This one is wild...

Stickers as teaching medium

Howard Zinn: "To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. 1/4

Teaching about the roll of risk and achievement in leisure tomorrow. There is a bit in the lecture where I talk about he friend I lost to the mountains Tom Butlin. Its a hard part to get through but I'm always glad that I include it.

And the Marion Milnar book sn experiment in leisure I bought particularly to mine for teaching material/ideas but feels genuinely like it might change the way I approach some things in my life!

E.g. @carriejenkins.bsky.social 's short book on non-monogamy and happiness looks like it might have some interesting things to say that are relevant to my module on leisure and recreation as well generally for living life

Photos of books: Headstrap, Non-monogamy and Happiness and An experiment in leisure

When you can't quite remember which books you are reading for research and teaching and which for fun and/or personal development 🤔

Numbers of managers in Universities are not just increasing, they are accelerating (gradient is increasing)

Data for Cambridge University (£53m deficit) below

Rampant unchecked growth of management in Unis is much of the deficit, much of the crisis

Asking the important questions

Photo of the authors of set texts. Elizabeth Telfer “Leisure” Bernard Suits “The Death of the Grasshopper” Frank Hindriks & Igor Douven “Nozick’s experience machine: An empirical study” Elizabeth Telfer “Leisure” Jeremy Gilbert “Against The Commodification Of Everything” Hayden Ramsay “Reflective Leisure” Gwen Bradford “The Value Of Achievements” Christopher Yorke “Bernard Suits on capacities: games, perfectionism, and Utopia” Robert Lovering “Introduction” Shaun Miller “BDSM” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi “Play and Intrinsic Rewards” Leslie Howe “Intensity and the Sublime” Erin Tarver “Sports Fandom as Practice of Subjectivization” Albert Piacente (2020) “Fans and Identity” Michael J. Roberts “The Politics of Playtime” J.S. Russell “Idleness would be preferred over game playing as an ideal in Suits’ Utopia”

Feeling bad that - though it's a great set of readings - the authors of the set texts for my Play, Games and Recreation module are not very representative of racial or gender diversity.

Twin-volume alert: Hoping two vols – some 6 lb of solid research – on women #philosopers in the #19thCentury will leave a mark on the field. Thanks to @lydiamoland.bsky.social and Alison Stone for their superb editorship. Challenging a male-dominated canon, one page at a time. 
 
#philsky #books

My new year's resolution was to start stretching. So far I have failed to stretch but succeeded to have lots of muscular aches and pains. Anyone have a good app recommendations?

Though note, she says this after noting the positive way such labels can be helpful in self understanding. Calling this combination of positive and negative the "paradox of labels"

Photo of text which reads, "labeling or receiving a diagnosis can also comfine us into rigid categories that may restrict our sense of self or obscure the fullness of who we are. Labels can easily keep us stuck in the mindset of this is who I am and so this is who I will continue to be. Instead of seeing ourselves as someone who struggles with anxiety we see ourselves as anxiety itself. Instead of seeing ourselves as someone who is battling with depression we see ourselves as depression itself"

This, from Jessica Fern's book Polysecure, captures some of my worries around psychological categories as identities.

Welcome, teens coming here from tiktok. I think you’ll find that through the magic of the written word I am able to craft sentences that are as vivid and compelling as any short-form video!

stack of books and looking out the window

Super keen to start more work on my play and games teaching but need to finish marking political philosophy essays. Woe is me indeed.

This post was brought to you by being bored with marking . com

As a dyslexic I am pretty lax on enforcing grammar rules on students & things like starting sentences with "But" or even "And" seem kinda find. I would like to ban them from using "Moreover" at start of new paragraphs & make them only use "However" when the are introducing genuine contrast though.

"Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" Gramsci 1929 quote over photo of camping in rain.

Here are my 2025 vibes

Not super hyped about a mere 8 hours of sun light today - but happy that every day from now the days get longer 🌥️⛅🌤️☀️
#solstice

Many just assume that their students take a holiday and are capable of happiness. To be inclusive I always say "wishing you every success in achieving your target mood during the school closure."

Started up an Instagram account that'll focus on exploring outdoors through a philosophical lens (in a wide sense). Come follow my adventures at www.instagram.com/p/DDnjGZAol5...

Burn

TALK!

Neil Williams @unisouthampton.bsky.social

""I am the River": Identity-forming Relationships and Relational Value."

UoN Humanities A01 3-5pm

#philosophy #environment #ecophilosophy #identity #value

My guess is that the students actually have similar instincts it's just the framing that changes how they crystallize into apparently opposite views.

Also because the household income threshold -- beyond which the maintenance loan is reduced, because parents are expected to contribute to their children instead -- is £25,000. Which is about a thousand pounds more than minimum wage for one person.

A collection of #Philosophy starter packs on the following themes: 💫

Aesthetics, 2
AI
Ancient Greek
Biology, 2
Delusion
Epistemology, 2
Feminist
Global
History, 2
Language
Legal
Literature
Math
Perception
Photography
Political, 2, 3
Pragmatism
Psychiatry, 2
Science
Social
Technology
Time
Trans

"The task of the revolutionary is not the task of the ally. We are not here to make the dreams of the proletariat come true. The proletariat is produced by capitalism, which we want to destroy" @crimethinc.com (2012) Terror Incognita

I find myself having the opposite reaction to the commentator re. Kant though as if he had left his town and not did more or less the same thing every feels like he would have written better philosophy even if not been happier.

Love this post and even though I am for sure a desire adventures kind of person I agree with lots of it especially against prepackaged "adventures".