Sometimes I feel a little cheated living at
this stage in philosophical history. At times it looks like it would have been
so easy back in the day to come up with paradigm shifting ideas. But now
it seems like so many of the big ideas have been had, and one must make one’s
way by proposing refinements to the application of intensional logic to vague
languages, and other minutiae. At other times, I wonder how I would ever have
gotten by without the technology that I now more or less take for granted. For
instance, a few minutes ago I realised I needed to read a Mind article
from the early 90’s (Mark Johnston’s “Constitution is not Identity” in case you’re
wondering) before writing the next section of the interminable many
article. A few years ago that would have meant, at best, waiting until the
morning for the library to open, travelling library-wards, and hoping the
relevant journal was on the shelves. Now it was just a few clicks away. Ain’t
technology grand?

On a somewhat similar theme, the Guardian is hosting an online chat with
Bernard Williams (the philosopher, not the ‘centre’-fielder) next Tuesday at
9am East Coast Time. If you ever wanted to ask Prof Williams a question, now’s
probably not your chance given how internet chats work. I’m teaching at the
time so I won’t be there to try and devise harder and harder questions about
personal identity, or whatever the powers that be do not want the chat to be
about. But I’ll read the transcripts later and report back on the highlights.

Sometimes I feel a little cheated living at
this stage in philosophical history. At times it looks like it would have been
so easy back in the day to come up with paradigm shifting ideas. But now
it seems like so many of the big ideas have been had, and one must make one’s
way by proposing refinements to the application of intensional logic to vague
languages, and other minutiae. At other times, I wonder how I would ever have
gotten by without the technology that I now more or less take for granted. For
instance, a few minutes ago I realised I needed to read a Mind article
from the early 90’s (Mark Johnston’s “Constitution is not Identity” in case you’re
wondering) before writing the next section of the interminable many
article. A few years ago that would have meant, at best, waiting until the
morning for the library to open, travelling library-wards, and hoping the
relevant journal was on the shelves. Now it was just a few clicks away. Ain’t
technology grand?

On a somewhat similar theme, the Guardian is hosting an online chat with
Bernard Williams (the philosopher, not the ‘centre’-fielder) next Tuesday at
9am East Coast Time. If you ever wanted to ask Prof Williams a question, now’s
probably not your chance given how internet chats work. I’m teaching at the
time so I won’t be there to try and devise harder and harder questions about
personal identity, or whatever the powers that be do not want the chat to be
about. But I’ll read the transcripts later and report back on the highlights.