23. November 2009 by Raleigh Miller.

At A, where I currently stand, this blog is barely read, and not adequately updated.

At B, where I’d like to be, this blog has a steady and wide readership, and I’m regularly updating it with intimations of my current work and my inchoate ideas.

I’ve often wondered about how I should get from A to B.  One possibility is the idea of opening up the authorship of this blog to other philosophers that would appreciate having a forum for discussion.  The list of contributors could be as liberal as “anyone who knows me and expresses interest” (and “knows me” could even be interpreted more liberally or limitedly) or as limited as “people studying in the PhD Program at the Ohio State University” or, once I have an area of specialization, “people specializing in my area”, but given that I don’t have an area of specialization, this latter development would be far down the road.  In any event, I trust that people who are occasionally posting on this blog would be motivated to keep up to date with it, and perhaps to link their friends to their own posts, which might in turn create exponential growth in readership.If you have any interest in being a contributor to this blog, I’d like to hear from you.  

As I currently imagine it, I would sign you up to the blog as a contributor, I’d edit the sections a little bit so that the information specific to me was no longer information about “me”, but information about “the webmaster”, and I would give you some space to introduce yourself as a contributor.  Then you’d be free to use this forum as a platform to post drafts of papers that you want vetted by a community, engage with one another on ideas that you’re developing, etc. etc.

If anyone has any interest, let me know.

Posted in Admin | No Comments »

22. November 2009 by Raleigh Miller.

I have finished the first draft of my first term paper as a PhD Student.  Anyone who is interested in providing comments upon the paper, here it is.  I’d also ask, especially if you’ve never edited with me before, that you look over this.

Posted in Papers, Ethics, Grad School | 1 Comment »

3. November 2009 by Raleigh Miller.

((((I was going to post something on reasons and desires, but then the formatting bugged the hell out of me, so I saved the draft and will return to it tomorrow.  instead I’m going to post this draft from May of this year.  I’m not going to attempt to finish it.  I’m just going to post as is.  It’s probably horse shit.  I haven’t even read it.  Weeee!)))) Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Metaphysics, 2-dimensionalism | No Comments »

2. November 2009 by Raleigh Miller.

I don’t quite know what to make of the Afghanistan war.  From a strictly strategical perspective, I’m comfortable having no idea what to do about it; I don’t get into war, strategy, etc.  I don’t have much to recommend in the way of how to win, whether we should win, etc.

But politically speaking, this all feels quite surreal to me. Obama, and nearly every other moderate liberal candidate, emphasized getting out of Iraq and getting into Afghanistan. The conventional wisdom was that we were fighting the wrong war at the wrong time. Obama’s having re-focused resources on Afghanistan is his filling of a series of campaign promises. And yet, not 8 months later, a chorus of a thousand reasonable voices are urging us to get out. And (perhaps just because I dove-leaning anyway) I find the sentiments of that chorus persuasive.

So is there any real difference between Iraq and Afghanistan? Or are they just two bumps on the “always at war” path…are we soon going to be told that our efforts are wasted in Afghanistan and Iran is now what’s in need of our attention? It does seem, at least ostensively, as if the motives that pushed us into Afghanistan were better. The argument for going to Iraq was shifty and perpetually unpersuasive. The oil wealth over which Saddam presided, and the nepotism in the doling out of private contracts gave all sorts of reasons to suspect that we were in Iraq for all the wrong reasons. The argument for the war in Afghanistan has been different, and much more consistent: decimate Al-Queda. The arguments for pulling out now seem to be far more strategical and far less moral (whereas, the arguments for pulling out of Iraq are that it is an unjust and immoral occupation). The problem in Afghanistan is simply that traditional occupation won’t succeed at eradicating the hundreds of nomadic camps that operate largely independently and conduct most of their planning online.

I also wish someone could paint a reasonable picture concerning what we do next if we do pull out of both Afghanistan and Iraq? I’m in favor of both of these moves…and I suspect (with many) that anti-terrorism efforts will be more effective if our resources aren’t being drained by two wars. I do wish I knew what those efforts will be, though.

Posted in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Politics | 1 Comment »

1. November 2009 by Raleigh Miller.

My colleague and friend Dan Issler makes some interesting points concerning Kant’s view of mathematics here.

Posted in Mathematics, Dan Issler, Kant | No Comments »