Jonathan Webber
@jonathanwebber.bsky.social
Half victim, half accomplice, like everyone
Pinned
Coming soon ––
The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by me
:: available now to pre-order from all good bookshops (and that bad one) ::
–– contents pages are in the thread below.
#philsky
The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by me
:: available now to pre-order from all good bookshops (and that bad one) ::
–– contents pages are in the thread below.
#philsky
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
🎈Book launch!
The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by Jonathan Webber
Wednesday 12 November 2025 : 18:00 - 19:30
Oat & Bean, 26 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3BA
Everyone is welcome! No need to register. Just turn up!
The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by Jonathan Webber
Wednesday 12 November 2025 : 18:00 - 19:30
Oat & Bean, 26 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3BA
Everyone is welcome! No need to register. Just turn up!
October 26, 2025 at 6:07 PM
🎈Book launch!
The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by Jonathan Webber
Wednesday 12 November 2025 : 18:00 - 19:30
Oat & Bean, 26 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3BA
Everyone is welcome! No need to register. Just turn up!
The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by Jonathan Webber
Wednesday 12 November 2025 : 18:00 - 19:30
Oat & Bean, 26 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3BA
Everyone is welcome! No need to register. Just turn up!
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
24 October 1945:
Sartre gives a lecture on existentialism in Brussels and one Iris Murdoch is in the audience.
From her notes, this was clearly a version of the now rather famous lecture he was to give in Paris five days later.
Sartre gives a lecture on existentialism in Brussels and one Iris Murdoch is in the audience.
From her notes, this was clearly a version of the now rather famous lecture he was to give in Paris five days later.
October 24, 2025 at 7:26 AM
24 October 1945:
Sartre gives a lecture on existentialism in Brussels and one Iris Murdoch is in the audience.
From her notes, this was clearly a version of the now rather famous lecture he was to give in Paris five days later.
Sartre gives a lecture on existentialism in Brussels and one Iris Murdoch is in the audience.
From her notes, this was clearly a version of the now rather famous lecture he was to give in Paris five days later.
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
Books. No cookie preferences. No cookies. No GDPR. No pop ups. No bots. No floating videos. No AI. No ads. No trackers. No misinformation. No fascist techbros. No distracting animations. No paywalls. No influencers. How good are these things? Books are frickin awesome
October 23, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Books. No cookie preferences. No cookies. No GDPR. No pop ups. No bots. No floating videos. No AI. No ads. No trackers. No misinformation. No fascist techbros. No distracting animations. No paywalls. No influencers. How good are these things? Books are frickin awesome
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
Police officer, running up to me: "Stop, what's that brown liquid you're pouring into the drain?"
Me: "It's 1,000 gallons of untreated sewage"
PO: "Phew, I thought for a minute it was a few dregs of coffee"
Me: "It's 1,000 gallons of untreated sewage"
PO: "Phew, I thought for a minute it was a few dregs of coffee"
Surprised to learn that this is illegal www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Kew woman fined £150 for pouring coffee down drain in Richmond
Burcu Yesilyurt says the fine is
www.bbc.co.uk
October 22, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Police officer, running up to me: "Stop, what's that brown liquid you're pouring into the drain?"
Me: "It's 1,000 gallons of untreated sewage"
PO: "Phew, I thought for a minute it was a few dregs of coffee"
Me: "It's 1,000 gallons of untreated sewage"
PO: "Phew, I thought for a minute it was a few dregs of coffee"
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
Post 16 White Paper is out at last
www.gov.uk/government/p...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Post-16 education and skills white paper
Post-16 education and skills reforms to develop a skilled workforce and break down barriers to opportunity.
www.gov.uk
October 20, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Post 16 White Paper is out at last
www.gov.uk/government/p...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
I think it's excessive to remove all his titles. He should have just been downgraded to The Marquis Of Granby, or maybe The Slug And Lettuce.
October 17, 2025 at 7:43 PM
I think it's excessive to remove all his titles. He should have just been downgraded to The Marquis Of Granby, or maybe The Slug And Lettuce.
