I'm trying to meet quite a few deadlines this week, so this week blogging will be light (for me - I still have lots to blog about compared to all you lazy once-every-few-day-ers!), particularly since I want to get some things up at Houyhnhnm Land. But here are some things to look forward to in the next few weeks:
1) I'll be responding to Grupp's response - I need to do a bit of reading, but I should be clarifying the doubts (I wouldn't call them refutations) I originally expressed about his argument. This should happen this week (I hope).
2) I've been invited to present a paper for a panel on early modern accounts of mind-body union at the Canadian Philosophical Association next term. Here's my very rough, tentative working title and abstract:
God in the Works: The Ethical Focus of Malebranche's Account of Mind-Body Union
We normally don't think of mind-body union as primarily an ethical topic; that is, however, precisely Malebranche's view. In this paper I will examine how Malebranche's concern to provide a remedy against the sin of idolatry shapes his discussion of two major aspects of an account of mind-body union: our knowledge of the mind and mind-body interaction. Looking at these ethical issues will clarify why Malebranche deviates in important ways from his fellow Cartesians: his account of mind-body union is intended not merely as a true account of human beings but also as an antidote for our primary moral failings.
The paper is what I call 'quasi-written' - i.e., I have the barebones and most of the material for the general discussion, and just need to actually write it and develop some particular issues at greater length. I'm thinking I'll wrestle with one or two of these points here in the next few weeks. (Incidentally, if anyone has come across discussions of ethical implications of, or ethical influences on, other accounts of mind-body union, particularly in unexpected places I might not think to look, let me know, because I'm definitely interested in any parallels I could find.)
3) I want to try to get another quasi-written paper, on Lady Mary Shepherd's critique of Hume, into order by January, so expect something on Shepherd's views of mathematical causation.
4) I've been intending for some time to write a bit about William Whewell's ethics. I don't know if I'll get to it in the next few weeks, but I'm hoping to do so.
5) For a very, very long time, I've been intending to post something on Locke, Newman, and Price on the question of whether there really are degrees of assent or belief (I incline to Newman's view that there aren't). This is on my list of 'It would be nice to blog about, but it requires checking out Price's Belief and Newman's Grammar of Assent and re-reading the relevant sections first, and I don't know if I'll have the time given everything else I have to do.' I will blog about it sometime; I'm hoping I have a chance in the next few weeks, but very likely it will be postponed yet more.
And of course, there will always be occasional posts, i.e., posts on the occasion of something I've read or come across. And I have some old notes that I might post, too, just to do something different from what I usually do.
