One of my oldest philosophy friends, Alex Miller (University of Otago), shared this remarkable story:
I was wondering if you would be able to note on your blog a Festschrift celebration of the work of my great friend Alan Weir that has just come out. Alan had to retire early from his post at Glasgow because of a near-fatal lung illness he contracted in 2013. The only "cure" for pulmonary fibrosis is a double lung transplant, and in the UK at least you can only get on the list for one of those if (a) you are about to die within weeks, but (b) are strong enough to survive the surgery (so a narrow window). When I saw Alan in the summer of 2016 he had only weeks to live, but luckily got the call saying there was a potential donor: and 8 years later he's still doing well (the average life expectancy after one of these transplants is 5 years). He's a much-admired and much-loved figure on the Scottish philosophy scene, and the fact that the Festschrift contains papers by the likes of Timothy. Williamson, Neil Tennant, Stewart Shapiro and Graham Priest attests to that. The Festschrift also starts with a long and very funny memoir by Alan that readers of your blog with an interest in the "sociology" of academic philosophy in the UK will find interesting. I know you don't normally plug Festschrifts on your blog, but in the light of Alan's remarkable story of recovery, I'm hoping you'll be able to do this. A brief pointer to the Festschrift's online page would be much appreciated by me and I'm sure by many of your readers (of whom Alan is a regular). It's at (which has a full list of contents):
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