Interview Insights from Jonathon Catlin, a Recent College Graduate
Princeton Ph.D. Student Jon Catlin's Journey in Intellectual History
Jonathan Catlin, a second-year Ph.D. student at Princeton University's Department of History, is delving deep into the complex world of intellectual history. His academic path, like many at Princeton, is shaped by a combination of intellectual depth, faculty collaboration, and a drive for societal impact.
Catlin chose the history department at Princeton for its renowned faculty and its interdisciplinary nature. He believes that a central aim of intellectual history is to take abstruse philosophy and make it presentable and accessible. This approach aligns with Princeton's emphasis on rigorous academic performance and intellectual engagement, shaping research interests towards challenging, high-level topics.
Catlin's research focus is on intellectual responses to the Holocaust. He regrets not doing enough serious language work in undergrad, specifically in German, a language crucial for his current research. However, his research methodology has evolved since undergraduate school, focusing more on context, affect, biography, and the influence on ideas, rather than immediately asking whether something is true.
Catlin's advisor at Princeton is Anson Rabinbach. Before coming to Princeton, he earned his B.A. from the University of Chicago and his M.A. in philosophy from KU Leuven in Belgium. Princeton's small size and autonomy given to graduate students allowed him to take courses in other disciplines and at other universities in the New York area.
The field of intellectual history is working to become more intersectional, with new work on the Holocaust in light of post-colonialism and racial violence in America. Catlin's research is part of this movement, aiming to broaden the perspective and include voices often overlooked in traditional intellectual history.
Princeton encourages students to engage in research that has the potential to benefit society. Programs such as Project 55, focusing on public interest issues, motivate graduate students to pursue socially relevant topics. Catlin's research, with its focus on the Holocaust, certainly falls under this category.
Moreover, Princeton's world-leading faculty commonly involve graduate students in their research projects, influencing students to choose topics aligned with faculty expertise and ongoing research. Initiatives like the annual Open Hackathon hosted by the Princeton Institute for Computational Science & Engineering (PICSciE) provide graduate students with opportunities to accelerate their computational research, especially in areas requiring high-performance computing.
Writing a senior thesis is the best preparation for graduate work, even if the topic changes once in a graduate program. For Catlin, this preparation has been invaluable. Figuring out the right scale for a research project is an important starting point for thinking about a potential dissertation and long-term graduate research.
Being in a discipline has improved Catlin's work, making it more accessible to a wider audience. Mentorship is one of the best parts about being in academia for Catlin. He finds the unanswered questions and challenges encouraging of new intellectual activity. His dissertation is on the concept of catastrophe in modern European thought.
In summary, the choice of research topics and academic paths for Princeton graduate students is shaped by a combination of their intellectual capabilities, mentorship and collaboration with faculty, access to cutting-edge research resources and computational tools, support from administrative structures, and a broader institutional emphasis on impactful, socially relevant research. Catlin's journey in intellectual history at Princeton is a testament to this.
Jon Catlin's senior thesis, stemming from his intellectual journey at Princeton University, serves as a crucial stepping stone towards his ambitious dissertation on the concept of catastrophe in modern European thought. This education-and-self-development process at Princeton, which carefully balances intellectual exploration, faculty collaboration, and the pursuit of societal impact, effectively contributes to shaping Catlin's senior thesis and overall academic growth.
