Tag: Thesis Writing

Resent

So, the Kaikoura Piece is off to a new journal. Now that I’ve had a bit of time to cogitate over the comments I got back on the revision I’ve come to another in my series of `Epiphanies to do with my thesis topic,’ a succession of disheartened realisations that very few people actually think that Conspiracy Theories are even vaguely worth philosophical consideration.

It’s sad, really, that the overwhelmingly pejorative sense of `Conspiracy Theory’ has become the normal term. Conspiracy Theories are beliefs about the world, purported explanations of an event that cite a Conspiracy as its salient cause…

I could go on, but as that last sentence really should be going into my definitional chapter I might take the opportunity to develop the thesis further. So, back to the coal mine for me. I will, however, explain the why and the really really why of why the response seems so academically perverse soon.

12/04/2008

Worky work work work

(I seem to be losing my touch when it comes to post titles…)

So, work. I’ve been at it like a… well, someone working away at a thesis. The last few weeks have seen me editing my sixty-five page chapter 1 (provisionally I call it chapter one; it might be chapter 2, actually) where I go through the terminology in use by philosophers in respect to `Conspiracy Theories’ and draw out the common threads and intuitions they use to define the term. This is going to lead to my definition (which is next week’s work), of which I have a fairly good vague idea of (but actually making it concrete; well, there’s the rub). Which should hopefully justify the following sentence (which occurs on page sixty of this section):

Once my definition is stated (and defended) I will then move on to the question of what kind of explanations are Conspiracy Theories, how they are transmitted (and their relation to other kinds of social transmitted knowledge claims, like Gossip and Rumour) and how we can explain what appears to be a rather peculiar tension on our beliefs about Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories, to whit the fact that we know Conspiracies do occur and yet it seems we have \textit{prima facie} ((TeX Markup)) warrant to our suspicion of (contemporary) Conspiracy Theories.

10/31/2008

Sixty pages (one and an half-spaced)

I’ve just collated my TeX files that make up the bulk of the Definitions chapter and I have sixty pages. That doesn’t include the introduction section to the piece nor does it include my attempt at a definition; this is just the discussion on previous definitional attempts. In a few days I’ll finish up my own attempt at a definition and try to write it up not just as a section of the thesis but also as a potential paper.

This is big news. I’ve been hoping to break this camel’s hump for a few weeks now and it’s finally cracking.

Inappropriate analogies over; I’m going to bed.

10/02/2008

Jammy keys

My current lack of posting comes down to three things; I have internet issues, I have work to do and I have a Cold.

The last seems self-explanatory; the other two not so much.

Internet issues: Sometimes the Internet and its peoples frighten me. I was just reading a post on NZConservative about how lesbian mayors are ruining morality for the rest of us and it made me want to cause damage to the peoples who `live’ in such a space. I suspect I am in an angry place at the moment and thus easily annoyed by even the most trivial and banal stupidities expressed by people who you think could know better. I suspect a lot of this anger comes from the Cold; bad sleep, bad breathing; bad mood.

Work: I’m a little behind on my work at the moment, although I seem to be catching up again. The current chapter is taking longer to write up than I anticipated, mostly because I keep encountering issues and writing on them when I should really be leaving them for other sections of the thesis. I’m getting stuck on material that I don’t need to be currently stuck on and occasionally that only becomes apparent when you start writing a concluding paragraph and realise you’ve jibbed when you meant to tack.

I also have the presentation to prepare for the Skeptics Conference. I’m a little too used to the material and am constructing a newer version of the presentation that assumes the audience knows less than I usually think they do. Not because I think my audience will be morons but because I don’t want to be accused (as I have been here ((Because I am not on the `Facebook’ (and am not currently enamoured of the idea of joining) I have no recourse, it would seem, other than engaging in the academic version of speaking very slowly and loudly)) of crimes epistemological. It also gives me reason to update a few examples and build new slides.

I like slides.

09/16/2008

House-sitting with the Fretless Zither

I’m house-sitting for the next seven weeks, which means I’m moving somewhere warmer than my flat but in a locale more awkward to commute from and more isolated in general. In theory this could mean I do a lot of work; on the other hand I don’t have to share a TV with people of differing tastes so I could end up just watching bad films 24/7.

I also have a phonoharp, aka a fretless zither, to learn to play.

Work-wise… Teaching continues apace; my students are a good bunch; talkative, friendly and eager to engage with the material. In respect to the thesis; a lot of writing, some of it quite good, seems to be occurring when I go into the office. I’m seriously working on chapter one and building up a lot of useful notes for a substantial chunk of what is either chapter four, five or six. I’m paring down my notes for chapter one and trying not to overwrite it (too much). Sometimes I forget that you do not have to deal with every issue in one section; you can signpost and handwave and make promises to deal with issues and, as long as you actually keep to your word, all will be fine and good. So my worries about Brian L. Keeley’s Public Trust Skepticism doesn’t have to be dealt with as it emerges in the explication of his definition of `Conspiracy Theory.’

Well, enough talking about doing work. I’m going back to Keeley’s definition and the da Vinci Code. Not that they are particularly related, but both are work to be done.

08/15/2008

Work

Well, this week has been all about the Buzzcocks. Well, not exactly. Not even close; it’s more ‘The Damned’ if we’re going for punk of that era. Anyway, what I meant to say is that this week has been all about terminology, specifically Conspiracy Theory terminology.

I’m now drafting what I would like to call `Chapter One: Talking About Conspiracy Theories Non-conspiratorially.’ I’m going through the epistemologists of Conspiracy Theories in a kind of chronological order; Popper (from ‘The Open Society and Its Enemies), then Keeley’s three papers, then Charles, et al. Rather than track the terms themselves I’m tracking how particular thinkers have used them, show how they have (or haven’t) changed their views over time and, from this, will go on to explain how I think the terminology should be set down.

I’ve been looking forward to writing this chapter for some time now. I get to show how well I understand the existing literature and critique it all in one go. The scary part will be trying to a) make something novel and coherent out of my own thoughts and intutions upon the subject and b) working with some of the new material from the Episteme issue. Some of the newer papers seem blissfully unaware of the existing literature…

More news as it comes to hand.

07/16/2008