Tuesday at LSE

A slightly earlier start and a run across the car park got me on the 6:30 "Express" coach, into Marble Arch at 7:40. If I do get a job based in the West End, this might be a possible route to work after all - not that much different to aiming for the 6:45 train from Didcot.

So I am at the LSE Library by 8:00 just as ot opens, armed with a long list of books I was after for the Christmas break. First priority was Agassi's Science and History - the book I had agonised about buying a few weeks back. Glad I didn't as it has finally appeared through binding, etc. Then Nicholas Jardine's The Birth of History and Philosophy of Science - his book about Kepler's Defence of Tycho. A couple of fringe Kepler books - Kepler's Dream, and Conversation with the Sidereal Messenger. And Rhythms of Academic Life, another book on the theme of academia. Plus one or two others.

Met Caroline outside the NAB. She has been ill for the last week - actually bedridden for some of it. She didn't sound at all well. Today's lecture was on John Worrall's own paper on Newton's "deduction from the phenomena" - the paper I read in Italy in August. Then George's seminar was on the same theme. No speaker this week, so George set out his thoughts. Things progressed to a degree until he made a really daft comment at the end which really annoyed Caroline. His claim was that we should be focusing on learning how to appraise other views, not critique them with our own views. Yet we all feel that as post grads, this is exactly what we should be doing. Caroline was very unhappy with his suggestion.

So there is a small argument after the seminar with George, during which I was amazed to discover that he has been teaching 10 years (mostly undergraduates, which doesn't surprise me). Afterwards I had lunch with Caroline in the downstairs of the Garrick Bar. She has a really interesting background having studied theology with the Jesuits and then Philosophy and History for her 4 year degree in the USA. We had a wide ranging discussion about the course. On the way to the library, we met Femke, who also has a cold. Must be that time of term.

I actually spent a few hours in the library this afternoon reading an essay review on Kuhn's Essential Tension and Lakatos's Philosophical Papers Vol 1. and a review of Stephenson's Kepler's Physical Astronomy. The longest time I have yet managed in the library.

By 4:30 I was ready for a break and settled in the common room where Vicenzo was in residence. We had a chat for a couple of hours on all sorts of things. He is still very unsure on doing a PhD, but did have some interesting points about how the LSE chooses people for PhDs. And apparently George has been working on his PhD for about 10 years - I could well imagine this being the case.

I ended up missing Miklos's last P of S lecture but I did make the seminar. Despite having not seen the lecture or done the reading I was able to make quite a few good points I thought. The topic was "Inductive Statistical Explanation" and I was surprised by how much I could remember from when I had studied this topic at LSE 25 years ago. I defended my previous views on one of Miklos's own research interests - the common causal thesis from Reichenbach. And I was against the idea of statistical relevance arguing against calling these "explanations".

Overall a nice end to this run of seminars - next term someone else is doing the lectures and seminars. I have really enjoyed this course so far - much more than I had thought I would. I had always thought it would be History of Science that was my favourite course but actually I've been quite disappointed by that.

Walked part of the way back to Holborn with Jacob who will send me a copy of Clare Market Review in the post next week - it has been delayed at the printers and isn't now scheduled for distribution at LSE till the start of next term. I always feel quite sad on the journey home from LSE. Most other people are there most of the week, I just do one day. I would like to be more involved with what everyone is doing. This week I will miss the departmental party - wonder how many will be going to that?

Coach reading is The History Man - the third time I have read it and still just as much fun.