Curiosity & Collecting

“Curiosity is a good way of understanding, and valuing, our relationship to the material world.” ~ Barbara M. Benedict

Trinity College professor Barbara M. Benedict delights in curiosity, curiosities and collecting in English literature. We cover everything from Gulliver’s Travels to Freud, from curiosity cabinets to the dawn of journalism.

What I Learned: empiricism, scientific methods, journalism, and the novel — a new form of literature — all evolved together, each an expression of our growing desire to understand the world better through inquiry.

What I Loved: Barbara is both elegant and irreverent. It’s an irresistible combination.

Listen to Choose to be Curious #83: Curiosity & Collecting, with Barbara M. Benedict

Barbara and I explored that funky intersection of our curiosity with our curiosities, the stuff that fascinates and holds us as much as we are apt to hold it.

It all reminded me of Caetlin Benson-Allott, professor of film at Georgetown, who joined me to talk about the transformative power of attention, object lessons and a personal favorite: the remote control….

Listen to Curiosity to Go, Ep. 56: Stuff and Such

Barbara M. Benedict is the first in my series of interviews with the contributing authors to the forthcoming anthology Curiosity Studies: A New Ecology of Knowledge (University of Minnesota Press, 2020). Learn more about the series here, and stay tuned for future episodes!

More about Barbara M. Benedict and her book Curiosity: A Cultural History of Early Modern Inquiry.

Check out Larissa LeClair and the Indie Photobook Library. 

My conversation with Caetlin inspired an #ObjectLessons series…in my kitchen. 

Theme music by Sean Balick.  Check out Sean’s new album “From the Pines.” “We Collect Shiny Things” by Love and Weasel from Blue Dot Sessions.  Research and other support by the wonderful Caroline Kish.

You can subscribe to Choose to be Curious on Apple Podcasts/ iTunes and Stitcher.

Check out the Choose to be Curious shop!*

*Any purchase from the Choose to be Curious shop supports Arlington Independent Media. Please also consider making a donation at wera.fm. Thanks!

What is a Question?

“If a question is an act performed to elicit information, a good question is an act performed competently in order to elicit worthwhile information.” ~ Lani Watson

We’ve talked about better and more beautiful questions, but what about the foundational question: what is a question? Edinburgh philosopher Lani Watson is thinking a lot about the question question…

Listen to Choose to be Curious #82: What Is a Question? with Lani Watson

Once you’ve settled on what a question is, perhaps you’re interested in getting better at asking them. That’s where Andrew Minigan and the folks at the Right Question Institute come in. They’ve developed some simple techniques we can all use. A perfect pairing with Lani:

Listen to Curiosity to Go, Ep. #55: Ah, There’s a Question!

What do you think: what makes a question a question?

Let us know – comment below!

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Participate in Lani’s research:  What is a Question Questionnaire.

More about Lani Watson and OPEN Scotland, a network of people interested in teaching and doing philosophy in Scottish schools and communities.

The Right Question Institute blogged about my conversation with Andrew Minigan – funny to find myself quoted from one of my own shows!

Theme music by Sean Balick.  Check out Sean’s new album “From the Pines” .

You can subscribe to Choose to be Curious on Apple Podcasts/ iTunes and Stitcher.

Check out the Choose to be Curious shop!*

*Any purchase from the Choose to be Curious shop supports Arlington Independent Media. Please also consider making a donation at wera.fm. Thanks!