A Quick Blog on Studying

So, admittedly, the vast majority of what I've posted on here thus far hasn't been very journalistic or descriptive at all. Of course, you could probably infer where I'm at or what I'm thinking, but still. Time for a non-theological-focused update.

I need to tell you about Fridays, because Fridays are the best. Here's what happens: with no impeding reading deadlines for the next day, I am free to focus on and read whatever I want. So, after my 10am seminar, I travel into Brighton, do a li'l window shopping, grab a li'l lunch, and go from coffee shop to coffee shop to read, when the beach gets too cold for work. This is probably the real reason I've started writing essays early-ish: it's still warm enough to work in front of the sea. Got about 1,000 words done by the pier before it got too cold. So, now I'm in a vegetarian coffee shop in North Laine now, listening to Bob Dylan over the stereo and reading JS Mill. I. Am. Home.

Work is interesting, but challenging. For philosophy, I've given up forming a genuine opinion on anything and have figured I'll get best marks for playing Devil's advocate. So, the crux of my argument is that we can't really ever define what it is for A to be a different person from B, we have no empirical basis for selfhood, but that doesn't matter. In the Nietzschean sense, truth is irrelevant, what matters is its use, and we can't do without a sense of self: if people weren't consistent selves, relationships would be meaningless. Of course, there IS truth, and, of course, Nietzsche was an idiot. But, it's easier to make this argument than to try and reason for the existence of the self. So, whatever.

In IR, the opposite is true. It's MUCH easier to be rational than to try to defend an indefensible position. I tried taking an extreme Marxist route... it was too much effort, so I went back to what I actually thought. Reassuring.

So, I'm sitting happily content in North Laine. The sea helps me think clearly; vegetarian cappuccino helps me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and free wi-fi helps me waste all my time. Awesome.

Life is good.