Playfulness

Today, I attended a brown bag seminar on “Playfulness” in higher education. As a concept, it very much aligns with what I am trying to do in the classroom, to move away from criteria-based assessment, quantifiable outcomes, and the associated fear of failure. Instead of risk-avoidance and instrumentalized pedagogies, I believe in “Bildung” as a shared existential journey and that, by challenging the students (and myself) to think hard, we can open a space for the unexpected. It is along those lines that I for instance have come up with the student video assignment on the canon problem that I wrote an article about earlier this year.

Likewise, I appreciate being challenged by those who think differently about the world, and few used to think as differently as Roger Scruton did before he passed away two years ago. If nothing else, the title I Drink Therefore I Am: A Philosopher's Guide to Wine got me the moment I spotted it as a suggestion on Amazon.