Category Archives: Research & Study

74. The Purpose of Education – a hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy?

Is edu­ca­tion most com­monly treated purely as an instru­men­tal tool (e.g. to get a job), or as a path to self-devel­op­ment, or both? How can a bal­ance between objec­tives be achieved in pub­lic edu­ca­tion?  Thor May Bris­bane, 2014   Pref­ace: This … Con­tinue read­ing

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73. Some Uses and Misuses of Reason

When can the use of rea­son lead to bet­ter lives and soci­eties, and when can it under­mine them? Thor May Bris­bane, 2014 Think­ing point: The Aus­tralian Attor­ney Gen­eral, George Bran­dis has just declared that argu­ments for cli­mate change are irra­tional and that … Con­tinue read­ing

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51. Getting It Done, Or Your Gift For Mine? – An Echo from the Philippines

On a stopover in Manila a while back, I wan­dered into a book­shop, look­ing for some­thing that could give me a fix on “the” cul­tural mind­set of the Philip­pines. This is a coun­try with which I have had only brief … Con­tinue read­ing

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50. Why Write A PhD?

note: here are fur­ther arti­cles deal­ing with the research process and the con­nun­drums of PhD study : Piss­ing On Every Lamp Post : the para­dox of schol­ar­ship; The Doctor’s Dilemma – Read­ing ver­sus Active Expe­ri­ence; How To Get The Degree … Con­tinue read­ing

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27. How to Get The Degree You Want, OR Are You A Fake?

Two top­ics are put through the min­cer here. The pre­lim­i­nary sec­tions are a dis­cus­sion about the nature, mean­ing and value of aca­d­e­mic qual­i­fi­ca­tions. The sec­ond part (the orig­i­nal post­ing) puts a spot­light on one uni­ver­sity (Green­wich Uni­ver­sity, Hawaii) which actu­ally … Con­tinue read­ing

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The paradox of scholarship: pissing on every lamp post

If I have been able to see fur­ther, it was only because I stood on the shoul­ders of giants [Isaac New­ton, 1642 – 1727] Newton’s com­ment encap­su­lates the ideal of schol­ar­ship, though not its con­stant out­come. Schol­ar­ship is often con­fused with … Con­tinue read­ing

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16. Individualism or the Group ?

Indi­vid­u­al­ism or the Group? Thor May Wuhan, China 2001 The lady on BBC radio was mak­ing a pitch to teach social anthro­pol­ogy to the unwashed masses of the air-waves. There is, she said, a range of cul­tural types whose two extremes are … Con­tinue read­ing

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