| Sep 15, 2008

I’m teaching the course Introduction to Law at the University of Ottawa. Last class, the first real class of the term, I lectured on legal theory and philosophical foundations of law. I thought I’d make it interesting with some outside references. When I talked about John Locke, I included pictures of the character John Locke from the TV show Lost. This is a big show, a popular show. But no, I get dead silence from the class.

Okay, so then talking about Bentham, I showed pictures of Bentham’s body in a glass case at University College London. With his head. They weren’t impressed. Then I tried to blow their minds by revealing that Jeremy Bentham (on Lost) is actually John Locke (on Lost), and showed a picture of Bentham’s head together with John Locke in a coffin (on Lost). But since nobody watches the show, it was all, well, lost on them. So I basically looked like a disgusting, morbid guy who watches some show they’ve never heard of and jokes about dead philosophers. Good start to the year?