Sunday, May 10, 2009

Stay Tuned

As if to remind me that I do not, in fact, live all by myself in a cave filled with books and jazz cds I have received a number of inquiries from friends and strangers regarding whether I ever intend to write anything else for this, or any other, blog. If they had asked me just three months ago I might have hemmed and hawed and said something like "I've probably already overstayed my welcome". A number of interesting things have come my way since then, however, and some of them strike me as rather blogworthy.

First, the philosophy department here at Ohio University has just finished a three-day colloquium with Bas Van Fraassen, Emeritus professor of philosophy at Princeton University and Distinguished professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University, author of such seminal works in the philosophy of science as The Scientific Image and Quantum Mechanics: An Empiricist Interpretation. His most recent book, Scientific Representation, was the focus for our colloquium and I can honestly say that it is the best book in the philosophy of science that I have read in the last three years, and among the best books in philosophy generally that I have ever read. It is erudite, well-argued, thorough, thought-provoking, and just a plain old-fashioned page-turner. It presents some arguments that, for Van Fraassn, are rather new: he seems to be moving away from some of his older views towards a new, anti-realist view that he calls structuralist empiricism. I hope to discuss some of his arguments in a few future posts.

Second, I've come across a fascinating new book on St. Augustine's theological epistemology in the De Trinitate that has got me to thinking anew about some of the issues that I have explored before in this forum, and as I work my way through a more thorough re-reading of this book, I suspect that I will find that I have more to say along those lines.

Finally, on a more personal note, I have recently begun to explore Benedictine spirituality with some interest, and will be exploring the possibility of becoming an Oblate; in addition I have also answered the call of the Diocese of Steubenville for men interested in serving the Church in the Permanent Diaconate. Both of these steps open up some very new territory for me, and I find that in thinking through each of them, I have made some rather startling discoveries both about my faith and about myself.

So this blog is not yet moribund, as long as one doesn't count sheer boringness as a measure of such things.

9 comments:

John Farrell said...

Your posts are never boring. Looking forward to your impressions of the book on Augustine.

Myself, I'm waiting for an interesting book Ed Feser put me onto. Biologist J. Scott Turner's The Tinkerer's Accomplice: How Design Emerges from Life Itself. Part of my informal research into the question, Does Teleology Have a Future?

cnb said...

All three of these topics, and maybe especially the latter -- it's something I've been mulling myself, and would probably pursue if there were an abbey within striking distance -- sound interesting to me. It's good to hear from you again.

Voces said...

Good to hear.

As Sacramentum Vitae is near extinction, this seems the more optimal alternative (and, in fact, given certain entries even more ideal than) as regarding matters of philosophy/theology.

Dim Bulb said...

I hope to discuss some of his arguments in a few future posts.How "future" might that be? None of us are getting younger;)

Voces said...

Dr. Carson:

Not to sound impatient - but when you told us to "stay tuned", for about how long did you actually mean?

Vitae Scrutator said...

Sorry about that, folks--I'm going to start posting this weekend, so the wait won't be much longer!

John Farrell said...

Oh, great. Memorial Day weekend when I won't even be close to a connection.

Thanks, Scott!

;)

Cheers for the holiday.

Vitae Scrutator said...

How on earth will you survive that long without it?!?!

John Farrell said...

Pretty desperately. I have my cell phone, only for emails...which, given the small keyboard, I can pretty much only answer in very short sentences.

It's a trial when we visit the in-laws, that's all I can say.

(The hotel does have a PC in the lobby if I get really desperate.)

Homily for Requiem Mass of Michael Carson, 20 November 2021

  Readings OT: Wisdom 3:1-6, 9 [2, short form] Ps: 25 [2] NT: Romans 8:31b-35, 37-39 [6] Alleluia verse: John 6:39 [...