In this episode I chat to Zena Hitz. Zena is currently a tutor at St John's College. She is a classicist and author of the book Lost in Thought. We have wide-ranging conversation about losing faith in academia, the dubious value of scholarship, the importance of learning, and the risks inherent in teaching. I learned a lot talking to Zena and found her perspective on the role of academics and educators to be enlightening.
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There seem to be something like ethics wars being waged on several fronts. In academia, artificial intelligence, womens' rights and gender issues and life science(s) to name the most current I can think of. It is not clear whether this is anomaly or mere status quo. Nor even whether 'mere' is an apt qualifier. It does not appear incidental that the push-pull of politics affects these matters substantively. Along with sociological regression. A new bug bear has been mentioned: authoritarian populism. In separate contexts, these terms seem to have opposing meanings, yet, taken together, one reinforces the other. Curious. All of these factors complicate and confound views on the ethical---there is way more than enough finger pointing to go 'round. There is reality, in all of it. Even within anomaly, itself.
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