New Academic Year

Well, another 'summer' has passed, and we are all running around getting ready to welcome a new cohort of Religion, Philosophy & Ethics students. The blog has been rather
quiet over the summer - but is ready to get busy for another year: new and existing students are very welcome to browse the archives - and even re-start old arguments and debates!

I found this picture at http://flickr.com/photos/charliebtuna/54336183 - presume it belongs to one of our students?

Well - let's hope FCH campus looks like this for Induction week (which starts 15th September) - new students looking for details of that event should go to http://resources.glos.ac.uk/newstudents/induction/fchinduction/index.cfm

Cheers,
Dave

New Year's Resolutions

According to an article I read today, the practice of making New Year's Resolutions dates back to Babylonian times:

Four thousand years ago in Babylonian times, resolutions were made with the
intention that what was done on the first day of the New Year would be reflected
in the remaining days of the year. Incidentally, the Babylonian New Year
was celebrated in March to coincide with the planting of the spring crops.
The Babylonians were in touch with the rhythms of the seasons and farming.

Well, maybe: You can read some philosophical musings on the topic at http://theologica.blogspot.com/2007/12/new-years-resolutions-guest-post-by.html

Is it true that the making of resolutions, as the post linked to here suggests, reflect "a sensed need for moral reformation". I guess the two extremes are seeing Resolutions in this serious, moral sense, and the view that they are petty, trivial and to do with a banal self-obssessive expression of dissatisfaction and self-disgust. I guess the two might be not so far away from each other as they seem.

Me? I think 'returning essays to students on time' does not seem exceptionally moral as a goal - but may be a popular one...

Any philosophical resolutions from readers of the blog?
Happy New Year, Dave