Introduction A rich aesthete, a therapist, and a manager walked into a university… It sounds like the setup for a joke, but it is no laughing matter. These three characters have quietly shaped the moral logic of many contemporary universities and show no signs of leaving. In After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre diagnoses modern culture as …
Today there is almost constant talk in universities of excellence: excellence of institutions, of staff, and even of students. A quick search of the University of Edinburgh website yields teaching and research excellence (including the Research Excellence Framework), academic excellence, Exemplars of Excellence in Student Education, VLE Excellence, Tercentenary Awards for Excellence, the Centre for …
Few concepts are invoked more confidently in contemporary universities than the student voice. Yet the way the term is framed – and especially the language of championing it – obscures the limits of student judgement while betraying a deeper unease with educational authority. In higher education, what is needed is not greater responsiveness, but the …
Link to post on Teaching Matters blog: https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/teaching-matters/the-good-life-of-the-university/ Introduction Study with us for an extraordinary future, says the University of Edinburgh’s webpage. But what kind of future does a university education promise – one of personal growth, or merely a means to an end? Universities themselves rarely address this question. When they do, their response …
Link to post on Teaching Matters blog: https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/teaching-matters/unveiling-academic-practices-a-reflection-on-goods-and-virtues/ In this brief post, I turn to the concept of practice as articulated by the Scottish-American philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, and draw connections to academic study and the university classroom. I suggest that regarding what we and our students do as a practice – and the classroom as one of …
