The Slav-Makedon In the spring of 1976 I was in Greece, and about to go north from Athens. I wondered if I could go to the peninsula of Mount Athos, the independent monastic region. Not too easy! The region is under the protection of the Greek state, which safeguards its special dispensation. First the Canadian consulate had toContinue reading “The Slav-Makedon”
Author Archives: Bas van Fraassen
One or Two Saints, More or Less
“I see that you don’t listen to the Pope either!” This was the teller in the Bank of Montreal in Toronto, where I was living then. She touched her own St Christopher medal, and pointed to the one I wore. Just a few years before Pope Paul VI had removed ninety-three saints from the canon, theContinue reading “One or Two Saints, More or Less”
The Unveiling of Marx Hall
Marx Hall is not actually a Hall in and by itself, it was an annex, grafted on to the eastern facade of 1879 Hall. Since it ceased to be a dormitory for Princeton’s gentlemen students and their servants, the eastern half of 1879 Hall houses Philosophy, while its western half has Religion. The two are separatedContinue reading “The Unveiling of Marx Hall”
The 1960s Connecticut Metaphysicians
In 1966, just out of graduate school, I got a job at Yale, in New Haven, Connecticut. These were the days when co-education was only just becoming a serious possibility, though not actual at Yale till 1969, after I left; so all my students were boys, mainly from private boys’ schools. I heard them discussingContinue reading “The 1960s Connecticut Metaphysicians”
Parachuting (mis)adventures
You owe it to yourself to jump at least once in your life. (Slogan on a parachuting course advertisement) I believed that, it had the ring of truth. So I enrolled in the course. This was when I was living in Toronto, and the parachuting club had a small airfield in the middle of farmlandContinue reading “Parachuting (mis)adventures”
Sir Alfred Ayer
Sometime in the 1970s I was at a grand interdisciplinary conference in Florence, “Livelli di Realtà/Levels of Reality”. This was a cultural event, and the organizer, Massimo Piattelli Palmarini — who, as he said to me later, was a ‘great snob’ — had invited luminaries from philosophy, psychology, physics, sociology. Even literature, for Italo Calvino hadContinue reading “Sir Alfred Ayer”
Teaching when young
In 1965, still a graduate student in Pittsburgh, I got a part-time teaching job at Point Park Junior College. I was to teach two sections of a critical thinking course. There were two textbooks, a baby logic for syllogisms and some sentential logic, the other was Language in Action. That was by S. I. Hayakawa,Continue reading “Teaching when young”
The Great Eclipse of 1979
The Great Solar Eclipse of February 26, 1979 was going to be spectacularly visible in Bozeman, Montana, so the university there decided on a great celebratory event that would bring together scholars, artists, physicist, poets, writers, musicians … This was organized by Michael and Lynda Sexton, in English and Philosophy respectively — I was goingContinue reading “The Great Eclipse of 1979”
Meeting Michael Scriven
In the fall of 1965 I was writing my dissertation and applying for jobs. The universities were expanding and we were giving job talks all over the place. One of mine was at Indiana University. When I arrived a tall, handsome blond man took charge of me. “Hi, I’m Michael Scriven, I’m to be yourContinue reading “Meeting Michael Scriven”
Unlikely Places
Like most male animals I have often peed in unlikely places. On trees, in the bushes, behind houses; once in a decorative vase, when slightly drunk, in a house where I couldn’t find the bathroom. But the one time I am thinking about was memorable, not because of where the pee ended up, but forContinue reading “Unlikely Places”
Bas van Fraassen's Commonplace Book 