Digesting the literature 5 May 2009 Many years ago, ians, really, I naively asked my lecturer who I thought knew everything in the field, how he kept up with the literature. He shrugged and said he couldn’t, and neither could anyone else. I thought he was just being self deprecating. Experience taught me better shortly. But there are tools that help, and now, in this all-electric age, they are online. A Philosopher’s Digest has just been started, which will give brief summaries of important papers, so those of us who do not follow every paper in every field can sound more intelligent and erudite. Damned nice of them, really. Hat tip to Leiter. While I’m at it, go read how sausages journals are made, by the editor of Nature. Philosophy
Administrative Crowdsourcing – online database in WordPress 28 Sep 201128 Sep 2011 Hi everyone. I have an idea: to set up a database of aphorisms by philosophers to which everyone can contribute, but which I will approve before it shows, and which everyone can search. Each record must include the bibliographical details and be by a recognised philosopher or historically important source… Read More
Epistemology Attacks on philosophy by scientists 30 Dec 2010 Something that I never really fully understand is why academics feel the need to denigrate other academic disciplines. Just because one happens to think something is so worthwhile that they devoted their lives to it doesn’t thereby mean that everything else is crap. But that seems to be the attitude… Read More
Philosophy Focus on the “how”, not the “why” 12 Aug 2009 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH40zaUxTTE&hl=en&fs=1&] Read More
*ians = eons? It seems like making philosophy more accessible is a theme in the field at the moment – I’m glad many are making strides in this direction. =)
Many years ago, ians, really, I naively asked my lecturer who I thought knew everything in the field, how he kept up with the literature. He shrugged and said he couldn’t, and neither could anyone else. This is one of the major reasons why I never finish anything. There are always five more papers or books that I have to read before I close my research/reading on a subject and those five lead to ten more and those ten to twenty… At some point editors just stop asking when my paper will be finished. I’m incredibly well read but have the world’s worst publication record. I wonder why?