News and Such
- Posted by Andrew Bailey on Monday, February 13, 2006 at 12:35 PM
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9 Comments |
Sometimes I feel guilty for not updating this blog. At times like that, I post lists of personal news items. Lists like this one:
1. I recently attended a talk by John Hawthorne and added a copy of his Knowledge and Lotteries to my collection of signed analytic philosophy books. Next up: autographs from van Inwagen and Kripke.
2. In a related note (inspired in part by Hawthorne’s talk), philosophy of language is increasingly interesting and attractive to me. Like logic, I see it as a means, however, and not an end in itself. More specifically, I am interested in language because of the implications it has for students of metaphysics.
3. I will be giving papers at a few conferences this semester, including SCP, INPC, and SEP. It'll be fun to solicit detailed feedback and criticism on my research.
4. Whoo-hoo! In five years, I will be a doctor. I have received two offers (with funding) from Ph.D programs thus far, and reason to be hopeful with regard to at least one more. The really neat bit of news is that I haven't been rejected anywhere. Which feels good. Letters from the other nine programs I applied to should be in the mail within the next six weeks or so.
5. School has resumed. I expect that 21 units, as many professional conferences as I can pull, and a senior thesis will keep me busy.
6. Senior thesis topic: the metaphysics of material composition. Specific area of research: Trenton Merricks’ Overdetermination Argument. I tentatively set my sights on Ted Sider’s response to Merricks in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
