Why do I write philosophy?
When I started writing regularly 7 years ago I did so out of necessity.
I was sixteen and the world seemed unbearably confusing. I had burned myself out rebelling against authority and found myself floating in a realm of chaos, barely knowing my self and not having a clue about my orientation in the world. I was miserable and quite frankly close to depression.
It was in this mental space that I began to regularly read and write. I became addicted to books, and found myself writing an average of 1,000 words per day dissecting my views on God, society, spiritualism, martial arts, and whatever else I found interesting. I learned to appreciate philosophy, not as a study of old text and scripture but as a methodology, as a way of making sense of the world.
I haven't stopped writing since then and have expanded my knowledge of philosophy and its application in real world systems. I studied philosophy at the University of Edinburgh; I became a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; and I played online poker, playing up to 18 tables at a time. Sometimes I worry about my lack of experience and how others perceive me - I am only 23 years old after all - but there is not much more I could have expected to achieve, not at this age. I wouldn't trade the experiences of the past 7 years for any amount of money.
What you won't find
This sub stack is not going to be a place for life hacks, or generic content that aims to get clicks. I will be the first to admit that I don't know that much.
I am young and inexperienced so I am not planning on telling people what I think they should do. I do think, however, that I am not bad at writing philosophy. I was scared to start publishing on sub stack because I feared I'd eventually give up, or I'd have no readers. I realised however, that I have always written for myself anyway, so it doesn't matter if no one comes to read - I'll always write.
After I realised this, I decided that I was going to start publishing my philosophy. I decided to go with *philosophy in practice* as the name of the sub stack because I don't care about philosophy that isn't useful in practice. I train BJJ, and played full time poker because that is the actualisation of philosophy, and because that is the subject matter within philosophy I am most interested in.
There are two reasons why I decided to start publishing writing:
1) It is wrong, someone informs me why, and I can improve it.
2) It is not wrong, and someone can gain some value from it.
What you won't find here is formal, academic like philosophy. I won't be consistent with references, but will try my best to add good footnotes. You won't find essays of a prescribed length, and you may find some that have a few mistakes, this is (kind of) deliberate. Sometimes I have ideas that I like to share early because I am extremely excited about them, often these are quickly shot down by a less excitable colleague or friend and that serves my benefit - I do sometimes get carried away.
What you might find
My interests are varied but I believe I have deep knowledge regarding game theory, Stoicism, systems based thinking, adult learning models, and writing philosophy.
I am also interested in computer programming, programming languages, no-gi grappling, folkstyle wrestling, and military history.
I didn't write this introduction as a way of introducing my work, but rather myself. To get a good flavour of my work see Lessons on learning.