Tag Archives: reductionism

Knowledge and education for the future.

Posted on May 25, 2020 by Eddie Playfair

Edgar Morin’s seven lessons for the future. When the French sociologist Edgar Morin was asked by UNESCO for his thoughts on education for the future, he organised his proposals around seven key aspects of human knowledge and understanding. In his … Continue reading →

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Challenging IQ.

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Eddie Playfair

Behavioural genetics; the clue to the difficulty is in the name. As with Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology before it, the squashing together of two very different levels of understanding into a single discipline creates a real problem. Genetics and psychology … Continue reading →

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Edgar Morin on ‘Thinking Global’.

Posted on August 6, 2017 by Eddie Playfair

How do we understand the difference between the behaviour of an individual and that of a society, between a small group of like-minded people and a political movement or between the ecosystem of a few acres and that of a … Continue reading →

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Challenging Neurosexism

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Eddie Playfair

In her brilliant Royal Institution lecture last week, Professor Gina Rippon from Aston University comprehensively trashed ‘neurotrash’ and the harmful gender stereotypes which it perpetuates. The term ‘neurotrash’ refers to the inappropriate application of neuroscientific findings to everyday life. Gina … Continue reading →

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Reducing culture to memes

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

The economy of ideas #2 Human culture is such a complex and fluid assemblage of shared knowledge, ideas, beliefs, attitudes, perspectives and practices. How can we even begin to analyse and usefully study it? One way is to break it down into … Continue reading →

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Gulliver’s levels

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Eddie Playfair

Jonathan Swift’s ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, first published in 1726, mocks the travel journals of its day with their increasingly fantastical adventures. It is also brilliant social satire, mercilessly tearing through contemporary conventions and pretentions.   It can also be read as a thought … Continue reading →

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Blob and anti-blob

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

‘Lump and label’ name-calling is a poor substitute for real debate in education as elsewhere. The use of the term ‘blob’ is a classic example of ‘lump and label’ thinking or inappropriate use of agglomeration and reification. A wide and … Continue reading →

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