The beginning is the most important part of every work.

Hi, welcome to the third incarnation of my blog projects. Each attempt has been reflective of my shifted interests: TTFY existed as I saw the need for political literacy in my first election season, The Escape existed as I had a desire to share my college writing, and One Before Infinity (OBI) will exist to reflect my interest in philosophy primarily. There will be some political jargon here but only reflected through the looking glass of philosophy, not partisanship or extensive commentary on modern events. I'll be including videos to watch or peruse and tying in my authorship with them; I have an idea for an extensive study on philosophy as related to practical application; and there will also be critiques of the books I read and the ideas I encounter.

For those of you who do not know me very well intellectually, I'll explain a bit more about myself. I am a philosophy student with a strong interest in ethics and political philosophy, and especially in ancient political philosophy. Plato is my strongest frame of reference, and I'm certain there will be numerous references to his works and himself throughout. You could also call me a student of the modern Atheist movement, although I myself am not an atheist. Christopher Hitchens is my favorite modern writer and wit, and for your viewing enjoyment I highly recommend youtubing his various discussions, debates and diatribes. My reading varies tremendously, as I can rarely read an entire book before my attention is drawn to another.

I'll be guilty of trespassing on my own rules if my writing becomes anything other than accessable. My writing style is decidedly academic but I'll try to engage with non-pointy head language as much as I can. This isn't to say I don't hope to educate; if you read my posts and learn a new word every read I'll be satisfied, although a word, and a concept, and an understanding, and a critique are optimal. In this third incarnation I hope to generate at least as much feedback as TTFY, and hopefully more. The comment box is your friend, and mine. Individual intellectual progression is limited without feedback from my contemporaries.

At this point in time, my future goals include pursuing graduate studies as either in either ethical or ancient philosophy, or both. The end goal of this will be work in academia somewhere, or perhaps as an ethicist or journalist. An alternative plan to this is to go into business as a microfinancer for businesses in poor places of the world, only because the proposition sounds extremely attractive to me. I actually know very little about what this profession would entail. In a perfect world I would go to culinary school and eventually own a restaurant, but as I watch the world around me progress as slowly as it does I don't think I could rest without working towards a more progressive and ethically/philosophically based future, in the small way that I can.

The following topics are things I hope to cover at some point or another in this project:
- Tradition as a social force
- The relationship between descriptive and normative philosophy
- Religion
- The difference between the three "groups of state" in Plato's Republic and the application of that theory to philosophy
- Kantian practical morality
- Ethical philosophy as it relates to technological advancements
- Improving the framework of viewing individual ideas without your own bias and learned beliefs
- The philosophy and virtue of doubt
- Development of a new ethical system or theory for our own time
- The importance of an educational upheaval
- The responsibilities of the individual to the state

As for the title of my blog, "One Before Infinity," my intention is to provoke thought from the time you click the link until the time you click the X. The thought of quantifying the number right before infinity is of course absurd and impossible, but as a cornerstone for some stream of consciousness thoughts of mine it has worked pretty well. I hope my writings can be the beginnings of some well working thoughts of your own.

Although the posts and news items are horrendously dated, http://thetruthforyouth.blogspot.com/ is the original incarnation of my blog efforts. I am interested in collaborative efforts still if anyone feels up to the task. As usual, I am an editorial totalitarian as I wish my blog to only really address the topics which I discuss at the time, so any direct responses, additions or critiques are absolutely welcome. Really, the only way to create a great idea is if it's tested in fire. Just get in contact with me via whatever works best for you.

The second incarnation is no longer available, as the topics they contain are asking to be plagiarised as a new school year comes around. If I were to summarize it, I would say it was much less successful compared to TTFY, as it was a solo effort, I was transitioning into a new writing style, and my ability to relate topics was still in its first days. I'm getting better at it now, though, and hope to improve further.

Thanks for reading, you can subscribe if you're so inclined, but I'll also be providing links to new posts via facebook. If discussions on comments become regular I'll start a new facebook group for readers and potential fellow writers, as I think that forum is much easier on the eyes for back and forth discussion.

-Josh