Sydney delivered a paper at his department workshop this afternoon. This is the paper that he’s been fretting about for some time and has been pounding out on my keyboard for the last several days. He did quite well! I can’t speak for the brilliance of his argument, but he talked on solidly for an hour, took an hour of questions, and then got several (seemingly genuine) compliments from peers and profs afterward. Better yet, he’s still standing!
I find it intriguing that Sydney’s paper was on disagreement (something about how it is that we can rationally disagree even when both parties have the same evidence in front of them, or how we disagree even when we think the other person is more of an expert, etc.). Maybe if he pursues this long enough he’ll have figured out disagreement in marital relationships, as well! That’s one way to make philosophy pay the bills . . .
Erin
Alan Schmierer
Let’s see … my thesis was that we can rationally hold on to our views even when our peers and superiors disagree. That sounds like a promising approach to marital disagreements …
Congratulations Sydney! Still trying to figure out whether I would have liked to be there and actually see how you did, or whether to be happy I did not have to sit through those two hours. But congrats anyway! LOL
Just an added note, I would have loved to hear what you said about that topic though.