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Working in solitude during sabbatical?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

I have seen many questions on sabbatical here, and many suggestions. In particular, I have seen many testimonies of how nice and useful visiting another university is. But I wonder if there is anyone who can testify on the effects of a different way of spending the sabbatical, namely deep working/reading in solitude for the entirety of sabbatical.

This is my plan, because for some idiosyncratic reasons I can't visit anywhere. Also, my experience in the past of giving random talks in nearby universities and have zoom discussions did not prove to be a productive way to spend a sabbatical.

Success and failure stories are both welcome!

Good query. I've only had one sabbatical, and I had to turn down an invitation to visit another institution for family reasons. But I've always done most of my philosophical work in solitude and (mostly) enjoy it that way.  So, what I did during my sabbatical was basically what I ordinarily do during the summer: read/write maybe 4-5 hours per day each weekday (which is the most that I can really do on consistent basis). I found it to be great, but if you're not accustomed to working that way, I imagine it may take some adjusting.

I was going to suggest that maybe the OP consider arranging an informal reading group to discuss some of their work in progress and keep up with the work of others, but it sounds like they've done something similar in the past (albeit with more formal talks and zoom discussions), but they didn't find that terribly helpful.

Do any other readers have any helpful tips and/or experiences to share?

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4 responses to “Working in solitude during sabbatical?”

  1. OP

    Thanks Marcus. Just a quick clarification why I didn’t find occasional talks and meetings terribly useful. With more solitude, I got more sensitized with human interactions, and thus the talks/meetings drew more energy than it should. And the benefit was a bit random, since the arrangements were not based on abundance of choices.

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  2. UK Based

    My last research leave was a bit like this. For family reasons, I couldn’t visit elsewhere, so I stayed mostly at home, which at the time wasn’t even near my department either. I saw my family, but not other philosophers (or only rarely), not even my colleagues.
    To be honest, it was great. I was able to allow the left over bits of admin/teaching etc from the term before to get done slowly. I could ease myself into a place for research, rather than feeling I had to rush to produce in order for this talk or that special issue. If you looked at what I produced after a month, you would not have been impressed, but by the end of the leave (which was only one term so around 2.5 months total due to holidays too), I’d basically written a book. Visiting places is great – I’ve done that in other leave – but sometimes not going anywhere can be just as good, if not better.
    Additional benefit – I felt far more rested at the end of that leave than others. Other leaves were good too, but all the travelling etc is tiring and I used to return to admin/teaching as tired as I was before the leave. When I just stayed home and slowly wrote, I also got to recover from the years of non-stop work that is required to be eligible for leave where I am.

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  3. Charles Pigden

    ‘Deep working/reading in solitude for the entirety of sabbatical’? This has often worked for me though I do make a point of attending my department’s weekly seminar. So the solitude has been somewhat mitigated. Nonetheless, my basic strategy for many of my sabbaticals over a 35 year period has been to sit in my study at home and work.
    Another point in favour of the stationary strategy. Some people have family responsibilities and/or a love interest with a local and non-portable job which means that they might not want to leave their home base for an extended period.
    There is also the possibility of a hybrid approach. With a six month’s sabbatical there could be a month’s gadding about before retreating to one’s study to process the stimulus in solitude.
    Bottom line: you don’t HAVE to travel to have a productive sabbatical as I suspect many people can testify.

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  4. CW

    I took this approach, and it worked fine for me. To add one thought to what the others have said, I think there may be an element of temperament to this, too. The solitary, quiet, bookish side of philosophy fits me better than the more interactive side.

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