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I am called Tim and I'm a senior Philosophy major at Haverford. I am also an environmental activist; my thesis is on environmental ethics. I think about things primarily through these two lenses but also try to think without a lens; also, not to think but rather to experience unmediated. I'm from a rural/ conservative area in central MD, but this is mostly incidental to who I am. I notice that the mind/ ego/ sense of identity & self-narratives that we possess are fundamentally creative: where does your inner monologue come from - what is speaking and who is it that is aware of this occurrence? There I go; you might discern something of my philosophical tendencies already. 

A few naive questions hatched during class:

- Is the origin of stories less murky/ more certain than that of life, or do we merely have a story as to the beginning of stories as well?

- Is it true that stories, like life, tend toward complexity and increased intelligence over time?

- On the contrary, have stories, like mass-produced modern consumer society, tended toward consolidation, unification of themes, simplification, marketability, and reader satisfaction?

-Tim Richards '09

"The life of the individual has meaning only insofar as it aids in making the life of every living thing nobler and more beautiful"
Albert Einstein