The do-nothing philosophy fellowship
If I were independently wealthy I would fund a philosophy fellowship for academics for a year. There is only one condition attached to it: For the year, don’t do any work which is normally paid or that is service to the profession. Just do nothing, be yourself and let yourself be. Projected outputs: none.
Nuts and bolts:
Eligibility: The fellowship would be open to anyone working as a philosopher in academia at any stage, but must have a PhD. So, postdocs, adjuncts, full professors, anyone could apply, but they have to be currently working in some academic capacity (they don't need to be working full time, and the work can be purely teaching-focused). For ease of payment, taxes etc. I'd restrict it to people working and living in the US.
Application: a one-page letter of intent that pledges one will endeavor to do as little as possible during the year, and where one pledges not to submit anything for publication or do any work that is paid or service work for the duration of the fellowship.
Pay: You'd get paid the year salary of what an average associate professor in philosophy gets in the state you are living in.
No-work condition: You can of course read, sing, play with your children, cook, and other things. But if you're intending to do a lot of creative output during that year, this is not the fellowship for you. So it's not a fellowship to finish a book or another big output that requires a big, timed push. Strive to produce as little as you are able. Don't take on any service tasks: no reviewing, no committee work, no editorial work. You would need to pledge that you will take leave for a year from any committees and organizations that require service work from you.
Decision: People submit their applications, which are vetted by a committee for eligibility. Then, a fair lottery system decides who gets the fellowship.
Rationale:
I've only lately fully realized that even if you feel fulfilled and have a job that allows you significant freedom, we are working too hard. We are too much focused on producing results. Many people work in less than ideal circumstances. But even the most plush of academic jobs make that we let our lives be dictated by deadlines, deliverables, and a constant stream of projects that require concrete action on our part.
We do not listen to our own bodies, and we ignore our needs. We just try to push through the whole time, with no respite in sight. When a break finally comes, we use it to try to catch up with things we are behind on, or finally do the research we're been wanting to do. But we never have the time to free ourselves from all these external structures, or to simply read out of interest or curiosity.
As I've noticed being chair of several committees, we are a bunch of burnt out people ushering along other burnt out people to do work. This was briefly acknowledged is the state of our profession in 2020, the early stage of the pandemic. Since then, we've “moved on,” which means just resigning ourselves to this unsustainable level of work.
While a fellowship like this (which I cannot fund as I do not have the money) will not structurally change the work conditions in which we operate, it might still show that another way is possible. A way where your work does not require you to prey upon yourself.
Thank you for writing this! Having been on both the academic and private sector sides in multiple countries (mostly US and East Asia), it does feel like this is reality in many places. Is there any place that isn't like this? Is it just our own mentality?
Sounds excellent and witty! But this project will probably take work to complete. We are so embedded in our work regime (our life indeed) that cutting off all responsibilities is unlikely for anyone, even activity imitators. Work in the academic field sucks like a swamp; no one sees 80 percent of its results, no one has read any one of colleagues for a long time, and there is almost no pleasure in communication. So, the idea is lovely, but volunteers to finance and participate in the competition may not be found.