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!