It’s been a busy period since the Spring update, let me just quickly list some of the things that have happened.

In July my fixed-term position at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam was rendered permanent, though for now it is still part-time teaching-only. As per this Fall I am now also the secretary of the Educational Programme Committee for philosophy.

I’ve recently won the Know VU Award for my proposal to reform the teaching of modern philosophy by “reverse engineering” the canon through a reverse-chronological approach to make it more diverse and inclusive. I will be teaching Modern Philosophy again in the winter and thanks to the Know VU Award, I will be teaching it in a completely new format! 

I was also recently interviewed by AdValvas, the university newspaper, because of my astounding employment history and multiple overlapping contracts (Dutch only, I’m afraid)

I gave a talk at the yearly OZSW (Dutch Research School of Philosophy) conference in Amsterdam on “Brentano, HERMES, and the “extended” mind”, which shows (among other things) how my current work for HERMES is connected and builds on my previous research on the School of Brentano and symbolic intentionality. I’ve also joined the Radboud AI Network in Nijmegen and took part in the first meeting with roundtables on AI & Neuroscience and AI Design.

At the OZSW conference I also participated as a panel member in a discussion about the results of recent research into the mental health and well-being of philosophy PhD’s in the Netherlands: a majority runs a severe risk of depression and worries about their future career.  With good reason: only about 15% of PhD’s ever makes it into a permanent position in the Netherlands, while 40% aspire to it. Moreover, most will only obtain a permanent position after up to a decade or more of postdocs or temporary teaching gigs.

On January 15, 2020 I’ll be visiting Freiburg to give a talk in the Colloquium Phaenomenologicum, titled “Is the Intended Object the Intentional Object in Brentano?”

Two new publications have just appeared:

* “Thinking the Impossible: The Gestalt of a Round Square” in A. Dewalque, V. Raspa (eds.), Psychological Themes in the School of Alexius Meinong, Meinong Studies 10

* “Mathesis Universalis from Leibniz to Husserl” in F. Fraisopi (ed.), Mathesis, Grund, Vernunft, Studien zur Phänomenologie und Praktischen Philosophie 50, Ergon Verlag.

Together with Robin Rollinger, I’ve updated the entry on Christian von Ehrenfels on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.