|
||
| The constraints of an exam syllabus meant that there was never going to be time to study all that one would have liked to. Things lacking at WHS were among others domestic science (how to cook and eat healthily!) and in particular PHILOSOPHY. France has a philosophy course in their upper school, but we never had that at WHS - nor is it common or even existent in other schools.
And yet, it is in a way one of the most important things to study. What is life? Why are we here? What does it all mean? What is "TRUTH" and how do we find it? Even more important is to learn how to interpret things told to us by politicians in particular, and how to judge to what extrent news items can be relied on. What is the EVIDENCE for things we are taught, and how is it obtained? Though we learned many wonderful things at WHS philosophical thinking per se was not on the agenda. The only time at WHS that I recall doing anything really "philosophical" was when Patrick Hutton set us an essay in the Lower VIth: "Why is a rose beautiful?" I followed a philosophy course in my first year at UKC. There for the first time I learned about evidence, logic and reason, syllogisms - AND the word "rationalization"! It was actually FUN. Well, I was very interested when Jonathan Kemp mentioned that he had also thought about this and actually written about it, the first three chapters of which are now online. I have never done anything so ambitious, but I do collect QUOTATIONS from famous people, including philosophers. An interesting homework at WHS would have been to give us a quotation and ask us to analyze it in depth. What does it mean? Is it even MEANINGful? How much of a generalization is it? How applicable is it to one's own life etc. My collection can be found here: |