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By Colin McGinn

This fall OUP will publish three books by me. They are substantial new works of academic philosophy, on unrelated subjects. How did I manage to produce three books in such a short time when one is usually regarded as quite enough by itself?

In May 2010 I began a period of research leave that would last until the end of the calendar year. My self-appointed task was to finish three books that I had in the works, in various stages of completion. It seemed like a lot to ask, and I doubted my ability to pull off the feat.

As it happens, I had just taken up motorcycling (I have a Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide-Glide) and was due to take a training course in order to obtain my license. The course involved two days in a parking lot in the hot Florida sun beginning at 8 am, so I had to get up much earlier than was my habit (I passed the course). This had a carry-over effect and I woke up very early the next morning, which meant my working day began at around 7 am. I found that I got through quite a bit that day and determined to stick with the new regime, which naturally entailed an early bedtime and a more monkish existence.

Sometimes I would start even earlier and regularly put in two or three hours before breakfast. In order to motivate myself to keep going at this level, I took to describing myself as attempting to perform what I dubbed “the triple”, in analogy with a gymnast’s triple somersault (which has never, I believe, been performed from the floor—I used to be a gymnast). Under the new regime I got through the material at a decent clip, beginning with a rewriting of the first two books, which took me till September, and ending with writing the third one from scratch, finishing in late November. (The books are The Meaning of Disgust, Basic Structures of Reality, and Truth By Analysis).

It wasn’t easy, I can tell you, especially since the books were on quite separate subjects. But it was the motorcycling that put me on the right track and the gymnastic metaphor that kept me going (and having no teaching was essential). I would usually break for tennis around 11am and then resume work afterwards, which prevented me from getting too burned out (I would usually get down to the beach and do some paddle-boarding in the late afternoon, which also helped). You do need your fitness. I wouldn’t want to live like this forever, but to achieve “the triple” it was worth it. Now that the finished products are arriving in the mail I think back on those dawn mornings, and the long hours, and the early evening fatigue, and the feeling of anxious semi-elation that was my constant companion. Triples don’t happen by magic.

Colin McGinn teaches philosophy at the University of Miami, specializing in philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and philosophy of language. He has taught at Rutgers University, Oxford University, and London University. His three forthcoming books are The Meaning of Disgust, Basic Structures of Reality, and Truth By Analysis.

Elvin Lim is Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University and author of The Anti-intellectual Presidency, which draws on interviews with more than 40 presidential speechwriters to investigate this relentless qualitative decline, over the course of 200 years, in our presidents’ ability to communicate with the public. He also blogs at www.elvinlim.com.  In the article below he reflects on the rehabilitation of liberalism. Read his previous OUPblogs here.

Whatever happens at the polls in two weeks, the pendulum has swung back in Liberalism’s direction. Economically, culturally, and ideologically, liberal answers are regaining legitimacy.

After all, even though the Democratic party nominated a liberal anti-war candidate over a more moderate establishment candidate this year, and the Republicans turned to a maverick with a reputation for bi-partisanship, the Democratic candidate is ahead in practically every battleground state that George Bush won in 2004.

How quickly times have changed. Whereas John Kerry was swiftboated in 2004, Obama (like Reagan) is developing Teflon powers as he continues to ride his surge in the polls despite stories about Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and ACORN. When terrorism was issue number one, people preferred a Republican president; but when the economy becomes issue number one, people prefer a Democratic president.

This is why Sarah Palin’s charge that “‘spreading the wealth‘ sounds a little like socialism” isn’t getting much traction. Spreading the wealth sounds like sharing the wealth, and these days such thoughts aren’t all that unpopular. After all, the Bush administration’s decision to obtain equity stakes in several private banks in return for a liquidity injection isn’t exactly laissez faire.

Culturally, the country appears to have moved on from those culture wars we heard so much about just four years ago. Just this year, the California and Connecticut Supreme Courts’ decisions to legalize same-sex marriage and the lackluster response from the conservative community indicates the shifting cultural tectonics. Abortion isn’t such a hot button issue this year either. Anti-abortion Catholics have endorsed Obama in significant numbers. If anything, McCain’s selection of a running mate who will not make an exception to her pro-life position for rape and incest reveals a campaign completely in illusion about where the country is culturally. McCain’s contempt for the “health” exception for women will seriously damage his chances with women.

We also see the ideological shift in cross-party endorsements for Obama. Breaking a century and a half year old tradition, the Chicago Tribune has endorsed Barack Obama. Christopher Buckley’s defection is both substantially and symbolically powerful, as were the endorsements of Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar. And now Colin Powell has joined the bandwagon, characterizing Obama as a “transformational” leader. The last time we saw such language being used to describe a potential president was during the landslide and realigning elections of 1932 and 1980.

In the days to come, Republicans will push back to insist that this is still a “center-right” country - as Karl Rove and Charles Krauthhammer have done - and they will try to remind Americans that Democratic control of all branches of government may not be a good idea. But if the result of the White House race is still unclear, no one doubts that the Democrats will strengthen their majorities in both the House and the Senate. Average Joe, the median independent voter has moved to the Left of Plumber Joe, the median Republican voter. It may be time to excavate “liberal” and “liberalism” from the dictionary of political incorrectness.

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