Musings Upon Education

The pictures of Strathclyde PD are thrown in merely because … well, because it was rather entertaining to encounter a pair of mounted police deep within what’s known as The Merchant City district of Glasgow. The horses weren’t particularly happy to be walking about, and were foaming at the mouth a bit. It’s a different world, I can tell you.

T. says that I should write something about how my studies are going, because people are interested. And, after all, the reason we’re here is for me to study … so, here goes.

Essentially, the biggest challenge so far as been in determining what’s required and what’s optional. It appears that lectures are semi-optional, whereas tutorials are semi-required. Now, I go to everything, of course, because that’s the way I am, and because I worry that I don’t know things. Yes, those of you who’ve had personal experience with me find that hard to believe, but, deep down, I don’t really believe that I know things. It’s part of what drives me to perform: that underlying belief that I might be missing something.

To be thrown into a system which doesn’t clearly define objectives is … well, sort of like telling me to go fast & then not giving me anything by which to pace myself. To put it in clear terms: I wear a heart-rate monitor when I cycle, because otherwise I end up with my heart working too hard & pass out. It’s a fundamental part of the way I work, so to be here, with so much, ambiguity is difficult.

This explains to you why I’ve been largely absent from the internet world for the past few weeks, as I’ve been reading philosophy texts during just about every spare moment. The idea of going away for the weekend is rather nerve-wracking, as I’m certain that I’m behind already.

As things are settling, I’m understanding a bit more, and coming to know that the people I’m learning with and from aren’t necessarily that far ahead of me, and that I do have a brain of my own. It’s just that it takes an adjustment period every time I start something new, during which I worry. So, give me another few weeks & everything will have settled out, and I’ll start to be bored again, because I’ll have read everything I’m to have read for the entire term. Again: the way I’m wired. I hope this explains to some small extent what’s been going on inside my head.

Outside of it? Well, the British system of education is becoming increasingly clear … and increasingly bizarre. For example, over here one may graduate from University after 3 years and be said to have received a Master of Arts. In the US, I had to attend University for 4 years just to get a Bachelor of Arts, and then another 2+ years for a Master of Science. But, over here, you continue on to receive either a Master of Literature (a ‘taught’ degree) or a Master of Philosophy (a ‘research’ degree), rather than a Master of Science. It’s all very strange, and I begin to understand why people underestimate me – because they think I’m talking about having had 4 years of school after high school, rather than the 7 I’ve had!

The subject matter, of course, has the potential to be interesting. The department here is very much along the lines of ‘analytic philosophy’ which means that I’m having to pick up quite a bit of formal logic (i.e. math). It’s not so much of a challenge, with my computer background, but it certainly is a different way of looking at the world. I think that they’re in for a bit of a shock, when it comes time for me to move on to the PhD, as I’m very much in favor of the Philosophy of Language, particularly work by Jacques Derrida … which may be a problem for them, as Derrida didn’t necessarily agree whatsoever with the analytic school of thought. I’m also, of course, going to be coming from a rather Kantian school of Moral Philosophy, which is, again, something of a problem for this department. All of which makes for a rather good argument, of course.

I can look forward to around 3 years of argument, followed by a good oral defense of my dissertation. If possible I’m going to select members of different faculties to be upon my dissertation committee, and may end up doing a multi-disciplinary PhD when it all comes down to it, as one of the professors I’d like to have on my committee is from the English department & the other is from the Theology department (but has a PhD in English, specializing in Jacques Derrida’s work on Deconstructionism).

Mostly, though, I’m doing quite a bit of walking, as my classes are separated out into the lectures, which run in the middle of the day, and seminars, which are held in the evening (which are inevitably followed by a long drinking bout at the pub, which I do not feel obligated to attend). Coming home from having walked for 2 hours, to attempt to read philosophy? Not working too well, so I end up reading mostly in the morning, and trying to squeeze in a bit more during the lunch hours, but pretty much just dropping off after class in the evenings. It makes for a rather boring life at present.

There are any number of conferences to attend, however: right now we’re considering one in Edinburgh on epistemology; one at Glasgow Uni on Magic, Art, & Medication; and one at Manchester on Linguistics. Of course, there’s also one in Budapest, but … that may be a bit far to travel, and at least the one here in Glasgow and the one in Manchester would be of interest to both of us. So, perhaps Edinburgh loses out. 😉

That’s what the educational world holds at the moment. Now, I’ve to get ready to walk back to school.

One more thing: the University of St. Andrews is offering 6 Paid Studentships in Philosophy for next year. Could be that we’ll be moving further out into the middle of the countryside, as they specialize somewhat in the Philosophy of Language.

– D

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