May as well have a thread about the A. C. Grayling New College of the Humanities thing

and dont forget jeremy clarkson

was william empson a public intellectual? he was the man

even I'm not old enough to remember if Williams or Empson had media profiles. our media was pretty different back then so it's quite possible. don't really think Grayling or Dorks are fit to be mentioned in the same breath.

also lol max

clarkson should start a university

University of Real Life, son

williams was fairly well known, empson not really. more of a specialist, not involved in any public causes. but not completely obscure.

also what's the god vs atheism angle?

oh eagleton (who made his name shitting on williams as it goes) is the most prominent hater so far.

yeah i picked that up in the Crazy Terry thread after i asked the question in here. also lol Marx not being total Whig History

also what's the god vs atheism angle? i missed that in the articles, except obv Dorkins' involvement.

grayling has been doing press lately for his new 'atheist's bible' (or whatever it's called) which compiles wisdom literature and i guess bits of philosophical reflection in a manner deliberately meant to mimic the bible, without being theistic (or supernatural, or something like that).

not like Grayling to publish a cut and paste job

Really Grayling should have got Toby Young on board, just before we shoot the lot of them into the sun.

Grayling seems to me to be similar to Alain de Botton, in the sense that his "philosophy" is along the lines of Rabbi Lionel Blair "that's like life" homilies, IMO.

Trying not to be drawn into this too much, but yeah, one thing that really strikes me is that I don't actually consider these people to be good draws as academics at all - they're mass-market paperback pulp pop humanities people. You'd get a much better class at a normal bloody university.

How about making attendance at NCH compulsory for anyone who goes to Young's "free school"?

Toby Young didn't come to any harm in Camden's state schools. Tosser.

i see that as an argument against Camden's state schools.

I don't actually consider these people to be good draws as academics at all - they're mass-market paperback pulp pop humanities people.

kinda groaning here. not even a big fan of colley or cannadine, but they're not what you just said.

yeah i think saying this guys don't have chops in a strictly academic sense is trying a bit hard

fucking philosophy anyway, what's the point of it?

Young draws on his own experience and offers Grayling the following advice: “Don’t give an inch. No compromise, no surrender.”

I'm sure he could fit in an hour a year to teach English Lit.

When it comes to "public intellectuals", Freddie Ayer stomps A.C. Grayling into a thousand million billon zillion particles

The real concern for state universities will be whether companies like the one i work for want to muscle in on the game - offering standardised, high-quality, brand-name education in London / Shanghai / Mumbai / wherever, undercutting fees and hoovering up staff with no requirement to provide unprofitable / niche courses.

― модный хипстер (ShariVari), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 15:56 (4 weeks ago) Bookmark

Four weeks ahead of the game!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14011448

This is just the start. Much more significant a story than Grayling's finishing school.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/sep/18/ac-graylings-university-open-60-students

lol

yuk yuk yuk