Fly-fishing connects art, travel, biology
Jhon Arras
Department of Philosophy
Director of Bioethics Minor Program
PHIL 154 Issues of Life and Death
PHIL 359, 559 Research Ethics
Q: What did you do before you became a professor at U.Va.?
A: I began my career in California. I taught at a liberal arts college out in California for about nine years, and then I went to the Hastings Center, which is a think-tank for biomedical ethics in New York. I went there in about 1979-80. And then I worked in the New York area for quite some time, for about 15 years. I worked at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and an affiliated hospital called Montefiore Medical Center, and I was basically a staff ethics person. I was one of the first philosophers to go into a hospital and really do consulting work on individual cases and hospital policy. I also worked at Barnard and Columbia, continuing to teach philosophy courses there. Then I came here in 1995.
Q: What is your favorite thing about the town of Charlottesville?
A: I love the physical beauty of it. And I love the unhurried culture. I love going down to Fridays After Five on a spring day, or a summer day, and listening to the music, then having dinner outside and talking to family and friends in an outdoor cafe. I think those are wonderfully civilized urban moments. I find that, curiously enough, I often go to more things in a place that has less going on. Charlottesville has everything I need. It's got good used bookstores, good restaurants, a good movie theatre, and I like the open spaces, the physical beauty of the Blue Ridge ... so for me it's working out great.
Q: What is your favorite pleasure-reading book?
A: I just really enjoy a lot of contemporary novels. I think my all-time favorite novel is Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov. It's just a kind of lovely, perverse love story. It's so incredibly poetic; the language is so beautiful that I keep coming back to it.
Q: What is in your CD player right now?
A: I am making a serious effort to get accustomed to country music right now. Before moving here from New York I had absolutely no use for country music, but I thought 'well I'm here, I should probably get exposed a little bit.' The Dixie Chicks, I think, are terrific, and right now in my CD player is Allison Kraus and Union Station. I think those are quite terrific musical groups. But I just want to specify that most other country music I just find appalling.
Q: How do you like to spend your summers?
A: I am a serious fly fisherman. I actually taught a course here a few years ago called "Angling for Liberal Education." It was about fly-fishing: how to cast and how to tie your own fly. So, whenever possible, I like to go fish. And my favorite places are in the Rocky Mountains, especially Montana and Colorado. My wife and I -- my wife is a fly-fisher too -- we've gone to Alaska and fished up there. We tend to vacillate. We tend to go on fishing vacations or cultural vacations. So we often will alternate summers. We'll go to Europe one summer and then we'll go to Montana the next. It works out for us.
Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: Well, the main hobby that I've got is fly-fishing. I spend a lot of time during the winter tying my own flies for the next season. And really -- not that I'm an artist -- but there is some artistry involved in tying your own flies. There's always more to learn, and it links up quite nicely with biology E with the life cycle of various insects. You've got to try to tie an imitation that is lifelike, that sort of looks like the insect and how it moves around in the water. So it's a nice hobby for me because it's just not going out into a boat, cracking open a few beers and putting a worm on a hook -- it's really making connections with the natural world. Learning about the biology of aquatic insects and learning how to imitate them.
Q: If you were not a philosophy professor, what would you like to pursue?
A: Unfortunately, I've wanted to be a philosophy professor since I was about the age of 19. I'd like to be a musician. I can't play anything, but I've always though that would be a terrific thing to do. Just play guitar or piano. But, again for me there wasn't ever much of a choice, I just sort of gravitated towards doing philosophy at a very early age.
Q: Do you have a favorite memory from college?
A: Well, a lot of them would be really profoundly embarrassing. I guess for me the real highpoint of my college was going to France in my third year. I studied at the University of Paris; I studied philosophy and French literature there. Going to class with French students on the left bank there was really just an absolutely fabulous experience for me.
Q: If you could live anywhere else, where would it be?
A: Well it would be Italy, France or Berkeley.
Read More
It’s okay not to be okay
By Mai Hukuoka | 2 days agoWhether talking to a friend, a loved one or a professional, it is so necessary, and human, to need more than you can provide for yourself.
Taking a break at Tangerines Kitchen
By Charley Thomas | 3 days agoWhat the restaurant somewhat lacks in ambiance, it compensates for in tasty dishes and prompt service.
Virginia Policy Lab — a hub for student-led policy action
By Katherine Haden | December 9, 2024Students propose their own projects and collaborate with other members to research their issues of interest, brainstorm solutions and write policy proposals.
