Hello people,

Apologies for the time between my entries, they are often few and far between, but that’s usually because I have nothing interesting or what other people might find interesting to say. Plus I don’t want to bore you too much of the time.

So what I have been up to since I last wrote?

n        Had a good night out in Fab Café, that was good and well worth seeing some faces, some maybe we won’t see in awhile now.

n        Good catch-ups with friends that have been well overdue.

n        Still no hamster babies, don’t ask I am as confused as they are!

n        Kate Nash next week

n        Blink 182 concert and they were brilliant, supporting acts Twin Atlantic, and All American Rejects!

n        Booked Thought Bubble tickets, very happy, google it!

n        Happy times seeing random people that we get on with and make an effort every time they see us even if its once or twice a year, thanks again for the cuppa and chat J

So I have been thinking a lot lately about my conversion from my undergraduate degree which was Theology to Philosophy, in particular Continental Philosophy. There has been a lot of talk recently in person and on Facebook etc, with regard to the study of philosophy and philosophical inquiry being redundant. Some of the most common being, ‘it gets you no where’, ‘its an ego trip’, ‘there’s nothing left to say’, ‘it doesn’t give you answers’, ‘it’s a language game of using big and complex words’ etc you get my drift. I have to be honest and say this has saddened me, and feel that although personal as well as academic, philosophy has taken over and is part of me and my life.

            I came to university to do Theology on the basis that I was doing particularly well in my A-levels in the study of John’s Gospel, I enjoyed biblical analysis so much that Theology was recommend to me and I just went for that. I always enjoyed philosophy but had to admit that the study of Aquinas’ Just War Theory, The Ontological Argument and Utilitarianism had its day and its impact on my life (the couple of hours of thought after the lesson). This experience was the same in my first year, again philosophy was really interesting but it didn’t grab me in the same way other modules did. Then second year came and I began the module Philosophies of the Self which focussed particularly on understandings of the person and selfhood through the movement of Existentialism popular in the 60’s. With introductory lectures on ‘what is the soul’ distinguishing in human understanding between ‘soul’ and ‘body’ ‘materialism’ and ‘life after death’ it already well and truly caught my attention. Here was something new and relevant and in a very big way, it mattered to me what the answers were. The module got better and better and it was here that I realised Existentialism and Nietzsche were my areas. They were creative and subject to change. The ideas were not fixed and did not require it because it was about engagement with creative thought and the ideas that sprung from engaging with it philosophically. A whole new window of opportunity opened up, I had never been more sure of my Atheism and at the same time never been so open to other things. It is here that I could bore you endlessly about how it all changed and a new me emerged. This is quite true but much too personal and deep for a quick blog entry, perhaps too much has already been said. But the important part is that although everything I do now even to the smallest task, has a thought about some question I don’t have an answer to or some complex idea, the simplest idea that has come from my engagement with philosophy is how little I know and how much learning I have to do. My life has changed now I question everything, but in this sense I know who I am more. I have made significant lifestyle choices and changes and to be honest feel more in control of my life. I feel ever more aware of my limited time and to quote one of my favourite Nietzsche quotes

‘The fact that our existing at all in this here-and-now must be a stronger incentive to us to live according to our own laws and standards’ Nietzsche Untimely Meditations

Perhaps Philosophy is just an endless cycle but maybe that’s the point? Maybe the biggest thing you can take away from philosophical engagement with the world and how it appears to us, is that we are in it as free persons that can either learn about themselves and the world or sit in a bubble of ignorance. This is not to say that those who don’t do philosophy don’t engage with their world adequately, but that philosophers and philosophies attempts to do this should not be met with such closed mindedness. People who can question, engage, evaluate, criticise, delight in, and find joy, find questions, find a way or path may have more questions, but who wants definite answers anyway?