So…What even IS teaching?

Today I attended a Philosophy lecture discussing a paper which gave a whole new approach to teaching. As students, we do so much learning but never think about what teaching is. Fisher and Tallant, in their paper “What does it mean to teach?”, argue that you don’t even need to learn anything for something to …

Lecture Taster: Does teaching depend on you?

By Digital Communications team member Consuela Phalange as part of the lecture taster campaign. consuela.phalange@notnotts.ac.uk Twitter @consuelaphalange000 I just came back from Fisher and Tallant’s latest lecture which offers a new answer to the age-old question ‘What it Means to Teach’. 1) Why Judgement-dependent? Andy Fisher, the lecturer, offers the judgement-dependent account because the traditional …

What Does it REALLY Mean to Teach?

LISTEN UP! I want to teach you something… This morning I attended an interesting philosophy lecture all about teaching. Andy Fisher and Jonathan Tallant (lecturers at UoN!) have written a fascinating paper which argues that teaching is ‘judgement-dependent’. This means that it’s up to the student to decide if they’re being taught. They say that …

Do we always make the right decisions?

This morning I went to a lecture which explored a paper by Laurie Paul on transformative experiences. Her paper has widened my view towards how well humanity are able to make decisions.     How do we make rational decisions? A rational decision is one that is straight forward for Paul. We weigh up the values …

How Philosophy can Help you Make Decisions

Everyone knows that you can always make rational decisions. Right? Last week I sat in on a lecture that convinced me otherwise. 1. What is a rational decision? Rational decisions seem complicated. However they’re actually very simple. All you have to do is choose the action that you think will lead to the best outcome. …

When choosing to eat Brussels sprouts IS NOT a rational decision!

‘Tis the season for Brussels sprouts… Although perhaps more excitingly, ’tis the season for the University of Nottingham’s open day! Today I had the pleasure of sitting in on Andy Fisher’s philosophy lecture on Laurie Paul, where I learnt that eating Brussels sprouts for the first may not be a rational decision! Here’s how it …

Have Your Past Decisions Ever Been Rational?

Did you miss the Prospective Students’ Philosophy lecture? I am here to fill you in!       In the lecture, discussion was based around a philosophical paper titled, ‘What You Can’t Expect When You’re Expecting’ by L. A. Paul.     1. Decision-Making Is HARD: In deciding how we should act, people make decisions based on calculating …