Nothing particularly interesting

Just because of an interesting point raised on a discussion forum, I thought I would post some of my notes on Condillac's ideas about the importance of sensations in human language.  A much fuller and better explanation can be found on the fantastic Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy - but for what it's worth... Like Locke, Condillac founded his ideas on language on an attempt to understand the natural state of humanity. Locke determined that human understanding was an 'empty closet' or a 'blank slate'. This means that language is something which is developed through experience, and that the formation of words can only be through convention just as Hermogenes argued. As Condillac's ideas developed throughout his career, he came to disagree with this notion. For him, the nature of human understanding was to be found in sensations. Some of these sensations arrives to us through the faculty of attention – which means that they are sensations ...

I'm not sure whether it is because writing essays is clearly like making a cake, or whether it is simply that marking essays makes me hungry for cake - either way, I do seem to refer to cake an awful lot while marking. Here are some of the cake-related criticism I have made so far...

Yes indeed. Further pressure on FE Colleges to provide vocational degrees, reported in the Times Higher Ed . Now I have no problems with vocational degrees, and I have no problems with FE Colleges providing higher education. There is even a certain logic to the idea that FE Colleges are more likely to have the specific resources needed for teaching vocational and technical subjects, and less likely to have the kind of library and journal resources better suited to more academic studies. My problem with this is the way in which it generates a further class divide between the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. FE Colleges are usually located in more deprived areas, and are driven by more vicious financial constraints than any other sector. FE Colleges suffer huge government cut backs. FE teachers are paid less than school teachers and students at FE Colleges (particularly HE students) are often there because they have no opportunities of going anywhere else (although you onl...

I have just discovered a rather nice wee shortcut for searching Google Scholar.  You can set it up in the Chrome browser by going to the 'Settings' option from the menu button in the top right of the toobar:

  The Divine Reason of Speech: Classical Theories of Language From the very earliest days of classical history, language was recognised as perhaps the most singularly significant factor which defined human beings as distinct from the animal kingdom.  The Greek rhetorician Isocrates (436-338 bc) argued: In most of out abilities we differ not at all from the animals; we are in fact behind many in swiftness and strength and other resources.  But because there is born in us the power to persuade each other and to show ourselves whatever we wish, we not only have escaped from living as brutes, but also by coming together have founded cities and set up laws and invented arts, and speech has helped us attain practically all of the things we have devised.  For it is speech that has made laws about justice and injustice and honor and disgrace, without which provisions we should not be able to live together.  By speech we refute the wicked and praise the good....

Rather shockingly the other week, a former colleague asked expectedly where all my research was?  When faced with an incredulous expression, he explained that since I no longer appeared to be blogging, he simply assumed I was spending all my time researching. So, in order to avoid similar scurrilous accusations I have dug around the Apps folder and dusted off the 'ole 'Blogger' button. One of the schemes that has been keeping me busy has been my plan to develop a magazine that can publish student work, and provide a resource that helps under- and post-graduates remain engaged with their course and with their institution.  This has been something I have wanted to do for some time, but having some experience of journalism I was very tentative to start something that I knew I would not have the time to continue. This is a real issue, I expect, for most of us. It is great when we have ideas and schemes which we really think would benefit the students - but the reali...

It appears that OCR (an Exam Board operated jointly by Oxford, Cambridge and the RCA) have just announced a new English A-level programme , which has been developed in conjunction with the English Media Centre. Let's just take a moment to consider the level of subject expertise represented by these four groups.... Ok - to continue. According to OCR: The range of texts to be studied is the most diverse yet for any English A Level. It ranges from classics such as the poems of Emily Dickinson and William Blake to memoirs like Twelve Years a Slave and contemporary works including poetry from Jacob Sam-La Rose, Jez Butterworth's stage play Jerusalem, fiction by Jhumpa Lahiri and Russell Brand's evidence on drugs policy presented to the House of Commons. Personally, I think this all sounds rather exciting.  The texts are certainly diverse, and allow for an interdisciplinarity (combining the study of culture, literature and language in ways which border some a...