Despite the necessity that forced me into this line of work, it is fairly safe to assume that I'm not particularly well cut out to be a barman. While I am, for the present, content enough with my job, and even sometimes enjoy the limits of minimum-wage slavery, I have a few tendencies that, while often suppressed, can come to the fore at the most inconvenient moments. To put it simply, the prospect of a quiet lunchtime pint is not supposed to be faced by a bemused barman commenting that he is not particularly happy with the state of modern capitalism, and is unlikely to be any time soon. While I have no doubts that a dose of both luck and hard work have led to these outcomes and their impact on my education, this way of seeing things has led to some thoughts on how our thinking and philosophy affects our lives as individuals and as communities.
In educational terms, I stand on the imposing doorstep of what (I hope) will become a distinguished career as an academic and whatever else. While this might lead toward this kind of attitude regarding my day job, I don't think it is a necessary step, particularly given the fact that, occasionally, one of the regulars sees fit to engage me in debate, a prospect I relish. The idea that people on such a large scale are able to accept particular commitments, whether religious, economic or otherwise, without consideration or at least healthy curiosity, is one that scares me witless.
This disengagement of debate (whether philosophical, political or otherwise), much to my disappointment, appears to have strayed into academia as well. In defending the importance of a particular field as a profession, I've repeatedly run into academics who have disregarded insights from other fields because of a perceived threat to their legitimacy. My most recent personal experiences include feeling a definite outsider while attending a seminar in the history dept. as a politics graduate, as well as confusion as to my PhD proposal, which deliberately sets out to use both qualitative and empirical methods in it's methodology.
However, I'm hardly alone in this. Here's a few tasty morsels for those who have the habit of applying the five W's of who, what, when, where, and why, to their daily lives as well as to their GCSE English essay. I take solace in these people, places and events, and hope you will too.
- How the Light Gets in Festival 2011 – This festival at Hay on Wye looks absolutely fascinating, and over 10 days is attempting to mix many of my loves – philosophy, politics, literature and music – in a huge melting pot of amazing people and more amazing words. Not least among these is Dr. Angie Hobbs, a professor at Warwick who I find absolutely fascinating, and who has an incredible collection of floppy hats. Also, Polly Toynbee. You can find out more about the festival here: http://www.howthelightgetsin.org/
- TED – Standing for Technology, Entertainment, Design, this annual event and it's subsidiaries (TEDx is organised annually at Warwick University), has spilled over into debates on philosophy and art as well as the obvious scientific element. Twenty minute talks by people who have the courage of their convictions, and above all, the will to share them and engage in the debate that ensues. Days worth of physically lazy but mentally athletic viewing available at www.ted.com, and the Warwick version's videos available at http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDxTalks, along with others.
- Michael Sandel Being a Pro – I have no illusions that my interest in philosophy is informed by my education, and so was extremely happy when Michael Sandel, a professor of philosophy at Harvard, started doing these programmes and live debates on the BBC that follow the themes of his latest book, 'Justice'. Accessible, insightful, and inviting towards criticism, you can watch them here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xz0pv/Justice_The_Moral_Side_of_Murder/
- The BBC Radio 4/World Service Archives: Days worth of documentaries here. I normally get four a day of the World service documentaries, all of which manage to fit a fantastic amount of information into 25 minutes or so, meaning that I can fit two each into my walk to and from work each day. For more engaging and longer winded debates, check out In Our Time, hosted by Melvyn Bragg, or Start the Week with Andrew Marr, both on BBC Radio 4. While some people think this is a pretty heavy way to start the day, I find them the perfect way to wake up and get the brain going before clocking into another uneventful day. Check them out at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer, or the archives on the World Service and Radio 4 sites.
- Turning up to random seminars and debates: At least once a week, I do a loop around the social sciences and humanities department of Warwick University to see what's going on. This takes some bravery, but I get a certain amount of pleasure in aiming unexpected questions at unsuspecting academics, as well as enjoying the debate my self appointed role of agent-provocateur sometimes causes. They're public forums for a reason, and if that reason is for me to question the role of history as a profession, then so be it.
There's a few there, all of which I engage with regularly, and would love to hear what you think of them. In vino veritas.
H.
