Shoemaker

I don’t want to turn this blog into a well of sentimentality (we are talking about philosophy, after all), but a personal note is in order. First a brief history of PEA Soup. I got to know Dave Shoemaker years ago, when I was a grad student and he held a temporary faculty position in my program. He quickly became a friend and a mentor. He eventually got hired tenure-track at CSU-Northridge, in the same year that Doug Portmore was hired there. A year later, I got hired at CSU-Bakersfield. Bakersfield being what it is, and Los Angeles being what it is, and having a friend in LA (Northridge being sort-of in LA…it’s in the Valley), I was lured the hour and a half south to LA to join Dave, Doug and others in the Southern California Reading Group on Ethics (or as I like to think of it, SCouRGE). It’s been a great time philosophically, and it has produced new friendships and occasional poker games, among other things. In 2003, Dan Boisvert joined me at CSUB (which I’ve just left, to take a job at Occidental College), and he joined SCouRGE as well. Hence the fearless foursome behind this blog. And we’ve all collaborated in various ways beyond the blog and the reading group: reading each others’ papers, bouncing ideas off of one another, etc. In fact, it was SCouRGE’s reading of Scanlon’s book that first prompted Dave and me to co-author a paper arguing that we’re all just sophisticated wantons in the end.

Which brings me to the sentimental point: Dave is leaving us for Bowling Green (he’ll be on PEA Soup still, but he’s leaving California). So, Dave, thanks for the hospitality, and for being the connecting rod for this group of colleagues and friends, and for the hard work on the reading group. Congratulations on the new gig at BGSU, and good luck. And best wishes to Marie and the girls, too. We’ll miss you all.

Comments

[Doug Portmore]

Yes, thanks Dave for being the connecting rod for this group, and, especially, for bringing us together for Texas Hold'Em every other week. You will be sorely missed.

Best wishes, Doug

[Dan Boisvert]

I'll dig the well a little deeper.... I, too, wish you and your family the best in Ohio. I appreciate your opening the door to SCouRGE to another member, for all the good conversation during the meetings about matters ethical, and for all the good conversation during the poker games about matters unethical! Best wishes.

[Dave Shoemaker]

Thanks, gentlemen. It means a lot. It's going to be extremely difficult for us to be so far away geographically, but to paraphrase Casablanca, we'll always have PEASoup.

Seriously, I will miss seeing you guys on a regular basis -- the thought of losing that was the most difficult part of my decision to head to Bowling Green. My life has been incredibly enriched from my regular face-time with you, and I hope we'll figure out alternative ways to keep that enrichment ongoing (video conferencing? on-line poker tournaments?).

To the blogosphere: I'm moving in a few days, so I won't be able to contribute anything to PEASoup for at least two weeks, but I'm sure the three-day drive to Ohio will give me plenty of time to contemplate the nature of the universe (as it relates to moral philosophy, of course), so I'll be sure and start posting with a vengeance once I'm relocated and back on-line.