Here are my criteria for choosing a field:
- The field has to have enough people working on it that can become potential mentors and peers (see my ideal mentors and peers).
- The field should have people engaged in activities similar to the Five areas of my life work.
- The potential mentors and peers in my field should be working on topics and questions that are related to my research questions and objectives (e.g., how should I live?, how to live, building a philosophy of life, etc.).
- They have to be engaged in actual, real-life application of the knowledge they produce from their intellectual activity. They have to have a Practice.
- The field has to feel like it is balanced in the attention it gives to theory and practice. People here are engaged in activities that resemble use-inspired basic research.
- The field has to have publication channels established, which also implies that it has an audience I can tap when I am ready (see Cautious sharing process).
- This isn’t the most important but it would make things a lot easier: the community has to be likable.
Using these criteria, I have decided that My field is practical philosophy. Having said that, I continue to ask, Do I really need a field?
References
Burja, S. (2020, June 25). How to Find the Frontiers of Knowledge. Samo Burja. https://samoburja.com/how-to-find-the-frontier-of-knowledge/