The Ancients

To all who actually read my stuff, I apologize for not writing for a while. I wanted to use this post to tell you all that I have passed all of my courses (all A’s, including the one at SLCC and including one A-) for my very first semester at UVU. And now I am back for my second semester. I am now technically a senior, even though it’s still my first year here, because I have more than 90 earned hours now.

Anyway, I wanted to write about something else…I was thinking over the break that learning more about ancient philosophers, such as the ancient Greeks and ancient philosophers from the eastern traditions, would be absolutely amazing! I have been interested in them for a long time, but now that I have an actual chance to study them, I might take it up (specifically, an Integrated Studies degree in Philosophy and Classical Studies). I was also wanting to learn about the science in their times. But I don’t know what kind of school would offer those specializations: ancient philosophy and science (including those of the Eastern and Western traditions, and any other traditions for that matter). I’m going to need go to my advisor and ask her about it.

I was holding off on doing classical studies because if I were to do it, I would need to learn some kind of language. I already have background knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, but I simply never had any time to continue learning it. However, this semester the language department is offering two Beginning Ancient Greek courses, a language I have always wanted to learn, and I have registered for both, 1010 and 1020 (both of them are half a semester). So if I took them both this semester, I will only need to take 2010 and 2020 next school year. Perhaps an area of emphasis in classical studies might work after all. We will see how it goes.

I have already begun searching for programs that do ancient philosophy in both the western and eastern traditions. I have also tried to find any kind of information, any articles, that talks about ancient science in the east. However, I so far have had no luck. Maybe someday I could find something like that…or maybe I could even start something like that…

I found this book entitled “Chinese Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology,” and on Amazon, it is about $419. Why would it need to be so expensive? This kind of book might be perfect for what I’m interested in…and yet I am unable to afford it. It’s more expensive than an iPad! But that’s just what it is…