best it is rigorous and analytical. These skills are exactly what are required to think through and understand capital markets and the analysis of businesses. However good one is at this, philosophical training will make you better.
TWS: More broadly, how did the study of philosophy affect the way you live your life?
Bill Miller: Wittgenstein said something to the effect of if philosophy does not change your life then it has no point. The French existentialist Gabriel Marcel said “the problem I consider essential is the relationship between philosophical research and life.” The study of philosophy has immeasurably enriched my life, made it fuller and more complete. It has exposed me to the best that has been thought about life’s most important issues. It has also made me painfully aware of my ignorance and shortcomings. Had I not studied philosophy I would be a completely different, and probably worse person than I am.
TWS: In recent years, STEM education has been championed at the expense of the humanities. Do you think this is a mistake?
Bill Miller: STEM education is essential in today’s word. STEAM would be better, where the A is for the Arts. I agree with the literary critic Stanley Fish, who when asked what the liberal arts such as philosophy are good for, answered that they are good for nothing: they are good in and of themselves and need no further justification.
TWS: Who are your favorite philosophers?
Bill Miller: The American Pragmatists: William James, John Dewey, and Charles Sanders Peirce, also Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell, GE Moore, Hume, Kant, and Schopenhauer.
TWS: Beyond Hopkins, what impact do you think your donation will have on the city of Baltimore, which has struggled in many respects?
Bill Miller: I hope part of the money will be used to expose students in the Baltimore schools to philosophy, which has the potential to change their lives. It would be great if it encouraged others in Baltimore to give to local institutions. Hopkins is a Baltimore treasure and one of the world’s great universities. If the gift makes Hopkins even better, that will benefit Baltimore. Also, this is the beginning, not the end, of my giving, and one of the items on the agenda is what can really make a difference to Baltimore.
