Goals

[Kenny (TOK)]

Well, school starts Wednesday, and since I already have in mind what I want to post for tomorrow, the last day of Blog Everyday During August, I thought today would be a good day to talk about some of my goals. These are goals for the future, but some of them more immediate than others. I wonder, can you have goals for the past?

1) Run a series of entries on philosophy of the mind next month. Recently I have been a little more active on Twitter, my name there is ChineseRoom feel free to "follow" me or tell me to "follow" you. Anyway, the Chinese Room is a thought experiment set up by philosopher John Searle to examine some nuances of consciousness. So, spending more time staring at Twitter has reminded me how much I enjoy thinking about these things, and I would like to share these thoughts with Nerdfighteria, since they are fairly complicated I think a series of posts would be best. Why do I always forget the first 's' in consciousness? I aspire to be the only mathematician/philosopher to struggle to spell corollary and consciousness.

2) Read more books. Granted, since I started grad school my reading has been pathetic, so reading more is hardly a high bar to jump, but it is improvement. Here I have to thank the vlogbrothers and Nerdfighteria, for reminding me how much I used to enjoy reading and how enjoyable it is. I am making good headway on John's books, but my current read is actually a Sci-Fi novel related to the Chinese Room argument. Anyway, I welcome book suggestions, but do not promise to follow them.

3) After finishing my degree as expeditiously as possible, pursue more studies/a career in philosophy. Upon graduating from O(regon)SU, I realized that philosophy was more interesting to me than math. However, getting into philosophy programs and getting positions in the field is much harder than it is for math, so I chickened out and went into math. Since these obstacles still exist, I think it is worthwhile to finish my degree, but once I am done weaving my safety net, I think it would be good to try to soar. Here, again, I must thank John Green and Nerdfighteria for reminding me not only how enjoyable thinking about interesting thoughts is, but how important it is to keep questioning our conclusions.

4) Along the lines of #2 and #3, I would like to get back into reading philosophical works. It seems useful with regards to applying to philosophy programs to warm those muscles back up, and they are also enjoyable, sometimes freakin' hard to work through, but enjoyable. I am considering jumping in with Wittgenstein's Tractatus, which, on the downside, is supposed to be one of the more arcane philosophical writings out there, but is also the seminal work in modern philosophy of language. So again, suggestions are welcome, and even more awesome would be if any fellow philosopher Nerdfighters wanted to form a reading/discussion group to create mutual accountability and a Nerdfighter philosohper "think tank" style community.

That seems to be enough goals for now, hope the new school year fulfills its amazing potential for the Nerdfighters out there who are embroiled in returning to classes.

[A Very Ironic Goose]

Sophie's world still has an interesting plot. Basically, it's about a girl who starts to get a mysterious philosophy corospondance course in the mail, then the philosophy starts to affect the plot in strange ways.

[Kenny (TOK)]

Well, I have a B.A. in philosophy, but Sophie's World still sounds interesting. I have to admit, if I were to write a book introducing basic philosophies, I would have named it Sophie's Tree.

[A Very Ironic Goose]

I'd be down for a philosophie think tank. For getting back in to reading, The Hunger Games really helped me, because the plot is so intruiging. Not the best series out there, but one riviting enough to get back reading. Sophie's World is a great philosophy book, as well as being a fair mystery novel. It's a whirlwind trip through first year university philosphy, stopping by at all of the major philophies and philosophers. It's a good read if you don't have any formal education on the subject.