Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Thanks John Lewis and Philosophy for the masses

On Monday afternoon as John Lewis had indicated our new Bosch Fridge Freezer was delivered and the unit it replaced was taken away. The time leading up to replacing the unit was not really traumatic but it did make us realise how much we rely on these appliances to make life easier, I remember well  my Grandparents not having a freezer until quite late in their life and a near neighbour when I lived in
Bosch -Really White Goods
Wethersfield Essex as a teenager having no electricity and no 'modern' appliances save for a radio.
These consumer refuseniks reflect the days when daily shopping was part of the routine and cool larders were used for storing milk, cheese and cold meats at home.
The new Bosch is really gleaming quite particularly on the inside where some fading to a yellow had occurred over the years.
Sadly as a result of the failure of our freezer much frozen food was wasted including some of the 'homegrown' variety - not too worry many in the UK have had bigger problems over the Christmas/New Year hiatus.



Steve Fuller the Woody Allen of Philosophy


Next week, Tuesday  I start a course at CityLit in Holborn on the subject of Ways into philosophy: great thinkers to help me get into the right frame of mind I have purchased the recommended book The Great Philosophers by the acclaimed  Bryan Magee.
As a 'student' of such an important subject I'm hoping to find some pointers beyond what I've picked up from reading Alain de Botton, Jules Evans and others someone who I discovered on You Tube who was incredibly engaging was Steve Fuller an American who is the  August Comte Chair in Social Epistemology at the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick, Steve speaks (below) very well on Socrates who is pretty much the father of Western Philosophy as it is practised  today contrasting his attitude and influence with that of Jesus, this resonated on thoughts I had been exploring around Jesus as a historic radical figure as opposed to the 'Son of God' triggered by watching Sister Wendy on TV over Christmas.
Steve reminds me very much of Woody Allen, if you've got 40 minutes I would recommend the clip some good questions from the people who attended the The Institute of Art and Ideas event -how lucky are his students?

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