Saturday, August 13, 2011

Gems from the Past

Chapter 9 on Reciprocity and Ordered Freedom of On Not Being Able To Paint (apparently there is a paperback edition that came out last year so conceivably one might use the book in a class setting) begins with some quotes from "Creative Experience" by M.P. Follett. It occurred to me to do a Google search on the author after finishing the chapter, which is not very long so I could hold the thought. I quickly found a Web site for the Mary Parker Follett Foundation, which includes a link to some of her writings. The introduction and first few chapters of Creative Experience are there in PDF with further chapters apparently to be posted eventually. I will read what's there in the near future. There is a different paper, The Teacher-Student Relation, that dates from 1928 though it was published only posthumously in 1970. I read that. It is quite wonderful. I found myself agreeing with everything she said. Apart from some of the references, for example to Mr. Hoover in his job as Secretary of Commerce, the ideas seemed quite current to me and her core thesis is full of life.

I wonder if other people read her writings regularly. I had not heard of her before. My loss.

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