More Semi-Random Updates:
Re: Conferences
I don’t yet have more information on Metaphysical Mayhem. I’ll post as soon as I know more about when it’s being held, and how to apply to attend.
Another conference I’m excited about: Chris Colwell, an undergraduate at Western Washington University, is organising this year’s Northwest Student Philosophy Conference, to be held in Bellingham, Washington, May 26th - 29th. The conference has been gaining popularity over the last few years, and this year looks to continue the trend. Please pass the word on to anyone you know who may be interested in participating!
Also, I have a webpage up for a conference I’m organising on Mereology, Topology and Location, to take place at Rutgers in October. The speakers are listed on the webpage, and attendance is open. More details coming soon!
Re: Other Stuff
I’m now into my second semester at Rutgers. That means that 1/10th of my graduate career has concluded. That’s a scary thought – I feel far too unproductive for that much time to have passed!
But I’m enjoying the term – this term I’m learning MetaOntology from Ted Sider, Decision Theory from Frank Arntzenius, History of Analytic Philosophy from Jason Stanley, and the Metaphysics of Material Objects from Kit Fine. Each class has been fantastic. Though I feel slightly guilty for letting myself take the Metaphysics course, as it’s a survey of Metaphysics and I took one of those from John Hawthorne last semester. But Fine’s methodology and ideas about Metaphysics are very different from what I’ve learned up until now, and it’s exciting and challenging to learn this new approach. I feel very, very lucky!!
I had lots of fun before the term began as well. Most of my break was spent working on my “Multilocation and Gunk” paper, which I was kindly given the privilege to present at the Western Washington University Mereology Workshop this January. The other presenters were Katherine Hawley and Jonathan Schaffer. Now here’s a game: Which of the following does not belong? Katherine Hawley, Jonathan Schaffer, Shieva Kleinschmidt. Uh-huh. (A hint for those who may be misled: the relevant difference doesn't have to do with nationality or gender!) The workshop was great: Ryan Wasserman commented on Katherine Hawley’s “Mereology and Ontological Innocence”, Ned Markosian commented on Jonathan Schaffer’s “From Nihilism to Monism”, and Hud Hudson commented on my paper. I received very helpful feedback on my paper (from both Hud Hudson and the audience), and enjoyed and learned a lot from the other papers and comments presented. And of course, hanging out with workshop participants (including the WWU profs!!) was a luxury I greatly appreciated. It was a fantastic way to start off the new year.
From there I headed up to Alaska, to visit my family for a little over a week. What a treat that was!! I don’t think I’d really appreciated Alaska before living in New Jersey. Suddenly, I was able to hang out in places like Snowberry Circle and Dog Salmon Lane, and I appreciated as special the fresh-smelling air, clear water and dense forests. And of course, it was a pleasure to see my friends and relatives; it’s touching that I’m welcomed into their homes and lives as if I were always living right down the street. And the changes, though expected to some extent, still surprise me; in the almost four years since I’ve departed, a new cousin and great-nephew have ventured into temporal presence, anklebiters are becoming kiddos, kiddos are becoming teeny-boppers, and some of the teenagers are now adults. Astonishing. Likewise, buildings are being changed, gardens rearranged, and new bits of land bought, cultivated, and lived upon. My dad has purchased a few cabins that he’s quite proud of – he’s hoping to turn them into non-traditional lodges for people coming to Alaska who don’t want the common touristy experience. It’s fun to go with him to those areas and see his enthusiasm for bringing his vision to fruition.
Coming back, I have a change of my own: I’ve moved into an apartment I’ve got all to myself. It’s nice: under the garage of a family’s home, it’s quiet and clean and inexpensive, with a garden and fireplace, in a nice neighbourhood and close to the department. An ideal little haven for me to hang out in as I work through the next four and a half years!
And last week I experienced something else new: food poisoning. Just as I was getting going with the new term, wham! I suspect some bad coconut was the culprit. (How long does desiccated coconut last, anyway?) It was sad how it hit: I was dreaming about Mereology, and I started feeling ill. Pondering parthood as characterised by Peter Simons in Parts, I thought, “that notion of parthood really makes me sick. It just makes me sick!” Then I woke up and realised that there was mere constant conjunction of thoughts about parthood and the sickness, and felt very remorseful.
Things are back to normal now (thankfully!), or at least as normal as they ever are for me. Looking ahead: in about a month I’m presenting “Conditional Desires” to the graduate students at Rutgers, to get some feedback before I take it to the Pacific APA later in March. And, I heard recently, I get to present “Many-One Identity and the Trinity” at Notre Dame for the Midwest Meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers. I’m really excited about that! I expect that it’ll be a fun conference to go to, and I’m very interested to get feedback on my Trinity paper – this will be my first presentation of it.
For now, though, I have to get back to work. Best wishes for a happy winter term!
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