“the accumulated knowledge of generations … is stored in universities as it is stored nowhere else, and it continues to be produced there, patiently and as far as the wide world goes almost anonymously, by generations of scholars in communion with each-other”
The joy of university
For those who are privileged to go to university, they get three years suspended between childhood and the adult world
www.spectator.co.uk
October 17, 2025 at 2:14 PM
“the accumulated knowledge of generations … is stored in universities as it is stored nowhere else, and it continues to be produced there, patiently and as far as the wide world goes almost anonymously, by generations of scholars in communion with each-other”
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.
October 8, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.
British monarchy encloses 150 acres of public land for their private use.
‘I think it’s selfish’: William and Kate face backlash over Windsor Great Park no-go zone
Royal couple’s desire for more privacy means 2.3-mile perimeter exclusion zone and less public land for walkers
www.theguardian.com
October 4, 2025 at 7:24 AM
British monarchy encloses 150 acres of public land for their private use.
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
UPenn professors have responded forcefully to the Trump administration's that colleges sign a "compact" in order to secure funding:
"When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...
"When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...
Statement by the AAUP-Penn Executive Committee on the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education | AAUP–Penn
October 2, 2025 We have received reports that Penn has been “invited” to sign a so-called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” by the federal government, and that failing to do so wou...
aaup-penn.org
October 2, 2025 at 5:27 PM
UPenn professors have responded forcefully to the Trump administration's that colleges sign a "compact" in order to secure funding:
"When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...
"When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
“AI has turbocharged the spread of bullshit and falsehoods. It is not able to produce actual, qualitative academic work, despite the claims of some in the AI industry. As researchers, as universities, we should be clearer about pushing back against these false claims by the AI industry.”
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
September 23, 2025 at 8:55 AM
“AI has turbocharged the spread of bullshit and falsehoods. It is not able to produce actual, qualitative academic work, despite the claims of some in the AI industry. As researchers, as universities, we should be clearer about pushing back against these false claims by the AI industry.”
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
Anyway, you do have to wonder what this means for "growth": yesterday's ID proposals are *designed* to make access to work more difficult for people on low incomes, and they come with the side effect of potentially squashing a growing domestic technology sector.
September 27, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Anyway, you do have to wonder what this means for "growth": yesterday's ID proposals are *designed* to make access to work more difficult for people on low incomes, and they come with the side effect of potentially squashing a growing domestic technology sector.
“After nearly a decade of mutilating the country to address the ‘legitimate concerns’ about immigration, we’re still being told the precise same nonsense we were told in 2016, or in 2005.”
— @iandunt.bsky.social
— @iandunt.bsky.social
ID cards are a terrible, terrible idea
Many people I admire believe firmly in ID cards, or have grown to accept them. This is why they're wrong.
iandunt.substack.com
September 26, 2025 at 4:20 PM
“After nearly a decade of mutilating the country to address the ‘legitimate concerns’ about immigration, we’re still being told the precise same nonsense we were told in 2016, or in 2005.”
— @iandunt.bsky.social
— @iandunt.bsky.social
“Either we have copyright law or we don’t. Either plagiarism and the theft of intellectual property are anathema to higher education or they aren’t. We’re either modeling academic honesty and integrity to our students or we aren’t.”
Advice | Sometimes We Resist AI for Good Reasons
Why higher ed needs to listen to the contrarians in setting policies on using tools like ChatGPT in faculty work.
www.chronicle.com
September 25, 2025 at 7:51 PM
“Either we have copyright law or we don’t. Either plagiarism and the theft of intellectual property are anathema to higher education or they aren’t. We’re either modeling academic honesty and integrity to our students or we aren’t.”
“AI has turbocharged the spread of bullshit and falsehoods. It is not able to produce actual, qualitative academic work, despite the claims of some in the AI industry. As researchers, as universities, we should be clearer about pushing back against these false claims by the AI industry.”
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
September 23, 2025 at 8:55 AM
“AI has turbocharged the spread of bullshit and falsehoods. It is not able to produce actual, qualitative academic work, despite the claims of some in the AI industry. As researchers, as universities, we should be clearer about pushing back against these false claims by the AI industry.”
