"...all I know, is that I know nothing."
- Socrates
…that's what I learnt today. This was my first class of ‘Introducing Philosophy’, a 10 week course started by Cardiff University’s Centre of Lifelong Learning. And it was good to know I wasn't the only one who felt that way!
The Cardiff Centre of Lifelong Learning offers short-term courses open to anyone interested in the subjects offered on the course. They range from language and social sciences to business and computer sciences. And the best bit, the assignments are completely optional. You want to do them, do them and get the credits. You don't want to do them, just whistle your way through the classes.
They are all part-time and therefore I can do them around my main Masters programme. It gives me the option of learning something new alongside my main degree and contributes to my overall experience while I am living in the UK.
This year, they introduced a beginner's course in Philosophy. And I, eternally desperate to understand the overrated 'meaning of life', jumped and enrolled myself for it.
Our professor is a Greek with Socrates’ style of asking questions first, confusing us and then clarifying concepts. We spent the first hour trying to figure out the meaning of “Philosophy”. I have a feeling, that like my major Public Relations, I will spend the next ten weeks trying to dissect the precise meaning of this elusive term. After much debate and discussion, it was boiled down to a method or a way of thinking about things. It involves reasoning and trying to find the logic behind things by means of questioning and discussion.
Thoroughly confused by the end (that’s the idea, I was told), I left the class having made new friends, broadened my mind and looking forward to thinking about the universe in new ways.
Supriya is an international student from Delhi, India
She is studying MA International Public Relations
You can read her first blog post here.
And her second blog post here.
