Poppy Philosophy

Poppy Philosophy

It was a glorious and sunny day with blue skies. This is such a rarity these days in England. The red poppy was particularly vibrant, especially in all its crushed glory. So, a 'blipotunity' was immediately apparent.

It was a day of creativity, and useful for writing stuff, like research proposals. We have found a great new book about realist evaluation and synthesis. This is a welcome antidote to some of our more non critical thinkers, politicians and scientists; a lot of whom are, rather perversely, atheoretical. A lot of policy and practice is based on very shaky foundations, dogma and prejudice. A lot of science masks itself in delusion and fabricated rigour. More worryingly, this is the case for a lot of medical (clinical) studies that are based on a pure faith in randomised controlled trials. We need a whole new set of skills and competencies in critical thinking and appreciation of how to deal with complexity.

What this has to do with poppies, goodness only knows! The poppy just seemed to trigger a lot of this. It is no innocent bystander, but must have some element of agency embedded within its native red splendour. It can influence your thoughts!

Never ignore context :)