Well, it's a philosophy that's been around for a few hundred years, with Descartes being the basic father . . . as he is considered the father of modern philosophy. His most popular work is his Meditations (easily found in any book store), which consists of his major contribution--dualism. Ever heard the phrase "cogito ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am am/exist")? It was Descartes' logic that in order to prove one exists, one must have the ability to think. Pretty simple stuff really. He actually then turned this philosophy around to prove the existence of God (which he did mainly to avoid persecution), in which he stated "I think of God, I have an idea of God, hence God exists." Now, he turned that statement into more of God's doing (that is, God put his existence in our minds) . . . later, that statement got turned around in the past two centuries or so, in that: if I think of this, or if I think of that, then it must exist in some manner (metaphysically speaking . . . like a unicorn). Which, is sort of where existentialism (Nietzsche, Kierkengaard, Heidegger, Sartre) and absurdism (Camus) took Descartes idea and twisted it a bit further.

Anyway, Descartes is an easy enough read, but I always suggest jumping right into the harder, more profound stuff. Try Heidegger, he's easy enough with his language, as the writing style of philosophy can be quite confusing if one isn't familiar with it. Heidegger's main obsession was proving when a "thing" is indeed a "thing." Something I'm completely obsessed with. But Nietzsche is without a doubt the greatest philosopher ever, the most crucial thinker to ever exist, and quite possibly the only human to have ever gotten close to the meaning of life (philosophically speaking of course); he's also the hardest philosopher to understand. But if you're willing, try picking up a collection of his works with certain excerpts of his works, as his works as a whole are rather lengthy and wordy.

Anywho, welcome to Dark Forum, and welcome to the philosophy section. Hope you stick around.