The following passage is about professional philosophy and its relation to human experience, but it applies equally well to academic psychology. Don’t we learned, similar to the student James talks about in this passage, to expect an absence of relationship between psychological science and our personal realities? [The student] began by saying that he had always taken for granted that when you entered a philosophic class-room you had to open.. Read More
Updates on Events & Activities
The most recent gathering of my meetup group was well attended and livelier than usual. We discussed Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. Upcoming meetups will be about Anton Chekhov (short stories), another Murakami book (Dance, Dance, Dance), and Jeff Hawkins (A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence). I reviewed A Thousand Brains a while ago on my YouTube channel, and I look forward to talking about it with others. If you’re.. Read More
First Person Singular (Haruki Murakami) 1: “Creme”
The short story “Creme” is the first in the recently published Haruki Murakami collection, First Personal Singular (Ichininshō Tansū), translated to English by Philip Gabriel. The story’s title hints at the French expression crème de la crème, which refers to the very best part or the very best instance of something. We could, therefore, regard the story as an attempt at describing what is best in life. But this strategy only amplifies the strangeness.. Read More
The Solitude of Teaching
The teacher’s solitude is a burden as much as it is a necessity. This necessary burden is the product of a boundary we ought to protect. The teacher must absorb his or her disappointments, rather than react to them immediately and impulsively. Although the classroom is a “home,” for both the teacher and the students, the teacher doesn’t always have to feel at home. The feeling of being home is.. Read More
What Is Boredom?
I have started a weekly Zoom session, open to all psychology students at University of Macau, in order to provide a small support system for students (at least at the level of something being available) and to experiment with an unstructured and informal educational setting. The plan is to meet on Wednesdays, for only one hour each time, and talk about a topic in an informal and casual manner. Today.. Read More