RAIL

So, about that “live from ISSA” thing…

Yeah, that kinda didn’t happen.  Perhaps it was the punishing heat, abnormal for Amsterdam at this time of year.  Perhaps it was jetlag.  It may even have been that the papers were so incredibly interesting that the poor writer’s brain simply collapsed under the strain at the end of each day.  Or it might have been bewitchment at the charm and beauty of this famous city.  Perhaps it was all of these. We will never know.  All that can be done at this point is to beg the good reader’s indulgence.  It was rather more challenging to find the time to write than I expected.

Prior to coming here I had heard many things about what to expect, and it turns out that all of the nice things I heard were true.  The Dutch are friendly and relaxed, the cafes are excellent, and the city truly is beautiful by day and by night, offering enough history, art, and architecture to make one wonder just why there is so much activity in that one part of town, anyway.  The city certainly deserves to be on everyone’s travel agenda.  It is lovely.

ISSA too, was pleasant and highly rewarding.  I spent most of my time over the three days in sessions on rationality and reasonableness and argument schemes. I  heard quite a few interesting papers. I may write about some of them later here once I’ve had time to sit down, look over my notes, and think through them again. In addition to the papers, there were a great many conversations, at lunch and at receptions and informal gatherings too at which I learned a good deal.  These, in addition to being remarkably pleasant despite the heat, and a testament to the fundamental good will of argumentation theorists generally, were often as enlightening as the sessions themselves.

All in all it was a great conference in a fine city.  With any luck I’ll be able to make a return trip in 2012. That is, of course, provided the Aztec god doesn’t jump out of the Mexican jungle and devour the world before then.  It would be a shame if that did happen.  Those pancakes really are fantastic. 🙂