Many researchers from psychology and philosophy, such as Nico Frijda, Antonio Damasio and Martha Nussbaum, have shown that our emotions help us with so-called ‘practical rationality’ – that is, making decisions in complex real-life situations. In my own work, I argue that emotions are important for having moral insights. Emotions are not by definition at […]
There should never be heroes in science
Some scientists make their careers by criticising other’s research. But who watches the watchmen? …those self-critical, self-correcting principles of science simply don’t allow for hero-worship. Even the strongest critics of science need themselves to be criticised; those who raise the biggest questions about the way we do research need themselves to be questioned. Healthy science […]
Why good teachers allow a child’s mind to wander and wonder
Wonder is a nice emotional supplement to education, perhaps, but from a strictly pedagogical perspective it hardly seems necessary. That is wrong. In fact, wonder epitomises what education is about: opening up the world. Any educators interested in – or devoted to – opening up the world to their students should consider wonder essential to […]
Neuroscience has much to learn from Hume’s philosophy of emotions
we can’t tell ourselves whom to fall in love with – means that our wrestling with the passions is what brings the self into being. Habits consolidate what control we can have of our passions. Hume gives habit pride of place in his moral accounting, but the key here is to continually assess whether we […]
The End of Family Values
Neoliberalism rests on the myth that “good” families can provide for their own without public support. COVID-19 may finally change all that. the conditions for the squeeze that families are currently experiencing were set long before the pandemic hit U.S. shores. The seeming impossibility of the current situation for American families is not an unfortunate […]