Category Archives: Philosophy

Posh white boys

Posted on 26th January 2015 by NomadWarMachine

There’s a common assumption that there is a gender bias in STEM subjects in HE, but a recent study released in Science has discovered that this is not  actually the real story, and that actually philosophy is among the five subjects with the … Continue reading →

Posted in #MoocMooc, Critical pedagogy, Philosophy, University | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

On Creativity

Posted on 29th March 2014 by NomadWarMachine

This week in #rhizo14 we’re meant to be thinking about creativity.  Some people are running with this and going and doing lots of lovely creative things, like this image on this, others are engaging with #ds106. I’ve been really busy catching … Continue reading →

Posted in #rhizo14, Academia, D&G, Philosophy, Wedding, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Reading, writing and forgetting

Posted on 6th February 2014 by NomadWarMachine

“Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders.”  Nietzsche, somewhere I often like to begin my writing with a quotation from a philosopher, and this one is particularly apt for this week’s #rhizo14 topic  Is … Continue reading →

Posted in #rhizo14, Philosophy, Reading, Wittgenstein, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Types of knowledge

Posted on 5th February 2014 by NomadWarMachine

If the true is what is grounded, then the ground is not true, nor yet false. Wittgenstein, On Certainty Section 205 There’s two rival epistemological theories which we teach to our first years: foundationalism and coherentism.  I wonder if these might be helpful in … Continue reading →

Posted in #rhizo14, D&G, Philosophy, Rhizomes, Wittgenstein | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

I have the questions for all of your answers

Posted on 2nd February 2014 by NomadWarMachine

Years ago (gosh, at least ten years, how shocking to realise), I ended up moderating a public Philosophy forum.  It’s long gone now but I am still friends with many of my fellow moderators including the wonderful Andrew Jeffrey, who … Continue reading →

Posted in #rhizo14, Academia, D&G, Learning, Philosophy, Plato, Rhizomes, Teaching, University | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Duck-rabbit

Posted on 26th October 2013 by NomadWarMachine

I have a very talented friend called Katy, who studied Philosophy at Crichton campus and heard about Wittgenstein’s duck-rabbit.  Here is it from the original  Philosophical Investigations II, XI (p194).  Wittgenstein is talking about the difference between “seeing”and “seeing as”, (or … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Wittgenstein | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Dichotomies

Posted on 26th October 2013 by NomadWarMachine

I like making lists, and I also like making tables.  I know that the world’s not really black and white, but I taking an idea and looking at it in two ways – I like dichotomies.  I’ve been playing around … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, MOOC, Philosophy, Rhizomes, Writing | Leave a comment

Book Lists

Posted on 16th October 2013 by NomadWarMachine

I’m an inveterate list maker, oft in my head, sometimes on paper, and I have a new project. A friend posted a couple of pictures to my Facebook feed, one of a book bath, one of a library, and they’ve … Continue reading →

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Materiality

Posted on 12th October 2013 by NomadWarMachine

I’ve been reading Michael Billig’s book Learn to Write Badly:How to Succeed in the Social Sciences and very much enjoying his discussion of nominalisation, and why it can be such a bad thing in the Social Sciences (because it leads to ambiguity … Continue reading →

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Rhizomatic MOOCS?

Posted on 10th October 2013 by NomadWarMachine

Anyone who knows me (probably) knows that I’m very taken with Deleuze and Guattari’s idea that knowledge is rhizomatic, not arborescent (think strawberry, not tree).  I’ve been thinking a lot about MOOCs over the last few weeks, and writing some … Continue reading →

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