I am trying to write books. This seems to involve thinking up a project, thinking about the project, doing some research, doing some writing (not usually a lot), running into sand, doing a lot more thinking, and then eventually coming up with a better project idea, often connected with one I was working on a few years back. Perhaps this process will eventually converge and one or more books will emerge. Whether or not, I do now seem to enjoy this process (for a long time I found it frustrating), so I'm not going to stop! My projects are primarily philosophical, but sometimes involve the investigation of certain technical problems, usually motivated by the philosophy.

The best clues to the kind of project which interests me (at least so far as analytic philosophy is concerned) are the examples of Leibniz and Carnap. Leibniz for his conception of a Universal Characteristic with a Calculus Ratiocinator, and Carnap for his dedication to pressing forward Russell's conception of a "Scientific Philosophy", based on modern logical methods, into new territory (the formalisation of philosophy and science).

In keeping with the latter example, I usually think of myself as a kind of positivist, in particular as a metaphysical positivist. My interests do go beyond purely analytic philosophy. I call the broader conception positive philosophy (alternatively here ), but it doesn't get a fair share of my brain.

On the technical side, I accept a fairly old fashioned conception of Cantorian theory of (well-founded) sets as a near-universal ultimate foundation for abstract semantics, but believe that a non-well founded ontology might be better as a near-universal logical context in which to formally develop mathematics and its applications. Note here the talk of set theory as being logical, in keeping with a rather old fashioned (and unqualified) Carnapian logicism. Obtaining the right kind of non-well-founded foundation system (a strong illative lambda-calculus) and doing the metatheory for it in a well-founded set theory is the principal present aim of my technical work.

I also do some formal exegesis of the work of other philosophers, perhaps that should count as "technical" (e.g.: Aristotle).

A presentation of the theoretical/analytic side of Positive Philosophy closely coupled with a contemporary conception of the research and development programmes of Leibniz and Carnap on the formalisation and automation of reason and its applications in science and engineering.

New editions of Aristotle's Organon and Metaphysics in PDF and paperback.

The technical side of my research in progress can be found in THE SHED.

The idea is to further the projects of Leibniz and Carnap, as a synthesis of philosophical, logical and information engineering ideas.

I am at present working towards a book intended for publication as a print on demand paperback provisionally entitled "Positive Philosophy and The Automation of Reason".

This section provide access to drafts of the book in various forms and to other related materials.

I have a history of ideas relevant to this project, some of which may be included or built on in the proposed work.