{"id":188312,"date":"2025-10-06T09:34:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T09:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/philosophy\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T09:34:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T09:34:00","slug":"philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"lead\"><strong>Sjoerd Rijpkema doesn&#8217;t quite see eye to eye with the ultra-detailed questions that many PhD students receive during their doctorate. But recently, he saw that it can be done differently.<\/strong><\/div>\r\n<p>Despite no longer working in academia, I still regularly find myself walking into the Aula in Nijmegen. I am fortunate enough to attend the doctoral defences of former colleagues and friends on a frequent basis. These typically involve molecular chemistry \u2013 organic, systems or biochemistry \u2013 where the examiners invariably sink their teeth into minutiae. A misplaced comma in a figure, a mechanism that proceeds ever so slightly differently, a statement the examiner deems incorrect. It often feels as though the candidate is being tested on knowledge the examiner mastered long ago.<\/p>\n\n<p>Recently, however, I attended a defence just outside my comfort zone: environmental chemistry, where models and computers replace the fume cupboard. I anticipated yet another barrage of technical questions. Instead, I witnessed something far more valuable: a substantive discussion of genuine depth.<\/p>\n\n<p>After all, a thesis is already reviewed by three experts prior to the defence. The purpose of a defence lies not in yet another round of corrections, but in examining understanding. Does the candidate grasp the broader picture? Can they situate their work within a wider societal context, think through the implications, and engage in philosophical sparring with the examiners?<\/p>\n\n<p>On the podium, I watched a scientist being treated as an equal; someone who had demonstrated their ability to hold their own amongst fellow doctors. As far as I am concerned, that sentiment ought to become the norm across every chemical discipline.<\/p>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sjoerd Rijpkema doesn&#8217;t quite see eye to eye with the ultra-detailed questions that many PhD students receive during their doctorate. But recently, he saw that it can be done differently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":412,"featured_media":187683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[459],"tags":[469,533,568,544],"class_list":["post-188312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-columns","tag-environment-toxicology","tag-meme-molecule","tag-organic-chemistry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c2w-memo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}