Beginning my PhD

Secure funding from M3C for PhD study - Check!
Attend orientation residential session by M3C - Check!
Start work on PhD --- umm...

So, it's the end of September, and it's time for me to start work on my PhD. Having been on the residential session through M3C earlier this week, I've met numerous other students at the start of their PhD journey. We have been warned not to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of what we need to produce (i.e. an 80,000-100,000 word thesis), and to be honest, I don't really feel overwhelmed by it, so that's a good thing. I've produced work of similar lengths before, and when it's broken down into chapters, and I need to produce 12,000 words about a particular idea, that is not overwhelming at all. Producing quantity of work has never been a problem for me.

...It's producing quality of work which is my difficulty! But even that is something which I can evidently do, based on some of my MA work, so quality is something that I can produce, given enough time - hopefully.

My issue is this: I don't know what I'm going to argue. Some people are setting out on their PhD journey with a clear understanding of what they are going to argue. For example, they're going to argue that abortion due to foetal abnormality is an act of hermeneutical injustice, or that the work of Chaucer helps us better understand Islamic radicalisation of teenage boys, or that machine-generated musical compositions can improve the overall wellbeing of people with autism. But I'm not in such a clear position. I know my PhD will establish (or attempt to establish) what consent is, and how an AI robot ought to conceive of consent - and the same for harm. But as things stand, I don't know how an AI robot ought to conceive of consent or harm. Hopefully that will come with time, because "I don't know; it's all a matter of opinion" isn't a good conclusion for a PhD thesis!

Massive thanks to M3C (soon to be M4C) for all the
lovely money and incredible opportunities to conduct
awesome research and make a difference in the world.

I'm starting out now, looking at some legal conceptions of consent (ie laws on sexual offences) and I'll read some articles on consent and take it from there. For me, the joy of philosophy is and has always been the search for answers, more so than the answers themselves. It's just as well really, as definitive answers in philosophy are as rare as rocking horse sh!t. But I am so excited to be starting out on PhD study, it really is like a dream come true for me. Having been to the M3C residential the other day and rubbed shoulders with people who are far younger and far more intelligent than me, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling a slight sense of impostor syndrome. But I guess somebody thinks I'm good enough to do this, so objectively, I probably am good enough. I am just so, so pleased that I'm being fully funded by M3C (I'm resisting the urge to say 'lucky' as it implies a randomness or lack of desert which is not a principle of AHRC funding). So for the next 3 years I get to study what I want to study: can there be anything better in life? I don't think so... well, except maybe chocolate!

Let the search for answers commence!!