April & Edinburgh

Ah, the first month in Edinburgh is almost passed. Time goes so fast when you're having fun. Well, not only that - I've been rather busy with my paper to the Scottish Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy III on the second week of May. The reason for that is the fact that the paper is partly on Spinoza who I do not know very well. Also, there are a number of texts I have to go through - some in Latin which is my other weak point. So I have been working hard on the paper, I only wish I had another month to do that. Anyway, I am pretty happy with the outcome so far - hopefully some rewriting and further study will transform the paper to a decent article.

My other life in Edinburgh has consisted mainly on pubs, shopping and museums. And I don't mean heavy drinking, more sort of one pint per pub goodlife. As this my first longer stay in UK, I naturally enjoy the pubs and beer very much. In addition, Tesco provides a nice beer for a decent price. My favourites are Tennet's Ale, Belhaven and Boddington's. John Smith is perhaps the only one I haven't enjoyed. Of course there are better beers in bottles - March of the Penguins, Deuchar's IPA and Red Kite - oh boy! Being the guy I am, here's a list of pubs I have visited so far: Conan Doyle, Black Cat, Meadow Bar (nice indie rock music, btw!), Bow bar (recommended! - new set of ales every week!, no music), Peartree (nice beergarten), Shakespeare (nice & rugged), Kenilworth (great haggis!), Blind poet (tit photos in men's room - pretty strange) and Waterline (in Leith).

Here in Scotland I also feel obligated to drink whisky. This is not caused not only by image and customs, but also by the fact that it has been really cold here and drinking whisky is a nice way to stay warm. Unfortunately, single malts are as expensive here as in Finland, so can't afford too much of them, a bit on weekends. Laphroaig 10 years is a divine drink. Of blended we have tasted Whyte and Mackay, Bell's and Teacher's. Of these, Bell's is the least good and Whyte & Mackay easily the best. Fortunately, it is also one of the chepeast, around £14 in Tesco. Tea and whisky is a nice combination on cold evenings.

A very nice thing in Edinburgh is the fact that many museum are free. So one can visit the National museum, the National gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the National gallery of Modern Art free of charge! This means that you can visit them many times whenever you like and check the Van Dycks, Rembrandts etc. closely. I have pinned some of the works I have liked to Pinterest. Today I finally visited the castle and although it was not too cheap, the view alone is worth the price. Interesting war museums, too and the Royal honours and apartment is great.

Finally, shopping. Being the collector that I am, I knew that lot of this is expected. What I did not know was the fact that from charity shops one can find books, dvds and records dirt cheap and in Edinburgh there are dozens of these shops. I am really glad I have reserved some money beforehand to send parcels to home as there is no way I can come back with all the stuff I have bought more or less cheap from here. As my friends know, when it comes to vinyl lp's, for me quantitity is quality. Edinburgh is also a heaven for vinyl single collectors and one can find great singles for 50p or less from the charity shops - sofar I have bought around 30 of them. Below are some of the findings.

 

Very nice bookshops, too. I have mostly acquired pop-books or philosophical ones. Some of them are project-related, some just general interest. In addition to few very nice cheap, second hand-stores (check Southside books & Armchair books), there are few high quality shops, like Bell's books. What a joy to find Curley's Behind the Geometrical Method's as a second hand book for a comfortable price.

 Oh, and some gigs, too! First was the Monochrome Set which was simply great, second Graham Coxon which was ok and third the Lemonheads which was - frankly - a bit boring. You can find my reviews of the first two gigs here. HMV Picturehouse is a nice place, although the acoustics are pretty bad and Voodoo Rooms is a great place to watch a gig, but it is pretty small.

I have also been a regular customer in Filmhouse which shows new and old movies. We saw a restored version of Jean Renoir's Grande illusion which is indeed grande and then Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Frederic March version) which was really scary.

Talking of which, Stevenson's classic was part of the Edinburgh Science Festival and we participated to a great tour, called Walking with scientists. It was hosted by a eccentric scot named Colin Brown who was at the same time a historian, scientist, actor and stand-up comedian. He also hosts Rebus tours with Ian Rankin-content. Recommended!

Well, there's more. But not all goodies at the same time. So long!

np The Charlatans: Melting Pot

Edinburgh: First Impressions

I am in love. This city is amazing: lots of high places and low places and lot of climbing inbetween. Breathtaking sights all around the city and you can easily walk everywhere. Edinburgh has that certain something - a character, whether one walks in the messy old town or in the mathematically structured Georgian New town, one is struck by the unique character that is Edinburgh. 

And I have even better news. I will be staying here until July! The reason for this is a status of a visiting research fellow in IASH, Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities of the University of Edinburgh. The institute is a multi-disciplinary institution of about 20-30 researchers at the same time from all around the world. There is a weekly fellow's lunch and a work-in-progress-seminar (I am on 1st of May) and many other events. The institute was recommended to me by the local Leibnizian Pauline Phemister who kindly agreed to recommend me to the Academy of Finland. The workroom there is something of a paradise. The cozy office used to be the workroom of T. L. Sprigge professor of Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh who was also interested in Santanaya, among many other things. The room also contains his large library with a lot of stuff on Spinoza, so I am really lucky! From a table in the room I can see that very prominent Hume scholars Norton, Millican and Garrett have worked there before me, so I feel pretty humble to work in there. I was also greeted by a note of a former habitant who turned out to be a Finn, working on aesthetics!
 

I am staying in Edinburgh with my wife, Susanna and we have a very nice flat in New Town, the street is called Gayfield square. After a week I am very happy to think there are eleven weeks ahead still. Lots of pubs, museums and walks to look forward to. And lot of work, actually - I am supposed to present a paper on Spinoza and Leibniz in the Scottish Seminar on Early Modern Philosophy in the second week of May in addition to the work-in-progress-seminar. As I have not written a paper on Spinoza before, there is lots to do. Also there is some proofreading and working ahead of the two congresses in August plus finishing two papers promised before. I also try to find material for two forthcoming projects. And: read Hume's Enquiry as I finished his Treatise before. Below you can see my determination.

Also I intend to read Steven Nadler's Best of Possible Worlds as I promised to tell Simo Knuuttila my opinion about it. And buy a few records and book and go to concerts and movies. But perhaps I write another blog on those things. Farewell!