I’ve been posting here for a couple of months and haven’t introduced myself yet. Unconscionably rude. Anyway, I’m 29 years old and hoping to get my Ph. D. in a few months. I started out studying physics, then realized I was interested in more foundational questions than I’d be encouraged/allowed to work on as a young physicist, so I switched to philosophy. I guess I would characterize myself as a naturalistic metaphysician; I tackle traditional philosophical problems using modern physics (as opposed to the 17th-century physics still used to by all too many metaphysicians). I’m also very interested in political theory, but I’ll refrain from elaborating on that. My username does not lie; I identify as a pragmatist in the tradition of Wittgenstein, Quine, Putnam and Rorty (gasp!).
I’ve been defending a broadly Jaynesian account of statistical physics for a while. A few years ago I was extolling the virtues of Jaynes and someone asked me if I read Overcoming Bias. I hadn’t heard of the site at the time, so I checked it out and liked what I saw. I’ve been checking back sporadically since then. I began spending more time on the site starting a few months ago, about the time I needed to start really focusing on finishing my dissertation (sigh).
I’ve been posting here for a couple of months and haven’t introduced myself yet. Unconscionably rude. Anyway, I’m 29 years old and hoping to get my Ph. D. in a few months. I started out studying physics, then realized I was interested in more foundational questions than I’d be encouraged/allowed to work on as a young physicist, so I switched to philosophy. I guess I would characterize myself as a naturalistic metaphysician; I tackle traditional philosophical problems using modern physics (as opposed to the 17th-century physics still used to by all too many metaphysicians). I’m also very interested in political theory, but I’ll refrain from elaborating on that. My username does not lie; I identify as a pragmatist in the tradition of Wittgenstein, Quine, Putnam and Rorty (gasp!).
I’ve been defending a broadly Jaynesian account of statistical physics for a while. A few years ago I was extolling the virtues of Jaynes and someone asked me if I read Overcoming Bias. I hadn’t heard of the site at the time, so I checked it out and liked what I saw. I’ve been checking back sporadically since then. I began spending more time on the site starting a few months ago, about the time I needed to start really focusing on finishing my dissertation (sigh).