In the Study: Incompleting Descartes
Aren't Incompletes grand? (Yes, 'grand' will be one of the words that color my voice that just so hue of panache). I mean, you take a course and then you don't actually do anything for it and nothing bad happens. Really? Well, almost.
I have three Incompletes right now. One for a course on Descartes, one for a course on Women's Literature, and one for a independent study I'm trying to turn into a dissertation proposal draft.
[If you haven't guessed by now, "In the Study" refers to the work I am engaged in as an academic.]
For the paper I will write for the Descartes course, I am working from a presentation I made that deals with Descartes ideas as the interplay with the concept of community and the literary text Don Quixote. I am planning on using that as a base for the research paper; however, the thesis is weak and I need to redirect my query. I found a secondary text by a J.M. Bernstein where he seeks to replace Cervantes' proto-novel with Descartes' Discourse on the Method as the better viable candidate as first novel written. Focusing the research project around trying to understand Bernstein's project has the distinct advantage of having already survived peer editing (i.e., it was published). So, I know the ideas can stand up at least a little to the wind. It fits in well with what I have already written (Don Quixote, Descartes, novels and philosophy).
Also, I would really like to explore any possible reconciliation between radical doubt and morality. Actually, in that same vein, after reading more and more of Bernstein's work, I am coming to appreciate a very complex and rich comparative relationship between the concepts of irony and faith in Descartes' work. At this point, I think it is better to stick with my exegetical reading of Bernstein's work, but I can, toward the end, steer the paper toward a look at the nexus of faith and irony. The suspension of empirical means involved in both ties them much more closely than I had previously considered. This is not a new idea, but it is one I would like to explore.
I will let you know how it stands going forward. I need to get this thing written. I also need to start pulling the other two papers together. That is really my big goal for the rest of the summer. It would be a welcome miracle.
One final thought: thinking about the interplay of irony and faith, considering issues of religion and morality in the context of rational civil society could potentially be a good way for me to get year-long funding for my doctoral studies. I remember seeing grant money specifically for topics that bring contemporary societal religious issues to bear. So, who knows. Here's to hoping.
I have three Incompletes right now. One for a course on Descartes, one for a course on Women's Literature, and one for a independent study I'm trying to turn into a dissertation proposal draft.
[If you haven't guessed by now, "In the Study" refers to the work I am engaged in as an academic.]
For the paper I will write for the Descartes course, I am working from a presentation I made that deals with Descartes ideas as the interplay with the concept of community and the literary text Don Quixote. I am planning on using that as a base for the research paper; however, the thesis is weak and I need to redirect my query. I found a secondary text by a J.M. Bernstein where he seeks to replace Cervantes' proto-novel with Descartes' Discourse on the Method as the better viable candidate as first novel written. Focusing the research project around trying to understand Bernstein's project has the distinct advantage of having already survived peer editing (i.e., it was published). So, I know the ideas can stand up at least a little to the wind. It fits in well with what I have already written (Don Quixote, Descartes, novels and philosophy).
Also, I would really like to explore any possible reconciliation between radical doubt and morality. Actually, in that same vein, after reading more and more of Bernstein's work, I am coming to appreciate a very complex and rich comparative relationship between the concepts of irony and faith in Descartes' work. At this point, I think it is better to stick with my exegetical reading of Bernstein's work, but I can, toward the end, steer the paper toward a look at the nexus of faith and irony. The suspension of empirical means involved in both ties them much more closely than I had previously considered. This is not a new idea, but it is one I would like to explore.
I will let you know how it stands going forward. I need to get this thing written. I also need to start pulling the other two papers together. That is really my big goal for the rest of the summer. It would be a welcome miracle.
One final thought: thinking about the interplay of irony and faith, considering issues of religion and morality in the context of rational civil society could potentially be a good way for me to get year-long funding for my doctoral studies. I remember seeing grant money specifically for topics that bring contemporary societal religious issues to bear. So, who knows. Here's to hoping.
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