Wow! I recognized myself here! I definitely rush to trying to determine what is true or right. And I’m easily influenced by “experts.” I need to take more time to simply observe.
Kerri, thank you so much for this piece; you really helped me understand more fully why my husband and I argue about ideas/events/people even though we agree completely about first principles. We are simply interested in different questions! I am a theologian by training as well and thus my questions are similar to yours. He has a much more philosophical bent and enjoys asking questions and exploring different arguments and perspectives, while I tend to want to get to the truth right away. I think that if we both begin our discussions by clarifying what questions we are trying to answer, things will go much more smoothly.
Thanks, Christina! I’m so glad it was helpful: it was a real game changer for our marriage when I realized that this is what was happening because like you said, we agree on first principles! Clarifying questions at the start of a conversation are a great idea, and one that I need to start implementing more.
Appreciated the explanation of the three modes of knowledge: apprehension, judgement, and reasoning. It seems very simple, but upon further reflection, we all probably have tendencies toward over or under-emphasizing certain modes. I do a lot of the first two in the practice of my newsletter, and the majority of the third offline in conversation with others, in my own life, and in my own thoughts. The former assists me in the latter. At least, that is one of the goals.
I was recently speaking with a younger woman, wondering if she should write “journalistic” pieces, and I pointed out that sometimes writing is a way to join a conversation that you might not otherwise participate in. With that said, I do agree that in an ideal world it would often be better to have an actual conversation… but that’s not always possible.
Kerri, I am so touched that my talk on VW and Julian Bell features in your wonderful, thought-provoking post. I'll be posting a transcript of my talk very soon, though I blush at its simplicity! It's interesting as I studied literature, not history (I've published on Baudelaire and Tennyson) but 10 years ago became fascinated by biography and life-writing, so that's what I mainly do now (as well as reviewing books). I do like your focus on the Q&A and the questions it raised. Will have a think about that, and write more soon, but for now, thank you for this post and for being such a great attendee!
I was grateful for the opportunity to think about these things! How interesting that you studied literature and then moved into a deeper study of people's personal lives. Do you feel like the questions you were asking about authors and/or their works shifted you more into historical inquiry? I'd also love to know if the questions you ask now are very different from the ones you asked when you first started studying literature. I find that my own questions have been shifting, but that's in large measure due to satisfaction with the answers received, and now I'm curious about new things.
Such great questions, Kerri. To be honest, I feel now as if I drifted into doing my PhD in French literature, not really thinking about what it would lead to. Although I loved the research and writing, I eventually realized I didn't want to pursue a career in academia but definitely did want to continue to research and write. Then, when I was teaching art history and literature to adult students, the penny dropped: I loved talking about the writers and artists themselves, and investigating their own stories (especially if they were women). And when I discovered how little has been written about Cambridge women, that set me off on another trail... the fun continues! What about you?
How interesting! I love how you let your interests guide you along this winding path. Your writing definitely shows how much you enjoy discovering and sharing these stories - it's a gift to others!
I've been pondering on this all week regarding my own path. I think I had a lot of overlapping questions, mostly about women and personhood and work and life, and I wanted to approach those questions systematically to find answers (mostly for myself!) I did find answers - at least, ones that satisfied me - which meant that all the research and writing felt 'finished.' I didn't need to keep up the academic work for its own sake.
But the one thing that I had realized in the process was that many of my questions were ones that other women were also asking from a very practical perspective... we were all striving to 'figure out' work/life/ womanhood in our own ways (even if under broadly shared principles) and that made me realize that what I really liked was asking the helpful questions that got each person thinking about their own priorities and discernment.
Absolutely Kerri - very much agree about winding paths. Sometimes (obviously) it’s only with hindsight that we realise we did end up going in the right direction even though it might have taken quite a few years to get there. To be continued…
Wow! I recognized myself here! I definitely rush to trying to determine what is true or right. And I’m easily influenced by “experts.” I need to take more time to simply observe.
It's a challenging skill to develop, I'm finding! :)
Kerri, thank you so much for this piece; you really helped me understand more fully why my husband and I argue about ideas/events/people even though we agree completely about first principles. We are simply interested in different questions! I am a theologian by training as well and thus my questions are similar to yours. He has a much more philosophical bent and enjoys asking questions and exploring different arguments and perspectives, while I tend to want to get to the truth right away. I think that if we both begin our discussions by clarifying what questions we are trying to answer, things will go much more smoothly.
Thanks, Christina! I’m so glad it was helpful: it was a real game changer for our marriage when I realized that this is what was happening because like you said, we agree on first principles! Clarifying questions at the start of a conversation are a great idea, and one that I need to start implementing more.
Appreciated the explanation of the three modes of knowledge: apprehension, judgement, and reasoning. It seems very simple, but upon further reflection, we all probably have tendencies toward over or under-emphasizing certain modes. I do a lot of the first two in the practice of my newsletter, and the majority of the third offline in conversation with others, in my own life, and in my own thoughts. The former assists me in the latter. At least, that is one of the goals.
That’s interesting to think about- with whom are we practicing these different forms of knowledge? I hadn’t thought about that before.
I was recently speaking with a younger woman, wondering if she should write “journalistic” pieces, and I pointed out that sometimes writing is a way to join a conversation that you might not otherwise participate in. With that said, I do agree that in an ideal world it would often be better to have an actual conversation… but that’s not always possible.
Kerri, I am so touched that my talk on VW and Julian Bell features in your wonderful, thought-provoking post. I'll be posting a transcript of my talk very soon, though I blush at its simplicity! It's interesting as I studied literature, not history (I've published on Baudelaire and Tennyson) but 10 years ago became fascinated by biography and life-writing, so that's what I mainly do now (as well as reviewing books). I do like your focus on the Q&A and the questions it raised. Will have a think about that, and write more soon, but for now, thank you for this post and for being such a great attendee!
I was grateful for the opportunity to think about these things! How interesting that you studied literature and then moved into a deeper study of people's personal lives. Do you feel like the questions you were asking about authors and/or their works shifted you more into historical inquiry? I'd also love to know if the questions you ask now are very different from the ones you asked when you first started studying literature. I find that my own questions have been shifting, but that's in large measure due to satisfaction with the answers received, and now I'm curious about new things.
Such great questions, Kerri. To be honest, I feel now as if I drifted into doing my PhD in French literature, not really thinking about what it would lead to. Although I loved the research and writing, I eventually realized I didn't want to pursue a career in academia but definitely did want to continue to research and write. Then, when I was teaching art history and literature to adult students, the penny dropped: I loved talking about the writers and artists themselves, and investigating their own stories (especially if they were women). And when I discovered how little has been written about Cambridge women, that set me off on another trail... the fun continues! What about you?
How interesting! I love how you let your interests guide you along this winding path. Your writing definitely shows how much you enjoy discovering and sharing these stories - it's a gift to others!
I've been pondering on this all week regarding my own path. I think I had a lot of overlapping questions, mostly about women and personhood and work and life, and I wanted to approach those questions systematically to find answers (mostly for myself!) I did find answers - at least, ones that satisfied me - which meant that all the research and writing felt 'finished.' I didn't need to keep up the academic work for its own sake.
But the one thing that I had realized in the process was that many of my questions were ones that other women were also asking from a very practical perspective... we were all striving to 'figure out' work/life/ womanhood in our own ways (even if under broadly shared principles) and that made me realize that what I really liked was asking the helpful questions that got each person thinking about their own priorities and discernment.
Absolutely Kerri - very much agree about winding paths. Sometimes (obviously) it’s only with hindsight that we realise we did end up going in the right direction even though it might have taken quite a few years to get there. To be continued…