A future history of my summer vacation

Below the fold is my annotated to do list for the summer, divided into the academic, the quasi academic and the nonacademic. Some of the items come with pleas for help, “3.1.1 Does anyone know how to clean 78’s?” but there is at least one offer off assistance: “1.5 Kibitz others’ summer projects.” Mostly I’m just posting this because this blog as become a way to compulsively think out loud.



1. Academic

1.1 Research

1.1.1 “Teaching Abortion Ethics to the Conservative Christian Student”

1.1.1.1. Write up what you have
1.1.1.2. Read up on history of abortion
1.1.1.3. Read Hacking on role of history in understanding concepts
1.1.1.4 Review papers from old medical ethics classes.

I gave this as a talk at last summer’s AAPT conference, and I’ve been meaning to send it to the journal Teaching Philosophy In it, I offer three exhortations: First, understand and discuss the arguments students will give on their own. I cover three: scriptural arguments, arguments from so-called “post-abortion syndrome,” and an argument I label “the responsibility argument.” Second, teach the history of the abortion debate. Third, teach general theories of moral status. I could probably simply submit what I have written so far, but I am dissatisfied with my treatment of the history of abortion.

1.1.2. “Legislating minority views of moral status”

This is going to be my job talk next year. I’m also going to send it around to all the major conferences. Basically, I want to compare two groups of people who have minority views on moral status questions: pro-life people and animal rights people. The question is when can people with minority views about moral status legislate those views. I want to rule out some extreme answers (“never” and “always”) and then point out that a reasonable middle ground would give animal rights people the kind of political leverage that anti-abortion people have.

1.1.3. Something on east west environmental ethics

I’m teaching a course on environmental ethics East and West in the fall (item 1.4.1 below). While I’m designing it, I thought I would write something to send to the Building Bridges conference at SIU Carbondale.

1.2. Semester Post-mortem: prerequisite for “1.3. The assault on the job market” and “1.4 Prep next year’s teaching”

1.2.1. Crunch the numbers on last year’s teaching evaluations.
1.2.2 Look at qualitative evals, esp. w/r/t community based learning, use of computers in class, structure of assignments.
1.2.3 Review of textbooks.

1.3. The assault on the job market

1.3.1 The teaching portfolio
1.3.2 The research portfolio
1.3.3. The web page.

1.4. Prepare for next years teaching.

1.4.1 design env ethics e/w class.
1.4.2 Sequence of writing exercises, including in class stuff and synching up with first year program.
1.4.3. Organize the power points, sequence them on Angel
1.4.4. Course web pages/angel pages.
1.4.5 Arsenal of in class exercises.

1.5 Kibitz others’ summer projects

1.5.1 DiZerega's book in progess

anyone else?

2. Quasi academic stuff

2.1. The Ants
2.2. More activist work: write letters every week.
2.3 Read Real Climate and The Oil Drum regularly
2.4 This blog

3. Nonacademic stuff.

3.1. Media: I currently have music in the following formats: 78 rpm record, 12” and 7” vinyl records, CD, Cassette Tape, MP3 and WMA. All this needs to be cleaned and organized.

3.1.1 Does anyone know how to clean 78’s?
3.1.2 Get something that can play 78’s
3.1.3 Find better jukebox organizing software for MP3/WMA etc.
3.1.4 Find a way to generate bibliography entries from MP3 tags automatically.
3.1.5 Catalogue everything.

3.2 The tractatus comic