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> When I read philosophy at Oxford in the early 1980s there wasn’t a lot of talk about consciousness. Is it really necessary to put your prestigious alma mater
by sarreph 8y ago
> When I read philosophy at Oxford in the early 1980s there wasn’t a lot of talk about consciousness.
Is it really necessary to put your prestigious alma mater in the first line?
- komali2 8y agoA lot of things in this article have made me wish for some sort of literary brutalism movement. Even now, after second read, I'm not exactly sure what the purpose of the article was, or the author's goal in me reading it. It's also littered with a bunch of commad and parenthesised asides that I didn't get the point of. Not that I didn't find it interesting, just, I feel it could have gotten the job done cleaner.
- AndrewKemendo 8y agoI like that term: Literary Brutalism. I think it's crucially needed, as the volume of content out there worth reading is massive. Unfortunately, non-fiction authors are told to write in narrative form (narrative non-fiction) by editors because that seems to be what sells best and is most engaging. On the other side are mathematical papers which QED and ibid their way to illegibility.
- mcfunk 8y agoI'm glad I'm not the only person who rolled my eyes at this (and in my case, decided there were other things I could be doing with my browser). Perhaps it's good communication in that it signaled to me that what followed wouldn't be from a perspective that would resonate with me.
- sarreph 8y agoYeah, it’s interesting how you point out it being a signal. And in that case I do wonder quite who it would resonate with...
- fahadkhan 8y agoIn this case I see reason. Philosophy is often seen as a soft subject in the UK, saying that he studied at Oxford removes any doubt that it was a serious degree. I might be biased though, I've enjoyed reading a fair few Will Self books.