New Blog

14. July 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

My days at seekinglogos.com are numbered.  I will be deleting the blog soon.  Please head on over to my new blog:

critiqueofpureseasoning.blogspot.com

Cheers!

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Barefoot Running worries

8. June 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

I’ve been running barefoot and I’m planning to run a half marathon in november without shoes on.  I get stubborn sometimes, and I act as if people’s concerns are silly and completely unfounded.  There is a grain of truth there: people tend to assume that it’s obvious running barefoot is dangerous, but articles like this remind me that the jury is still out.  The author of the article writes that “everyone is an experiment of one”.  I have to remember this.  I’m not running barefoot because it’s hard and fast obvious that it’s better, i’m running barefoot because there is some reason to think that it’s better.  But it’s not decisive reason, and I could be wrong.  I haven’t heard of any serious problems with BFR, but I keep my ears perked.  In the meantime, I just know that it’s an open question whether x or y is better, that everyone works under the assumption that x is better, and I’ve chosen to work under the assumption that y is better.  That’s all.

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Do we have a word for this?

9. May 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

Suppose in circumstance C I experience phenomena p to degree n where n>0.  Nothing unusual about C is novel in its contribution to p, and the degree to which I experienc p is pretty normal.

Suppose p is annoying.

Suppose at the onset of event E, I enter a new circumstance, C’, the degree to which I experience p is increased by degree m, where m is noticeable but not very significant.

In these circumstances, I feel inclined to get angry at E for p. Not p to degree o, where m-n=o, but p, period.

Effectively I blame the event for the fact of the annoyance’s existence, even though I would have experienced p only slightly less should E not have happened.

Does anyone else do this? Is there a name for this? There should be.

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Flashmob at Ohio State

4. May 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

This isn’t the most impressive flashmob you’ll find, but it’s the only one with respect to which I can have a reaction somewhat akin to pride.

Is it weird that the older I get, the more enjoyment I get out of people randomly breaking out into song and dance?

Also, I’m glad that I get to be an Ohio State student for a half a decade or so. I feel pretty lucky.

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“If i’m not mistaken….”

3. May 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

“This sentence is false”

• If the sentence is false, then it’s true, but in that case it’s not the case that it’s false, so it’s false.

“Suppose Gamma is the set of all sets that aren’t members of themselves.  Is gamma a member of itself?”

• If Gamma is a member of itself, then it isn’t the case that Gamma is one of the sets that aren’t members of themselves, so it doesn’t belong in Gamma…but in that case, it’s not a member of itself, and as a set that isn’t a member of itself, then it belongs in Gamma.

Here’s something that is disanalogous, but of an interestingly similar spirit.S: “If I’m not mistaken, p.” Read the rest of this entry »

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ED, HD, and fatness

30. March 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

I want to follow up on some of the issues on the strip clubs post below, and I want to get back to writing on philosophy, all after i finish this damned paper on tense and temporal passage.  But I just wanted to ask something…real real quick…

Apparently this has been rocking everyone’s world recently, findings that show that erectile dysfunction is a predictor of heart disease.

There’s an interesting explanation as to why this could be the case, that the arteries in the penis are thinner and thus get clogged more easily, so the early signs of heart disease might have their first manifestations in the penis…

But isn’t there a far easier explanation? Shouldn’t we have expected this all along?

I want to publish a study that shows a link between extra-large sweatshirts and heart disease.  I CAN HAZ GRANT MONEY PLEEZ?

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Icelandic Strip Clubs

27. March 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

Recently, Iceland banned strip clubs.  In response, I posted that link on facebook, along with the message:

 ”I almost wrote that I had ‘mixed feelings’ on this, but then I thought for 3.5 more seconds…and decided my feelings weren’t mixed at all.  I’m in favor.  Well done, Iceland.”

This immediately gave rise to a lively debate, which was inexpressibly helpful, interesting, and clarificatory.  With the contibutors’ permission, I’ve reproduced the conversation in full. Given that this took place on facebook, please forgive any expressive laxity, including mistakes in spelling, grammar, or any unsettling casualness of tone.

  Read the rest of this entry »

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The New Relativism

25. March 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

Dish of the Day:  Macfarlane, John.  Assessment Sensitivity. Drafts of chapters 1 and 2.

This is the beginning of Macfarlane’s manuscript defending the newest manifestation of relativism.  This manuscript will be the basis for the first several weeks of Stewart Shapiro’s class on Relativism, Contextualism, and Assessment sensitivity.  This is my first time looking at it, and I will have much more to say about this book later on, I’ve no doubt at all.  Here I just make a few inane points, semi-autobiographical, quirky and only mildly insightful.  Like Glenn Beck’s interview with Eric Massa, it’s possible I’ll now waste an hour of your time.  [Incidentally, as per the request at the beginning of MacFarlane’s manuscript, I refrain from directly quoting anything from the manuscript]. Read the rest of this entry »

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Time’s Passage

24. March 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

First, two administrative notes: I have added one of my recent papers, “Justification and Seeming States” to my papers.  Second, I wish to extend my sincere congratulations to Seeking Logos contributor Nathan Smith.  A few weeks ago, Nathan passed his candidacy exam, the first major hurdle (if you don’t count admission) to the completion of the PhD.  Nathan now looks ahead and sets to work on his qualifier and dissertation.  Congratulations to other OSU students for their completion, as well as several of my former colleagues at Georgia State for their completion of the M.A. and some of their very impressive PhD placements.  I look forward to bragging about having known you all when you were mere students. Moving along…

Dish of the Day: Schlesinger, George. Aspects of Time.  Chapters 1 and 2.  Hackett, 1990.

 Eric Olson has argued against the theory that time passes.  Further, he has boldly asserted that his arguments have grander implications.  The passage of the time is a condition of the dynamic view of time.  Further, the dynamic view of time is a condition of the A-theory of time, or tense.  Therefore, A-theories are false. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Social Value of the Gift Card

16. January 2010 by Raleigh Miller.

            My friend Eric recently proposed an argument for the claim that gift cards ought to be illegal.  By “gift card” I mean any certificate purchased from a vendor for $N which may then be offered as tender for $N worth of merchandise from that very vendor.  The vendor could be a retail store (say, a $50 gift card at best buy) or a credit card company (say, a $50 Visa gift card).  The latter sort could be used at any store that accepts credit cards of the relevant sort.   I want to outline and consider the argument. Read the rest of this entry »

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