I write this in Paris, where I’ve come for a week’s change of scene and to catch up with work. I haven’t written on this Substack for longer than my advertised schedule, for which I apologise to any impatient subscribers. A lot of things in my life have changed in the last year, and one of them is that I’m now entirely in charge of my own routine, with a lot of competing demands on my time. This is liberating in many ways and in other ways disastrous, for easily imagined reasons.
So grateful to have landed on your work. I never made it as far as you before having my head on the chopping block. Every single thesis I proposed was summarily nixed as "not in line with the goals of the department," so I gave up after several years. Sadly, this left me with an incomplete MA in philosophy and a crummy job, albeit one that allows me a bit of time to write posts like this one. I'm very much looking forward to catching up with your archive and future postings.
I enjoyed this post. It made me smile and laugh. How can I avoid the bare-seat-of-experience problem though? I (tentatively) want to say "sex is phenomenal, gender identity noumenal".
It is true that restrictions can aid creativity. A blank canvas paralyses me, certainly. What I found particularly helpful about your recent book was when you used conceptual analysis to discuss key concepts, and when you spoke about "the benefits of immersion in a fiction." These lenses helped me a lot, and were you to point them to other topics I'm sure your readers would not mind a bit. But I don't want to tell you what you should do, I just appreciate very much your last book and your writing here and on Unherd. Many thanks!
That was definitely worth the wait! I was told during my post grad that my writing too was journalistic for MSc - I obviously missed my calling as have you! Thoroughly thought provoking (as ever) and entertaining! Thank you!
I cannot wait for you to let it all out. Unconstrained brilliance.
So grateful to have landed on your work. I never made it as far as you before having my head on the chopping block. Every single thesis I proposed was summarily nixed as "not in line with the goals of the department," so I gave up after several years. Sadly, this left me with an incomplete MA in philosophy and a crummy job, albeit one that allows me a bit of time to write posts like this one. I'm very much looking forward to catching up with your archive and future postings.
I enjoyed this post. It made me smile and laugh. How can I avoid the bare-seat-of-experience problem though? I (tentatively) want to say "sex is phenomenal, gender identity noumenal".
This was worth waiting for.
It is true that restrictions can aid creativity. A blank canvas paralyses me, certainly. What I found particularly helpful about your recent book was when you used conceptual analysis to discuss key concepts, and when you spoke about "the benefits of immersion in a fiction." These lenses helped me a lot, and were you to point them to other topics I'm sure your readers would not mind a bit. But I don't want to tell you what you should do, I just appreciate very much your last book and your writing here and on Unherd. Many thanks!
That was definitely worth the wait! I was told during my post grad that my writing too was journalistic for MSc - I obviously missed my calling as have you! Thoroughly thought provoking (as ever) and entertaining! Thank you!
Or just think...Simone de Beauvoir
Professor Stock is brilliant. Reminds me of Sanjana Friedman
I look forward to each and every opportunity to hear you sing.