Truth sidelined by tribal epistemology

If you’ve noticed an unusual mix of content on this website, it’s because of the hybrid nature of my professional career, half English teacher, half software developer. Both ploughed their own furrow, and you may have noticed that occasionally elements of the two have converged in reviews of books that have ‘political’ themes. It’s worth briefly exploring these relationships before looking at the topic du jour, being ‘truth’ as discussed in a further dozen or so books I’ve recently read.

La garde-robe

My schoolboy humour and enjoyment of vocabulary get equal kicks from the medieval toilet suspended on the back wall of Trapeharde. Although the date over the front door is 1809, it’s fairly likely that the shell and structure of parts of the place pre-date that. The toilet alone is suggestive of this given its rough and ready design.

Meet the Soays

Our corner of the Gers is wonderfully hilly and we’re lucky to have a steeply-sloped 2 hectare (5 acre) field behind the house which is just too steep for a tractor. It’s ideal for sheep and inside the 800 metres of fencing that we’ve surrounded the field with we keep Soay (pronounced ‘sow’ – ‘ay’) sheep.