Derek E.
Subscriber since: January 2011
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
About Me
I am a Philosophy professor. I am currently feeling uninspired. I suppose I will use this space to communicate my professional interests. In no particular order, they are: Metaphysics, Modern Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind, History and Philosophy of Science. I have a wide variety of interests, in part because I feel like we need to keep our lives entertaining (or maybe it's simply that I need to keep myself entertained), and I think my students appreciate that about me. I am very social and I always enjoy a great conversation. I also love research. I feel as though I am constantly brainstorming and being swarmed with many ideas, but rarely do I have a chance to develop them in any sort of detail.
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Favorite Word:

synchronicity
Whenever I am searching for a word that I particularly enjoy, I attempt to satisfy two criteria: (1) It must have some sort of meaning that I enjoy and (2) It must sound pleasing. Synchronicity happens to be one such word (although I confess that there are others). Being a philosopher, this word is especially interesting for me since the question of causation can take center stage in metaphysical inquiries and synchronicity is a way of thinking about the correlation between two events.
Other subscribers who love this word:

Least Favorite Word:

eclat
While I enjoy the meaning of this word, I have a hard time finding its sound aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps I am simply pronouncing it wrongly, but it seems to me that, due to its awkward phonological structure, it is difficult to use casually in a sentence without appearing to be pretentious.