PODCAST: TRANSCRIPT: Imagine being on board a train that is racing through the countryside at breakneck speed toward a destination that no one on board or anywhere else knows. This is not a bad metaphor […]
Category: Education
Deschooling?
PODCAST: TRANSCRIPT: Half a century ago, Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich published a little book called Deschooling Society. Illich’s principal aim in that book was to critique existing educational institutions from the elementary school to the […]
On specialists and interdisciplinarity
PODCAST: TRANSCRIPT: Many years ago I asked my former Ph.D. advisor why he chose to write a particular book that he had published some years back. His name was Gary Madison and the book in […]
The University
PODCAST: TRANSCRIPT: For several decades now, the corporate model has inserted itself into the university. The phenomenon gained momentum in the 1980s under the influence of political conservatism and the consequences are with us still. […]
Jargon
PODCAST: TRANSCRIPT: Here’s a question that has long been on a great many people’s minds but that philosophers seldom discuss, at least on the record: why is there so much jargon in philosophy? Many people’s first impression […]
Free speech 201: The case of Mike Adams
PODCAST: TRANSCRIPT: A tenured professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington was recently fired—or strong-armed into early retirement at age 55—for making some controversial statements on Twitter. His name was Mike Adams. I use […]
Adversity III: The COVID-19 University
PODCAST: TRANSCRIPT: Rather than simply close their doors, universities around the world are attempting to cope with the pandemic largely by opting for what’s called “remote learning,” essentially putting all courses, both undergraduate and graduate, […]
Judging Philosophers You Haven’t Read
PODCAST: TRANSCRIPT: Surely no philosopher, or professor of philosophy, would ever do this, you would think. It’s common sense that you can’t judge a book or an author you haven’t read, and surely no intelligent […]
Why Our Daughter is in Private School
PODCAST: TRANSCRIPT: When our daughter was born, my wife and I were assuming that when she came to be of school age we’d enrol her in public school. We live in a city where the […]
Read Philosophers’ Biographies
PODCAST: TRANSCRIPT: I once spent three and a half months reading the complete works of John Dewey, pretty much all day every day. He was an extremely prolific writer; his […]
Philosophy Crush 