by Michael P. Jensen Guest Blogger Editor’s Note: This is off the general topic of Cogito!, but it deserves to be seen and read. However you feel about the war in Iraq, one must never forget that there are living, … Continue reading
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The history of intellectual progress focuses mostly on individuals—Thales, Socrates, Confucius, Archimedes, Bacon, Aquinas, Da Vinci and so forth. It isn’t all that often that you hear of institutions. There is the Academy of Athens, of course, the University of … Continue reading
I confess I approach this post with some trepidation. Elsewhere I have lamented the passing of what used to be called the “public intellectual”; individuals both in and out of academia who helped bridge the gulf between what was going … Continue reading
By Michael P. Jensen Guest Blogger Disasters and political problems have led to some very dumb statements by some very thoughtless people. • Televangelist Pat Robertson blames the debut of homosexual comedian/actor Ellen Degeneres’s television talk show for the insurgency … Continue reading
I am packing for a trip to the west coast this coming week, so this entry must needs be short. In at least one previous blog I have lamented the demise of Whole Earth Review, which reincarnated itself briefly as … Continue reading
Since we talked about expertise as an amateur, it’s only fitting that we take a look at the flip side of the non-academic, non-corporate intellectual: the genuine, dyed-in-the-wool, crackpot. They are not Guerrilla Scholars, nor are they true amateur scholars … Continue reading
When does someone become an “expert”? For the non-academic intellectual this can be a troublesome question, because vagueness that suffuses the word “expert” also renders it versatile. By itself, the word means next to nothing; you don’t go to school … Continue reading
I have alluded elsewhere to the fact that people learn differently, and that the wise guerrilla scholar will attempt to identify and leverage his or her own unique style of learning to the best advantage. If you’re interested in this … Continue reading
Publishing is one of the big barriers that face independent scholars and amateur scientists. In years past, people who didn’t have a Ph.D. or some other kind of institutional affiliation didn’t have a snowball’s chance of getting published in a … Continue reading
There is a myth in America about the lone, rugged, resourceful and persistent innovator who overcomes impossible odds to triumph in the face of naysayers, poverty, bureaucracies, being disowned, disbarred, defrocked, excommunicated, crippled, and in spite of all opposition, goes … Continue reading