A quick surfacing from the grading Abyss to note a new source of torment...
One of the list-servs to which I've subscribed just posted two jobs - both chairs in philosophy at the University of Vienna (one in applied ethics). The only language commitment necessary is the willingness to learn German within three years (which I already have covered). If I weren't the low man on the totem pole as a newly minted Asst. Professor, I'd throw my hat in the ring for consideration.
Alles Gute.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Well that was fast...
Two new updates of interest.
Pictured: Sex Machine
Not Picture: Actual Sex
First, the car is now street legal, thanks to the maneuverings and kindly assistance of a fellow Pennsylvania transplant who happens to work down here at the DMV. And for those of you still registering and having cars inspected in Pennsylvania, my new plate is valid for two years, and the *entire* vehicle inspection consisted of:
1. Do the headlights work?
2. Does the horn work?
3. Do the turn signals work?
4. Do the high-beams work?
5. Do the reverse lights work?
And it cost me $10. I wish I were kidding. I'm golden until next May.
The One True God
The second piece of information is that my abstract on Pastafarianism was accepted. Like, immediately. I sent it off late last night and received the acceptance today, which was also the deadline for the abstracts. So I get to immerse myself in the philosophy and psychology of religion in defense of agnostic theism - i.e., the idea that if there is something transcending human experience, we have no way of knowing what it is, and the FSM is just as valid as any of the other, more traditional deities like Yahweh, Allah, Thor, Chuck Norris, etc.
So, yeah. It will make for a busy summer, as I have to write an chapter on Buddhism for the Dark Tower and Philosophy book first. Never a dull moment.
Alles Gute.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
End of the Semester
Busy today, so the information/humor ratio will be rather high.
At long last, the semester is drawing to a close - there are three days of class left and then the tests begin. Consequently, the next two weeks will be a flurry of grading and panicked undergraduates. Yee-hah.
In other news, the biodiversity talk went well. About sixty people attended (both students and faculty); people were sitting on the floor and standing in the hallway to listen. It can't help but do the ego good. ;-)
I'll be submitting an abstract for a book on new religions; I have an idea for an article on the epistemological challenge posed by parody religions like Pastafarianism - the religion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. There has been a recurring problem in both the philosophy and psychology of religion - there really isn't a clearly defined concept of what constitutes a valid religion. A number of ideas have been thrown around over the years, with some theorists becoming pretty influential, but there haven't been any criteria that don't apply equally to the genuinely held beliefs of some of the religiously fixated patients with whom I used to work. Religions propose what amount to coherent frameworks - rules are created that are internally consistent (at least in principle), but there is no means by which one can step outside that framework to establish whether it is objectively true or false. So, consequently, any belief set that proposes a similar internally coherent framework has just as much claim to truth as any other. This ends up having some pretty interesting consequences - the set of all beliefs that constitute potentially valid religions balloons. The book explores aspects of beliefs of some of the newer religions (e.g., Scientology, the Church of Latter Day Saints, the Raelians, etc.), and the editors expressed interest in seeing something on parody religions. We'll see what happens.
Aside from this, the day will be spent grading, hitting the gym, and doing laundry. I hosted poker last night, so I'm all about having a low-key day today. I'm working my way through the massive amounts of shish-kebab and rice I made for last night.
Time for lunch and the Pens game. Alles Gute.
At long last, the semester is drawing to a close - there are three days of class left and then the tests begin. Consequently, the next two weeks will be a flurry of grading and panicked undergraduates. Yee-hah.
In other news, the biodiversity talk went well. About sixty people attended (both students and faculty); people were sitting on the floor and standing in the hallway to listen. It can't help but do the ego good. ;-)
I'll be submitting an abstract for a book on new religions; I have an idea for an article on the epistemological challenge posed by parody religions like Pastafarianism - the religion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. There has been a recurring problem in both the philosophy and psychology of religion - there really isn't a clearly defined concept of what constitutes a valid religion. A number of ideas have been thrown around over the years, with some theorists becoming pretty influential, but there haven't been any criteria that don't apply equally to the genuinely held beliefs of some of the religiously fixated patients with whom I used to work. Religions propose what amount to coherent frameworks - rules are created that are internally consistent (at least in principle), but there is no means by which one can step outside that framework to establish whether it is objectively true or false. So, consequently, any belief set that proposes a similar internally coherent framework has just as much claim to truth as any other. This ends up having some pretty interesting consequences - the set of all beliefs that constitute potentially valid religions balloons. The book explores aspects of beliefs of some of the newer religions (e.g., Scientology, the Church of Latter Day Saints, the Raelians, etc.), and the editors expressed interest in seeing something on parody religions. We'll see what happens.
Aside from this, the day will be spent grading, hitting the gym, and doing laundry. I hosted poker last night, so I'm all about having a low-key day today. I'm working my way through the massive amounts of shish-kebab and rice I made for last night.
Time for lunch and the Pens game. Alles Gute.
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