Epistemology Of Interest 5 May 20235 May 2023 One of the questions that have plagued my insomniac nights over the past decade or so is what makes something interesting. There are many proposals. I was reminded of this when I recently read this in Yohan J. John’s essay on cell membranes and boundaries: We have a name for… Continue Reading
Philosophy Understanding Species is here in hard copy 19 Apr 202319 Apr 2023 When I first watched Back to the future, I was mid-undergraduate studies, and had no thought that I would ever publish anything, but I was taken by Grispin Glover’s George McFly getting a box of what looked like 50 copies of his latest novel. The most I have ever gotten… Continue Reading
Philosophy Thoughts on classification 20 Mar 202323 Mar 2023 Species concepts and definitions in science As Robbie Burns once noted, the world is full of things. Philosophers and scientists alike ask whether that also means the world is full of kinds of things. One of the oldest philosophical questions in the western tradition is known by the somewhat opaque title, “The… Continue Reading
Philosophy Order “Understanding Species” now! 28 Feb 202328 Feb 2023 So US is due in April, and Cambridge just sent me the flyer below. Notice how cheap this book is! You can buy 50 for each of your intro to philosophy and history of biology students and still be able to buy end of semester beers! And if you order… Continue Reading
Epistemology Who invented worldviews? 5 Feb 20235 Feb 2023 As a young man/teenager, I heard a lot about worldviews, and didn’t think much of it. The philosophers talked about them, the theologians talked about them, and the gurus talked about them. It was always a choice between worldviews. But it was at best only vaguely communicated by these great… Continue Reading
Administrative Don’t use my uni email [do] 27 Jan 202319 Apr 2023 Although I am an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne, now that I am no longer employed, the IT department begs to differ, so I have lost my uni email access for a while. Later: IT and the uni have permitted me to be listed as an honorary fellow… Continue Reading
Philosophy My Absent Career 14: The final decline 26 Jan 202326 Jan 2023 Once the Critical Reasoning project was done (a bit too early due to funding being overspent), I was adrift again, and (quite literally) checking out local bridges to sleep under once my flat was taken away. Fortunately one of the folk in the project was savvier than I and pointed… Continue Reading
Philosophy My Absent Career 13: Critical mass 17 Jan 202318 Jan 2023 Having taught critical reasoning and studied the usual logic for philosophy undergrads, I felt that I had a pretty good understanding of logic and reasoning, at least without getting into modal logics and other such aberrations. Not for the first or last time I mistook confidence for competence. Neil Thomason,… Continue Reading
Academe My Absent Career 12: The aged aged man 6 Jan 20236 Jan 2023 Suddenly I was out of work, I could not rejoin the postdoc, and I had to move to Sydney once again, to see if I could find anything. I did do some teaching at UNSW, but that was about it. I was in dire straits. And the Straits of Dire… Continue Reading
Philosophy Advice to a student about essays 5 Jan 20235 Jan 2023 In between my absent career path, I just wrote this in reply to a student who wanted advice on their assignments, as they got around 70% for the subject I just taught them. Many of my students were science or STEM students, and essays are hard for them. This is… Continue Reading