@nickwiltsher
I'm a lecturer in philosophy at the University of St Andrews (from September 2025). They mainly pay me to do aesthetics. I also work on imagination. I'm here for work things and light procrastination.
Bought myself a dishwasher. No coffee percolator. Spouse did briefly aspire to a career as a figure skater.
#philsky
British Society of Aesthetics Postdoctoral Award open for applications. If you're qualified, and you fancy a couple of years in St Andrews, maybe drop me a line.
british-aesthetics.org/portfolio/po...
#philsky
Poster advertising online talk by John Dyck, "The Veracity of Beauty and the Ambitions of Realisms". Check Scottish Aesthetics Forum's website for link.
Scottish Aesthetics Forum online talk on March 20th: John Dyck!
CWA Gold Dagger winner #40: Ben Elton, “Popcorn” (1996).
I didn't expect to like it, and guess what? I didn't!
www.nickwiltsher.com/cwa-reviews/2026/3/2/ben-elton-popcorn-1996
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LAST CHANCE, PEOPLE!
"The 1.9% won by [the Conservative] candidate, Charlotte Cadden, is the party’s worst byelection result in history, and marks only the second time the party has lost its deposit in a vote by polling under 5% since 1962."
I'll take my positives wherever I can find them.
CWA Gold Dagger winner #39: Val McDermid, “The Mermaids Singing” (1995). Tense and nasty in a good way, with one clanging piece of plotting.
www.nickwiltsher.com/cwa-reviews/2026/2/19/val-mcdermid-the-mermaids-singing-1995
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CWA Gold Dagger winner #38: Minette Walters, “The Scold’s Bridle” (1994). Dorset Gothic? I guess that could be a thing.
www.nickwiltsher.com/cwa-reviews/2026/2/8/minette-walters-the-scolds-bridle-1994
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People sometimes seem baffled that I left Sweden for the UK. I'm not sure those people understand quite how hostile Sweden is for immigrants right now.
This is totally mad, and also very much the kind of stuff I point at when people ask why on earth I left Sweden for the UK. They mostly have a very out of date idea of the political culture, especially with respect to immigrants.
Why does every student email these days start with vague good wishes concerning my wellbeing? Are they trying to tell me something?
CWA Gold Dagger winners #37: Patricia Cornwell, “Cruel and Unusual” (1993). A fairly satisfying mix of concrete realism and magic happening.
www.nickwiltsher.com/cwa-reviews/2026/2/2/patricia-cornwell-cruel-and-unusual-1993
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2 year Postdoctoral Research Fellow opportunity at the University of St Andrews on my project "Aesthetic Values and the Social Dimensions of Science"
www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
#philosophy #philsci
One of the best things I've read this year. Particular congratulations to the author for resisting all the dreadful punning opportunities presented by "shell company".
www.londoncentric.media/p/terry-ball...
CWA Gold Dagger winner #36: Colin Dexter, “The Way Through the Woods” (1992). A Morse that is good and irritating in all the ways that Morses apparently are.
www.nickwiltsher.com/cwa-reviews/...
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The cover of THE UNLIKELY PURSUIT OF MARY BENNET by Lindz McLeod features two white women in regency dresses (one pale blue, one purple) almost kissing. The woman in the pale blue dress is hiding a bouquet of bright flowers behind her back. In the background, there is a large brown counrty house, evidently part of a estate.
Fancy a post-Christmas Regency and sapphic chill reading sesh in your pjs?
Like and repost this skeet (is that really what we call them?) for a chance to win one of 3 signed copies of THE UNLIKELY PURSUIT OF MARY BENNET! Open worldwide until midnight 23rd Dec, winners drawn on Christmas Eve.
oh yes look I will change to another horrible platform at some point but in the meantime this is good and will make you feel good
Dexter: www.nickwiltsher.com/cwa-reviews/2025/12/21/colin-dexter-the-wench-is-dead-1989
Hill: www.nickwiltsher.com/cwa-reviews/2025/12/21/reginald-hill-bones-and-silence-1990
Vine: www.nickwiltsher.com/cwa-reviews/2025/12/21/barbara-vine-king-solomons-carpet-1991
My reviewing got behind my reading. Here are three CWA Gold Dagger reviews (links in comments):
#33: Colin Dexter, “The Wench Is Dead” (1989). A good Morse.
#34: Reginald Hill, “Bones and Silence” (1990). A decent Dalziel.
#35: Barbara Vine, “King Solomon’s Carpet” (1991) A terrible Rendell.
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🎶 I love gulls, gulls, gulls, gulls, gulls I do adore 🎶
But what if I want a whole freddo, Italy?
They bought the thing three decades ago, they're now trying to sell it for £2m, and they want some sympathy because a £2500pa surcharge might knock their massive profits slightly. Get bent.
Would a ban on Christmas advertisements, promotions, municipal decorations etc before the first day Advent be woke or fascist? Whichever. Sign me up.
"any such material should be removed". Right on!
Remember when we thought Wikipedia was the big problem for academia? Wikipedia. The problem. Those were fun innocent times eh.
Yes, I think that's right, but I also think that the term has a post-Austinian life where that is not taken to be so. The SEP article on speech acts, for example, makes a sharp distinction between speech and speech acts. This could of course just be terminological. You can see why I'm confused!
I am uninterested in the content of any answer given by ChatGPT to any question.
I am interested (both senses) in the question of whether anyone should be interested in the content of answers given by ChatGPT.
My answer to that question has nothing to do with truth or sensibleness.
