My university studies began in 1999 when, at the age of 29, I enrolled as a CAP (Community Access Programme) student - which I highly recommend to anyone wishing to taste university life - and, upon earning straight H1s, was accepted into my Degree the following year. What led me to my chosen areas of study? Well … what is life? What is consciousness? Also, how does the mind, human will, possibly impact on the physical world? And if the second law of thermodynamics holds true, how does complexity develop from chaos? I realise that this law allows for order to exist in one part of the universe at the expense of, and by causing greater entropy in, another part of the universe, but it does not allow an explanation for how organisation begins in the first place. Another question, what is time and how are we moving through it? Since there is good evidence that time is not linear after all, but that we are merely evolved to perceive it in this way, since time is in fact a geometrical dimension, what then is the true nature of future and past? Is individuality, also, only an illusion? These are some of the questions that have led me to contemplate popular science (and science fiction too!) for years, and culminated in my university studies … I haven’t yet found definitive answers to “life, the universe and everything”, though I have discovered a great many more questions! I also find that the most interesting questions are those to which we do not yet have answers.

History and Philosophy of Science is unrivalled for one inclined toward philosophical contemplation, anyone who is questioning the absurdities and random tragedies of this life and universe, and fundamental existence itself on several different levels. Encompassing study of philosophy, study of history, and of course of science, HPS’s span is extensive, fascinating and enlightening. Some of my major essays in History and Philosophy of Science have focussed on topics as diverse as the disparities between Newton’s absolute time and Einstein’s relative time, the philosophical implications of hypothetical time travel on human free will; the possibility of the existence of block time, distinct from human subjective perception of a ’flowing’ timeline, perception which is a product of our own evolution, itself a response to our laws of physics; the possibility that complexity, of life and of the universe, is a result of underlying simplicity at a cellular or subatomic level, itself dependent upon processes and thus upon cellular space rather than upon matter; the immensely long history of belief in the Earth as a globe, despite our pervasive ’medieval flat earth’ myth; the idea that electronic media in no way makes text based information redundant; the development and importance of public health measures prior to, and independent of, the development of modern medicine; Charles Darwin’s long process of development of his theory of natural selection, from his early imaginative insight, through collection of empirical evidence and progression to scientific theory; the ironic contrast between scientific hypothesising analogous to Platonic reason, and empirical science and sensory perception; and the idea that science, far from its exaggerated caricature, truly promotes philosophical and teleological contemplation, through the willingness to admit ignorance, thus allowing room for discovery: to paraphrase Socrates, “wisest is she who knows she does not know”.

History and Philosophy of Science includes historical subjects such as the first-year “History of Astronomy”, which I would highly recommend to anyone who is interested in astronomy, and in the history of knowledge. It begins with the ancient Greeks and their many innovations, and Aristarchus, who hypothesised that the Sun is at the centre of the solar system. This was almost 2,000 years before Copernicus’ theory, and Galileo, revealed this to be so. Contrary to popular opinion, the ancient Greeks knew that the Earth is round … Aristotle wrote that this was gleaned through observing the Earth’s shadow on the Moon during lunar eclipse. Anyway, this is one of the best subjects I’ve come across. Other subject matters include the scientific revolution of seventeenth century Europe, exploring Rene Descartes’ and Isaac Newton’s philosophies amongst others; Darwinism and subsequent controversy from the nineteenth century to the present day, including teleological viewpoints; the history and future of technology, digital media, cybernetics; and the social and ecological implications of the human genome project and genetic engineering. Alongside subjects which focus upon the philosophy and history of scientific knowledge, from views such as Francis Bacon’s: “our only hope lies in a true induction”; to Plato’s: “the true realities … are perceptible to reason and thought but not visible to the eye”. Alternatively, in the words of Immanuel Kant, “concepts without percepts are empty, but percepts without concepts are blind”.

     

After sampling first year English Literature, Creative Writing, Politics, and Philosophy (where I continued with several second and third year subjects in addition to my two majors), I chose to major in Classical Studies and Archaeology for the interesting historical aspects and the scope of the area. This ranges from “Prehistoric Archaeology”, which focusses on human evolution from its beginnings, our biped ancestors of approximately five million years ago, to the agrarian development of societies; to subjects focussing on the ancient, complex indigenous cultures of Australia, subsequent Aboriginal rock art; the Minoans of ancient Crete, the Mycenaeans; ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Byzantium.

In some of my major essays, I have studied the mysterious ancient zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figurines; archaeoastronomy, studying evidence of astronomical observation in the prehistoric Aegean, particularly through Bronze Age Minoan Crete’s archaeological remains and artefacts; Palaeolithic burial evidence and the possible Neanderthal contribution to our evolution; literacy and women in fifth century BC Athens; the powerful naditu women of ancient Babylonia; Constantine’s founding of Constantinople, where the eastern Roman empire continued for 1,000 years after Rome itself fell; the causes of the fall of the Byzantine empire into a dark ages, a direct causal effect of any political authority or society which fails to value humanism, education and academia; the related development of Christian mythology; ancient, profound belief systems which existed long before present day religions were imagined; alternative religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism; indigenous Australian histories, belief systems and cosmologies, and complex, just moral code; phrenology and craniometry, and eugenics, and the misinterpretation of Darwin's theory of natural selection to support these biased social and political policies, despite evidence of Charles Darwin's own opposition to this misappropriation of his theory; the relatively recent development of anthropology and archaeology from antiquarianism; ancient Egypt’s famous Eighteenth Dynasty, including the Pharaoh Akhenaten, and the profundity of his own pantheistic belief system, arguably the very first documented.

In studying Classics and Archaeology, one realises that peoples of other times and societies are really not that different from us in many ways - the human condition, the big questions, remain the same - while simultaneously feeling as though one were visiting very different cultures, similar to the way one would feel as a traveller.