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As a philosopher, I find it flattering that people think that my field of study demands innate brilliance. The problem is, I don't believe there is such a thing as innate brilliance. Anyone could be as brilliant as I am thought to be, though there are some preconditions: they have to have good pre- and post-natal nutrition, as I did, they have to receive early childhood education, as I did, they have to live in an environment where academic success is valued and expected, as I did, and they have to have the resources to promote self-study, as I did. These are usually (but not always) the consequences of privilege. The same people also tend to be taller and to live longer. That's why there is this perception that they are somehow superior. But this perception is false. Often, people with these advantages do not live up to their potential. And often, people without these advantages find other advantages. Via Academica. See also The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed.

Against close reading Alex Reid, Digital Digs, 2015/04/15 Icon There are some really good observations in this post. The practise of 'close reading' as it is widely taught involves "the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text." A common criticism of social media and online reading is that students "find nuance, complexity, or just plain length of literary texts less to their liking than we did." I don't think they ever found it to their liking, but let's assume they do. Alex Reid asks, "What does it mean to read your Facebook status feed closely when what is being offered to you has been produced by algorithmic procedures that take account of your own activities in ways that you are not consciously aware?" It's not so much that close reading is irrelevant, but rather, that close reading has changed, and while students may be aware of the new nuances, the same is not clear of instructors still embedded in critical theory (and still bent with noses in books). As Reid says, "we should pay closer attention to the ways in which the operation of text is shifting." Image: Sheron Brown, found here.

Another find from Doug Belshaw is this absolutely fascinating Book of Life. It's organized into Capitalism, Work, Relationships, and Self, each one with a number of subtopics. I did not have nearly enough time to read it all, but I sampled quite a number of the topics (especially 'Capitalism') to get a sense that this is worth reading, even if you don't agree with everything it it. And I really like the approach: "The Book of Life is being written by many people over a long time; it keeps changing and evolving. It is filled with images and films as well as texts. By floating online, it can grow a bit every day or so, as new things come along and it can be equally accessible all around the world, at any time, for free."

The real Atticus? Harper Lee's prequel to TKAM