Category Archives: Uncategorized

Lawn, C. 2006. Gadamer: A Guide for the Perplexed. Continuum, New York. Gadamer was a traditionalist. He didn’t like the way the dominant scientific method focuses on the future and forgets about the past. He believed that knowledge is interpretation, … Continue reading →

In an assignment I wrote recently on psychedelic experience and education, I cited Huxley’s (1954, p47) call for us to learn ‘to look at the world directly’ rather than through the ‘half-opaque medium of concepts’, and also Watts’ (1971) warning … Continue reading →

Lurking behind my thesis topic of the purpose of universities in society are questions about how society is organised; i.e. how we put our various resources to use and to what ends. My interest in these questions has directed me … Continue reading →

Back in March I wrote about Isaiah Berlin’s essay The Fox and the Hedgehog, where he proposes two different categories of thinker/writer; those who view the world through the lens of one defining idea (hedgehog), or those who draw on a … Continue reading →

I’ve resolved to brush up on my knowledge of a few key philosophers. Today I’ve been reading more about Wittgenstein’s life and philosophy, inspired by Ian Ground’s PESGB lecture last week and also because I felt his thoughts about language … Continue reading →

I’ve started going along to the PESGB’s Wednesday lectures. Oral comprehension is something I’m trying to get better at (I don’t know whether it’s an attention problem or a processing problem, probably both), but the chats in the bar afterward are a suitable reward, so … Continue reading →

Maskell, D, and Robinson, I. 2002. The New Idea of a University. Imprint Academic. I loved this book. Ian Robinson and Duke Maskell are both (ex?) professors of English Literature (specialising in Chaucer and Austen respectively), and their book is … Continue reading →

Semetsky, I. 2009. Deleuze as a Philosopher of Education: Affective Knowledge/Effective Learning. The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms, 14 (4), pp443-456. I thought I’d get this month’s Pedagogy Reading Group item under my belt early. I’ve reached the end – … Continue reading →

A few weeks ago I attended a workshop run by a colleague here at UAL called Listening, enquiring and contributing: tuning in to self and others.  I was starting to feel uncomfortable about the way I was contributing and interacting … Continue reading →

Took a while to figure out what I thought of this lot but got there eventually: Bourdieu, P (1984) Distinction, London: Routledge, p. 5-7 Held, D (2004) Introduction to Critical Theory, London: Hutchinson, 89-107 Legg, R (2012) “Bach, Beethoven, Bourdieu: … Continue reading →

Oakeshott, M (1972) ‘Education: the Engagement and its Frustration’ in Fuller, T (ed) (1989) The Voice of Liberal Learning, New Haven and London: Yale University Press I read this on the terrace on a warm Maltese evening accompanied with half … Continue reading →

I’ve now been able to catch up with the content discussed at the first workshop (that I missed), which all prompts us to question what it is we are trying to achieve as educators. I was reminded of Padraig Hogan’s question ‘what … Continue reading →

Critical Realism! I loved this idea of different levels of existence; the ’empirical’ (what we observe), the ‘actual’ (what exists and/or happens in practice, which is not necessarily what we observe),  and the ‘real’ ; the potential or capacity of … Continue reading →