‘Immortal goods’: critical friendships among beginning philosophers

Dr Brendan Larvor and Prof John Lippitt

Department of Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire

Start date: July 2009

Many new philosophy students arrive at university expecting to work largely in isolation. Very low contact hours, warnings about plagiarism and our individualistic philosophical culture entrench this misapprehension. This study will 1) survey and report on the educational literature on peer support, 2) bring it into productive dialogue with selected philosophical literature on friendship, and 3) interview year 12 and 13 students at Hertfordshire schools to gain insight into their perception of the difference between peer support and illicit collusion, with a view to issuing recommendations to schools on how better to prepare their students for university study.