50th Anniversary Memory: Daniel Choi (BA 2016)

Studying philosophy helped me improve my writing and taught me the important link between writing and thinking. Writing is a way of thinking and the act of writing your ideas down forces you to clarify and organize the messy thoughts in your head. This has been crucial for every aspect of my career and when I need to think something through, I start by writing any messy idea down, then I revise and keep revising until I get to something like a solution.

Another guiding principle I learned was the principle of charity. The principle of charity addresses how we should assess an argument or particular viewpoint. In essence, before we disagree with an opposing perspective, we must seek the most charitable interpretation, or, in other words, consider it in the most persuasive light. It is about the methodology we use when confronting new opinions; it entails suspending our own beliefs while seeking a sympathetic understanding of the idea in question before evaluating it.

This sounds easy, but it is often difficult in practice. When we feel our views are being attacked, we recoil almost instinctively. However, we ought to avoid our initial impulse to disagree and instead tolerate trivial mistakes to understand the broader context. The goal here is a cooperative enterprise, which attempts to understand the other party's views and tries to reach the truth together, rather than emphasizing contradictions or contentions.

After Graduation 

Daniel went on to pursue a MA in philosophy where his research focused on ethical theory. He enjoyed guiding students through dense philosophical texts and learned how to break down abstruse ideas into more manageable pieces. After completing his thesis, he worked in Database Operations at the Ontario Medical Association where he oversaw the nominations and election procedures for over 40,000 medical professionals across the province. This experience of engaging with compliance with governing statutes, stakeholder satisfaction, and risk management turned his mind to law. He is currently practicing New York Capital Markets law at a multinational law firm based in New York from their Toronto office.