Professor of Excellence is a philosopher in a science world: ‘For me, the professorship is about virtues’

Teaching or learning?

“I may even enjoy learning more than teaching. But I do not see them as opposites. I see teaching as an underestimated way of learning. If you give lectures to large groups, you need to know what you want to say and understand the subject thoroughly. This calls for continuous learning. Teaching helps you expand your knowledge and skills.”

Academic or Integrity Officer?

“I really like being an Integrity Officer. But when it comes down to it, I am without doubt an academic. That is an egocentric choice. I simply get a lot of energy from it.

As an Integrity Officer, I work on integrity at TU Delft. This involves ethical issues, such as in moral deliberations, but it is broader than that. It is also about practical issues such as how you design the complaints procedure or how do you balance legal requirements with moral issues. My background in ethics helps, but I cannot do this alone.

When I started as an Integrity Officer, I worked on it for half day a week. With all the events of the last six months or so, that quickly became two to three days. I am also the Scientific Director of the Delft Design for Values Institute. All these added together involve a lot of time and effort. Over the last year I have worked every single weekend. I never work in the evening. I am tired and I do not do anything. This is actually quite useful as it means that I do not get overworked quickly.”

Alpha or beta?

(Ed. in Dutch academics, scientists in humanities are sometimes called alpha’s. Someone studying science and technology is called a beta.)

“I am more an alpha than a beta scientist. Over time I started seeing myself more and more as a philosopher. But I like the scientific way of thinking. I was always very good at mathematics and physics, and still enjoy them. This is why analytical philosophy suits me. It involves rationalising very formally and precisely. At the same time, I know that not everything can be expressed very precisely. We do not have words for everything. Some philosophers believe that you can describe everything through formal rationalisation, but I am not one of them.

When I came to TU Delft in 1998, there were a handful of philosophers here. There are now dozens. This makes me happy as philosophers help technicians ask critical questions and reflect in a systematic, well thought out way. This could be about unintended effects, for example. Makers usually have good intentions, but that little bit of technology that they make still involves values. It could discriminate against certain groups for example. You need to be aware of this, be willing to understand how it may happen, how you can improve it, and how you can avoid it.”

Virtue ethics or deontological ethics?

“These are two movements in ethics that have various starting points. I feel more for virtue ethics. Its starting point is virtues, good character traits. What are moral, or good, people and what makes them this? For me, professorship is largely about virtues, both my own and those that I try to instil in other people.

Deontological ethics is about the obligations you have towards other people. It is about rules of behaviour such as you may not lie or kill someone. It is less about character traits and intentions, but more about actions. But in the end, I do not think that you can simplify ethics to only morals or rules of behaviour. You need to consider both.

Think about technology. We need legal frameworks for it – the duties. But guidelines and frameworks always lag behind innovative technology. That means that you need virtuous people who think about where it can go wrong and who are careful about its development at an early stage. Many of these virtues have to do with simply being a good scientist with integrity.”

Ibo’s book or John Dewey’s work?

“Ah! Ibo’s book. That would be Ethics, Technology and Engineering that I wrote with Lambèr Royakkers. It would be more accurate to say ‘Ibo and Lambèr’s book’, but it is of course ‘Ibo’s book’ at TU Delft. Maybe it is ‘Lambèr’s book’ at Eindhoven University. It is a basic guide about the ethics of the engineering profession. It has even been translated into Chinese.

But it naturally does not compare to John Dewey. He is an American philosopher from the beginning of the 20th century whose work I find very interesting. He emphasises that our values and moral principles are always temporary. By acting in accordance to them, we can improve them and then check if that really does lead to improvement.

So you learn through experimentation and this entails failing and starting over. This idea is not common among ethicists, but matches what physicists do very well.”

TU Delft or the University of Twente?

“I have come to really see myself as someone from TU Delft. I have been here since 1998 and am involved in a lot of things. I have given ethics subjects at all the faculties and have worked with a lot of people. At a certain point you just feel at home. But I am completely indebted to the University of Twente. I studied there and earned my doctorate there. I spent about 11 years there in total. It is also the place where many of my traits, both as a human and as an academic, were formed.

But apart from that, I mostly see myself as someone from Rotterdam. I grew up there and when I started working at TU Delft after studying, I went back to live there for a couple of years. We moved to Voorschoten when our son was born as the top floor of the house in Rotterdam with its long staircase was not handy anymore. The living is good in Voorschoten, but I do not identify with the village. I identify with Rotterdam.”

‘I am proud that I can inspire people to become their intellectual selves’

Arie Rip or Peter Kroes?

“I referred to these two men as my own professors of excellence in my talk at the Professor of Excellence Award ceremony. Arie Rip was my promotor at the University of Twente. I learned a lot about my subject from him, both in terms of academics as well as how you think about things.

But I think that Peter Kroes was probably more of a professor of excellence for me. He was my boss when I joined TU Delft. I learned a lot from him, not only about philosophy, but also about how you get along with people. When I arrived here, I was searching for who I was. Peter had a lot of influence on me during that decisive period, purely because of the person he was.

By the way, this is also moral ethics, the idea that you mirror other people who you consider virtuous. This strongly applies to Peter. Apart from his qualities as a philosopher, I also simply think of him as a decent and moral person.”

Intellectual beacon or an image of effective mentorship?

“Ha ha, that comes from the letter of recommendation that the jury chair quoted from during the award ceremony. It is wonderful if people say that kind of thing about you. While it makes me really happy, it also makes me a little nervous. In the past I could not handle compliments well, and that feeling washes over me again. It almost feels like too much.

If I have to choose what I think fits better, I would say mentorship. This is because there are people for whom I am not an intellectual beacon, who want to do other things than I do, but for whom I could still be a good mentor. I am fine with them distancing themselves from my work. They do not need to follow my intellectual side. I am proud that I can inspire them to become their intellectual selves.”

‘In terms of personal value, I like the Professor of Excellence Award better than the Spinoza Prize’

Professor of Excellence Award or the Spinoza Prize?

“When they surprised me with the Professor of Excellence Award, I said that it was the best award that I had ever received. The Jury Chair, Jack Pronk, then said that I should watch out as I do not know what else will come my way. Of course the Spinoza Prize is at a bigger scale than the Professor of Excellence Award. It is the highest distinction in academia in the Netherlands. It shows recognition from the outside world. But in terms of personal value, I like the Professor of Excellence Award better. It shows that I have been there for people.”

Sabbatical or continue working?

“The Professor of Excellence Award comes with EUR 15,000 for a sabbatical. But I have to make the effort to arrange it as I tend to just continue working. Some people have said to me that I simply do not have time for a sabbatical. But a sabbatical is not a holiday in academia. You actually just continue working. The only difference is that you push your daily obligations aside and take the time to go into something in depth.

I am always thinking that I want to write an article or a book about a given subject, but I never have the time to do so. A sabbatical gives me the opportunity to go into something in depth which I would not normally do. I do not as yet know what I will do and where. I may rent a house in Noordwijk for a couple of weeks. I can get there by bicycle!”