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
September 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
“Assuming scrubbing-brush man wasn’t Banksy himself, though, he inadvertently produced a new work of protest art. The silhouette of the image has seeped into the stone of the court buildings and is at least as powerful as the original image. This could well have been Banksy’s intention”
Everyday philosophy: The irony of erasing Banksy
The street artist’s work leaves an indelible trace in our memories and it will last long after authorities scrub away the paint
www.thenewworld.co.uk
September 18, 2025 at 8:04 AM
“Assuming scrubbing-brush man wasn’t Banksy himself, though, he inadvertently produced a new work of protest art. The silhouette of the image has seeped into the stone of the court buildings and is at least as powerful as the original image. This could well have been Banksy’s intention”
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
"Uh, I think it's the wifi..."
September 18, 2025 at 6:53 AM
"Uh, I think it's the wifi..."
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose???
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
September 17, 2025 at 5:16 PM
I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose???
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
#philsky
A Sad Philosophy Workshop
GRIEF, HEARTBREAK, & HALLUCINATIONS
Pilar Lopez-Cantero (Antwerp)
Becky Millar (Cardiff)
Lucy Osler (Exeter)
13:30-17:30, Friday 26 September
1.57 John Percival Building
Cardiff University
Free! All welcome!
Register here: bit.ly/CdfGHH#philsky
A Sad Philosophy Workshop
GRIEF, HEARTBREAK, & HALLUCINATIONS
Pilar Lopez-Cantero (Antwerp)
Becky Millar (Cardiff)
Lucy Osler (Exeter)
13:30-17:30, Friday 26 September
1.57 John Percival Building
Cardiff University
Free! All welcome!
Register here: bit.ly/CdfGHH#philsky
September 15, 2025 at 3:40 PM
#philsky
A Sad Philosophy Workshop
GRIEF, HEARTBREAK, & HALLUCINATIONS
Pilar Lopez-Cantero (Antwerp)
Becky Millar (Cardiff)
Lucy Osler (Exeter)
13:30-17:30, Friday 26 September
1.57 John Percival Building
Cardiff University
Free! All welcome!
Register here: bit.ly/CdfGHH#philsky
A Sad Philosophy Workshop
GRIEF, HEARTBREAK, & HALLUCINATIONS
Pilar Lopez-Cantero (Antwerp)
Becky Millar (Cardiff)
Lucy Osler (Exeter)
13:30-17:30, Friday 26 September
1.57 John Percival Building
Cardiff University
Free! All welcome!
Register here: bit.ly/CdfGHH#philsky
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
In Vienna for the Railway Aesthetics conference, which takes place in and around trains, including several night-trains on the trajectory Vienna – Bucharest – Istanbul. Program includes a panel at the Royal Salon in Bucharest & visit to the Energy Museum in Istanbul lievenameel.hypotheses.org/2605
September 10, 2025 at 12:39 PM
In Vienna for the Railway Aesthetics conference, which takes place in and around trains, including several night-trains on the trajectory Vienna – Bucharest – Istanbul. Program includes a panel at the Royal Salon in Bucharest & visit to the Energy Museum in Istanbul lievenameel.hypotheses.org/2605
Coming soon ––
The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by me
:: available now to pre-order from all good bookshops (and that bad one) ::
–– contents pages are in the thread below.
#philsky
The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by me
:: available now to pre-order from all good bookshops (and that bad one) ::
–– contents pages are in the thread below.
#philsky
September 9, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Coming soon ––
The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by me
:: available now to pre-order from all good bookshops (and that bad one) ::
–– contents pages are in the thread below.
#philsky
The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy
edited by me
:: available now to pre-order from all good bookshops (and that bad one) ::
–– contents pages are in the thread below.
#philsky
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
“It is important to get this right,” said Vallance. “We must not get bound down on measuring things that we cannot.”
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/patrick...
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/patrick...
Patrick Vallance hits pause on Research Excellence Framework
Science minister announces review of controversial changes to research environment assessment
www.timeshighereducation.com
September 4, 2025 at 9:36 AM
“It is important to get this right,” said Vallance. “We must not get bound down on measuring things that we cannot.”
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/patrick...
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/patrick...
Reposted by Jonathan Webber
Public First has found higher education is in the top 3 for exports in 102 constituencies demonstrating the essential role universities & international students play. Public First has also found that international students raise living standards in every
UK constituency.
UK constituency.
July 10, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Public First has found higher education is in the top 3 for exports in 102 constituencies demonstrating the essential role universities & international students play. Public First has also found that international students raise living standards in every
UK constituency.
UK constituency.
August 26, 2025 at 11:10 AM