Search Term Lists Overview

You don't know what you don't know.

One of the reasons I decided to finish my philosophy degree - which I got halfway through 20 years ago before dropping out due to chaotic life circumstances - was so I could have just that bit of academic credibility when I write and talk about such topics.

I've studied philosophy on my own since dropping out of school.

I read the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy for fun.

I started a personal research project to analyze the leftist philosophies in Fraggle Rock before I even went back to college.

For fun.

In late 2022, I started using ChatGPT to draft self-study curriculum for me - I did a deep dive into aesthetic philosophy in 2023, and also started teaching myself Mandarin Chinese.

For fun.

So when I got the chance to go back to finish that degree at the beginning of 2024, I jumped on it.

But I still do personal learning projects.

For fun.

I turn my brain to mush doing the professor-assigned topics, and then I reform my brain doing the pleasure topics.

Which happens to be digging into philosophy.

But the philosophy I want to study, not just the foundational stuff we're studying in school - which is important, but also, I'm not really learning anything new, nor are we covering anyone I haven't already encountered in previous studies.

Although there is great value in revisiting the thinkers you read in your 20s when you're in your 40s. They hit different with a couple extra decades of maturity.

20 years of independent study of philosophy = I've read a LOT of stuff that a lot of people have never heard of.

But there's still so much stuff I have never encountered.

You don't know what you don't know.

I had never heard of Paulo Freire when I opened up a ChatGPT thread and started chatting about how I feel like academic philosophy has lost touch with what is ultimately the core question of philosophy - how do I have a good life?

That's really what we're all trying to do.

Have a good life.

That's what all the ancient philosophers were trying to figure out.

All are other questions spring from that.

What is good?
What does it mean to live?

Each question leads to more questions.

And I love it.

Favorite thing in the world.

This convo with ChatGPT, which coincided with the Trump election, inspired me to start this Learning in Public series pairing liberatory philosophers with conservative philosophers, comparing and contrasting their ideas, and seeing what I can learn from it.

It'll also make a great portfolio if I do end up applying to grad school.

One of my favorite things to ask ChatGPT once a topic has sparked my interest is for a list of search terms and keywords. I'm a full-time college student at a local branch of a major state university - I've got access to all those research databases.

I don't know what I don't know, and that comes with not always knowing what to ask.

The bot can help me with that. Point me in a direction, and once I've found some resources and some core questions, my curiosity takes it from there and starts figuring some things out, which leads to more questions, and so on.

Each unit in this series will include the search terms and keywords that I had ChatGPT generate, as well as any additional ones that I then use when searching based on that initial round.

That way, if you want to follow along, you can do those searches yourself - you might use different search engines and databases than I do, giving you access to different resources, and different perspectives that can add to the dialogue.