What am I looking forward to learning this semester?

Being a voracious reader, I have dabbled in philosophy over the years but never really developed a firm understanding of it. I decided to take this class to get a better grasp on the subject and to better understand different critical thought processes as well as the history behind certain trains of thought.

I know this particular philosophy class will cover a broad range of sub-disciplines and that appeals to me since I  have most likely had some exposure over the years (as a goth teenager, ok as a goth 20 something year old as well throughout most of my twenties, I am sure I espoused quite a bit of existential rhetoric in an ignorant fashion) and I would like to not only attempt to understand these things but also to challenge myself mentally.

What has always attracted me to philosophy has been the question of existence and being. What is reality? What constitutes existence? How have people reconciled the question of a god figure and the ultimate meaning or ultimate futility of existence/life? As someone who does not believe in a god figure and who has delved recently into scientific approaches to the question of god (Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Neil Degrasse Tyson for example) I would love to learn how these questions and similar questions have been tackled throughout history.

Philosophy

This will be my blog for my Spring 2009 Philosophy class.