struggling to stay enthusiastic

The Hazards of Love

The Decemberists new album is brilliant. Check 'em out. 

Impossibly cool

Course Assessment

Next year, hopefully in the spring ('10), I'll be teaching a course I designed - The Philosophy of Memory.  I was just asked how the course was to be assessed.  Originally, I had thought I would require one long essay.  Now, however, I am considering whether to include participation in the grade somehow.  So, at the moment, I will require seminar participation papers - these will be 25% of the overall mark.  I had a class with Alva Noe on perception where he required the students to hand in (i.e. email) the day before the seminar a one page 'response' to the reading.  Then, at the seminar, he would read one or two and hopefully get a discussion going.  This seemed to work.  This is the idea I have for my seminars.  

Does anyone out there have an opinion on this; good idea, bad idea?  Or, does anyone have thoughts on how marking should be divided; one essay, two essays, a test, or?

A complete draft of my PhD?

I was recently in London and met with my supervisor to discuss the last chapter of my dissertation (modulo the conclusion of course), and was told to stop writing - meaning I now have enough. However, there still remains a lot to be done. One thing, and this is something that has bothered me throughout, is the regimentation of terminology. Different epistemologists use different terms for standard concepts (witness: warrant; justification; entitlement; rational - all of these terms have been used to mean something very similar). I have tried to stick to using the terms as the authors I'm concerned with do, however, I think it will be better to lay out how I am using the terms in the introduction and stick with it, which is something I have wanted to do all along. A further worry concerned the style of my writing. David thought some things need a bit more emphasis and some things less. I think these worries are cosmetic, and after a few more revisions won't be a problem. Since I have a year and a half more of funding, I don't think such problems will block a timely submission. And speaking of funding, I was awarded a substantial amount through the Excellence Exchnge Scheme from Sheffield's Graduate Research Office for my US visit. I will be a research associate at UC Irvine from March (though I will also be spending time at UCLA and UC Riverside). Anyway, over the next few weeks I will be posting blurbs on my dissertation - working in reverse order I think. This should be a good excercise; for when one is on the job market one needs to be able to deliver a very short, punchy synopsis of one's PhD.

In other news, over the next few months Sheffield will be holding a series of conferences on constructivism. They should be very interesting; it's a shame I won't be around.
Leiter is starting to release the latest Gourmet Report results; I am curious to see how Sheffield fares (especially given the latest RAE results which place Sheffield in the top 5 UK departments). Judging from the ranking of the top English-speaking departments data released so far, it seems Cambridge is not in the top twenty - whether or not this will hold for UK only departments remains to be seen.

Happy New Year (Almost)

One of things I really enjoy doing in my spare time is cooking. And I especially enjoy cooking fish or game. Last night I made Dorade, sometimes also called Goldbrasse or Bass in the States. I thought I would share how I cooked them since I think they turned out particularly nice (and Nora agrees).

I bought two fresh, medium sized Dorade at the Turkish market on Paul-Lincke-Ufer, which is only minutes from my flat. I had the fishmonger de-head them and de-scale them. Once home, I cleaned them and stuffed them with dill, parsley, and thyme. Next I sliced some potatoes very thinly and lined them in a baking dish. I then quartered some tomatoes and put them in the dish as well. Next I put the fish in, and added about five cloves of garlic (in the peel). I seasoned with sea-salt and freshly ground pepper. I then added about a glass of olive oil and about two glasses of dry white wine. I then placed four bay leaves on top of the fish, followed by slices of lemon on top of them. I then put it in a warm oven, at 185 degrees C for about 40-45 minutes. As I said, I think they turned out very well, and the recipe is fairly easy to do. Anyway, we then had them with a nice Orvieto.

Tonight, I'm not cooking for once, which will be a nice break. So, after dinner I'll enjoy a nice cigar and welcome the new year sitting down. I wish all you out there a happy new year.

News

The RAE results are now out and are beginning to be discussed. I haven't looked that much into it, but it seems like Sheffield has done quite well. The inevitable ranking is well under way (and it seems that Sheffield will do well). I think there are several ways to parse the data, but two things struck me when looking at various interpretations. One is that St. Andrews did extremely well. And I wondered how much of this was due to them including the Arche Professorial Fellows. (who for the most part are just there a few weeks a year). Not that they shouldn't be included; I happen to think they should be. Nevertheless, St. Andrews is surely an exciting place to be for several areas of philosophy. I should also note that there will be what looks to be a great conference on scepticism in St. Andrews in June, which I will try my best to attend.

The second thing that caught my attention was the poor showing of the Cambridge philosophy department. Indeed, it seems that without the history and philosophy of science group, Cambridge would be 'ranked' quite low. I, for one, happen to think that this is entirely correct. I have long thought that the Cambridge philosophy department is a tad overrated. Anyway, have a look at some of the data here, here, and here.