Sunday, January 15, 2012

Inaugural post

Philosophy Explained will share my progress undertaking an online study course 'Introduction to Philosophy' from the Oxford Department for Continuing Education.

Starting in April 2012 and lasting for ten weeks, the objective of the course is described as follows:
"Even as our knowledge continually expands, philosophical questions asked since the time of the Ancient Greek philosophers continue to perplex us. This course offers students the opportunity to explore four topics in philosophy - knowledge, reality, free will and morality. Through a series of guided readings, and participation in discussions and other online events, you will not only learn how philosophers have tackled these topics, but learn how to tackle them for yourselves."

Prior to the official kick-off in April, I'm going to have a look at the reading list and share some thoughts on general philosophical matters. If all goes to plan, I aim to update my blog daily.

As an undergraduate I studies PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Oxford. To misquote George Bernard Shaw, education is wasted on the young (I probably spent a little too much time on the river) so I'm hoping that a bit of life experience will help me get the most from the course. Who knows, maybe it will lead to something more.

It will also be interesting to me to see how the Internet adds to the experience of studying an academic subject - perhaps this can be  topic for a future blog post.

For my degree I took five philosophy papers:
  • general philosophy
  • moral and political philosophy
  • continental philosophy
  • the philosophy of Kant
  • Russell and Wittgenstein
As the course progresses, I would like to revisit these subjects and see if I can get to grips with some of the concepts and issues which I never mastered previously.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and would welcome questions, comments and feedback.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds interesting, my friend. I will be following along as best I can.

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