Month: May 2026

The Democratic Intellect

Michael Knowles (born 1958), George Elder Davie, 1912 - 2007. Philosopher, writer and historian, about 1990. Oil on canvas. Presented by Dr George Elder Davie 1998. © The Artist. Photography by Antonia Reeve. National Galleries of Scotland. https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/52221

The Democratic Intellect: Scotland and her Universities in the Nineteenth Century George Elder Davie (First edition 1961; third edition 2013, Edinburgh University Press) The Scottish university system differed markedly from the English one. It prioritised broad general education and a strong philosophical foundation: Four-year general degree (usually entered at age 15–16), providing a broad education …

Missing the point?

Honoré Daumier: The Chess Players

In After Virtue, MacIntyre distinguishes between the internal and external goods of a practice. Internal goods are intrinsic to a specific practice: they can only be achieved by participating in it according to its standards (for example, among the goods of chess are the development of a certain tactical awareness and a particular strategic imagination). …