Phew … the end of another term

Two good seminars yesterday to mark the end of term. First, a small group of survivors staggered to the end of Hodges’s Shorter Model Theory, helped enormously by Nathan Bowler taking us through the final chapter on Morley’s theorem — and for a moment, at any rate, I had a sense (thanks to Nathan) of understanding something of the route to that high point in model theory.

I’m glad I made the journey: but I’m not sure that Hodges is the best guide for readers who aren’t hardcore mathmos (he tends to go straight up cliff faces by the short route, offering few comforting resting points for those of us whose grip is less secure, so we can get our orientiation and recover our breath).

Then in the evening, to the Serious Metaphysics Group (which, if last night’s meeting was anything to go by, might be serious, but is certainly not solemn), to hear Tim Crane talking about “Three Dogmas of Quinean Ontology” — Tim seemed misguided (placing more weight on the idea of “believing in Xs” than I think it will bear), but the occasion was good fun and thought provoking. I must get along again in the future.

And, apart from marking three more M.Phil. essays and going to a couple of hopefully brief exam meetings, that’s it for this term. Terrific! So I hope I will now have time to get back to actually doing philosophy and to posting here …