George Berkeley (pronounced “Barkly”), also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an idealist or, as he called himself, an immaterialist. He believed that literally nothing exists excepts minds (including God, the greatest mind of all) and ideas. Ordinary objects, like that apple in front of you, are nothing more than a bundle of ideas (the idea [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Academia'
“Cause there’s chill wind blowing in my soul and I think I’m growing old”*
November 23rd, 2010 · 5 Comments · Academia
My first time as a TA at Chicago I was only about three years older than the oldest students in the class. I got a distinct kind of thrill walking in on the first day, taking a seat like anyone else and not being at all recognized as something other than a student (until the [...]
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“I’m a philosopher”
March 16th, 2010 · 13 Comments · Academia
I was very happy to be able to accompany Em to all of her midwifery appointments in Chicago when she was pregnant. On our first visit (sometime in the middle of the morning on a weekday), the midwife remarked that it was good that I was able to get time off from work to come. [...]
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The meaning of life and (is?) craps
October 6th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Academia
This past weekend, my colleague (colleague. Ha!) Jason and I headed to Danbury, WI for a St. Olaf organized philosophy retreat with the philosopher Susan Wolf. We spent the days at a faculty member’s lake house discussing a series of Susan’s unpublished papers on the meaning of life, morality and love. The sessions were excellent, [...]
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Week one
September 17th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Academia, Carleton
Why did we move to Northfield again? Oh that’s right — I have a job. I’ve known that in the abstract for many a month but, having effectively been off for the better part of the last four months, the reality of it only hit me this week when actual professional obligations started to kick [...]
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Carleton Primarily Undergraduate Institution
August 10th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Academia, Carleton
Alright, alright people, here’s another post. Stop your agitating. And well done everyone on refraining from posting your “mellon” jokes on the blog itself, instead e-mailing them our way, for the sake of Hanna. Today was my first day on campus actually doing something. This morning I played in a jazz quartet for a group [...]
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Dr. Dan (dmjg)
June 18th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Academia
I defended my dissertation yesterday. I also put together a baby swing. Given my technical incompetence, I’m not sure which was the bigger accomplishment. The defense not only went well, but was actually quite fun. Emily and Ellie came down and the latter was appropriately oohed & aahed at before and after the defense. My [...]
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Rejection (dmjg)
May 19th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Academia
By all accounts, I had a successful year on the job market. But “success” on the academic job market entails lots and lots and lots of rejection. So, my 50 or so applications yielded two jobs and a post-doc. 3 for 50. But I’m not complaining – both jobs were on our “heart” list (Emily [...]
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