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
Ecology and Biodiversity New book contract 29 Jul 201930 Oct 2019 Well CRC Press haven’t learned their lesson yet, and have given me, Frank Zachos (Vienna) and Igor Pavlinov (Moscow) a contract for an edited book of science and philosophy dialogue entitled Species and Beyond. Anyone who wants a particular topic to be covered, leave it in the comments. I won’t… Read More
Biology Gilbert White on Instinct: stepping back from Nature 20 Jan 201320 Jan 2013 In the course of helping teach a “History of Nature” course for Sara Maroske just lately, I re-encountered Gilbert White’s lovely Natural History and Antiquities of Selbourne, a classic of literature and field biology. As a philosopher I hadn’t read him closely as there is little abstract argument in it, but this… Read More
Philosophy On debating the worthwhile 7 Aug 2009 Sean at Cosmic Variance has a really good essay on what we should do as part of normalising non-belief is engage serious people, rather than the creationists. He has a nice matrix, and suggests that we should engage worthy opponents, not the (which is not what Sean says) batshit crazies. 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?