Author: Kamran Swanson

Teaching Philosophy

 

I am still thrilled that teaching philosophy classes is now my job. I’m sometimes frustrated by my students’ lack of interaction and the limits of my own knowledge, but the joys of finding the simplest explanation for an argument and encouraging other people to figure things out for themselves is wonderful. Even my hours away from the school are more enriching than they were before, as I’m now encouraged to constantly learn more, think of old ideas in new ways, and work out my ideas in the written form. I hope I can continue doing this for a few years before I go back to school for the PhD. I’ve been committed to philosophy for six years now, and I cannot imagine doing anything else in my life that would make me quite as happy.

 Unfortunately, the major downside of this job is the absolutely meager amount of money that I can make. Next semester will be better because I will be able to increase my class load from two to four. But for the moment, since these are the first classes I have ever taught, I spend too much time in prep to leave enough time for a second job.

Origin of a Blog

Origin 

Welcome to the new blog. I intend to incorporate this into a website once I get that launched. The blog is just for developing my thoughts and letting others comment on them. I’ll write primarily on philosophy, teaching, and my own life. But other topics, to include music, movies, bars, beers, Chicago, interesting encounters, and stories may crop up eventually as well.

The picture above is Charles Darwin’s first sketch of how he believed natural selection is structured.  Darwin’s ideas are very important to me. I’ve studied them a lot, written on them, and will soon have a game, of sorts, in publication that concerns Darwin and the events surrounding the Origin of Species’ publication (I am one of four co-authors). I do not like it when writers sneak their theories into their writings, using some sort of Trojan Horse. But the theory of natural selection affects many of my ideas, and I will always show when it’s at work.