I Can Complain. Schopenhauer, Pessimism and the Crisis of Higher Education
Taking a Pessimistic Outlook That Higher Education in the UK is under strain is now commonplace. In recent days, the University of Exeter has rolled back its projected redundancies, potentially due to its indirect savings through an aggressive voluntary severance scheme. Andy Burnham in his ‘People’s Question Time’ referred to the sector being ‘in a state’, pointing out rising tuition fees without offering an explanation for why universities are struggling to make up lost in
2 hours ago7 min read
An Academic Grief Observed
In A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis attempts to reconcile with the loss of his beloved wife. It is a brief, honest, sometimes cutting but not entirely unashamed account. The latter feature is what makes the work so interesting and meaningful. Lewis describes how in one moment he needs to be surrounded and coddled; he wants to be asked how he is doing. In another moment, he wants nothing less. He is aware of the difficulty this creates for those around him, including his daughter:
Aug 215 min read
On History, Historical Materialism and Artificial Intelligence
What is the role of a historian? Historians research, analyse and interpret the past, extracting meaning and establishing patterns from evidence (Anderson, 2004: 81-82). This evidence is often hard to find, it's located in the ground or within the archival depths. Once found, they work with primary sources; eavesdropping on the past to construct arguments about what happened and weighing up evidence based on scraps of information (Galgano et al., 2008: 1-5, Devon et al., 2012
Jul 216 min read