Online research in philosophy

This paper revives the idea that what is central to education is not facilitating the acquisition of information or skills to use in the marketplace, but the encounter between teacher and learner which enables the student to acquire a richer and deeper appreciation of the human world which he or she inhabits. Knowledge is a human artefact which is created in the initiation of a learner into a common form of life, and this is not something which can be (...) carried out without the involvement of other human beings. It is argued that teaching is a vocation, where this implies a love of truth and of learning for its own sake. A passionate regard for these will not be imparted by the use of technology, but through the experience of sharing in a journey of discovery with another human being. (shrink)

It is a commonly held view, buttressed by utilitarian considerations, that pain and suffering are valueless and not to be borne. Moreover, it is this thought, that they are valueless, which is often deployed in arguing for euthanasia for the terminally ill or those with mental or physical disability. This essay argues that suffering is inextricably part of the human condition and that it is our response to it that determines whether we are ennobled or degraded by it. While it (...) is not sought for itself, suffering provides human beings with the opportunity to be ennobled, to be given unexpected experiences of love and to gain improbable sources of strength and so it can have a use which can make it valuable. (shrink)