On Tuesday evening I finished the Coursera Introduction to Philosophy course provided by the University of Edinburgh.

When I was originally looking at courses to do, I wanted to do something that wasn’t technical for a change. So, I looked around the courses based on a few criteria:
* introduction level
* up to 3 hours commitment per week - I didn’t want it to become a drag
* relatively short
* on a non computing related topic

I found a few that matched, and out of those philosophy sounded like the most interesting, and was on a subject that I had a very small grasp of. So, it sounded like a good option.

It finished this week, and I have to say I enjoyed it. Each week’s lectures were presented by a different tutor, which was good for variety, but not so good for continuity. Some of the tutors were excellent, others were a bit stiff. Some of the topics were fascinating, and I really loved the final week’s topic of the philosophical reasoning for time-travel. Fascinating stuff. And made my brain itch - which is a good thing. As a result of learning a bit about philosophy I’m currently reading Sophie’s World which is a combination of philosophy thinking and history of philosophy in a novel format, though I’m finding it a bit tough going in places, and it’s not the greatest bedtime reading matter.

I’m signed up for a more technical, work related, course starting in July - Maps and the Geospatial Revolution - but between now and then need to think of something to keep my brain active. The current front runner is Surviving Disruptive Technologies which sounds like it’ll cover some interesting ground although I’m a bit put off by the writing essays bit.