Micro-Philosophy Foundations 2.0
Some of you may have seen that I am relaunching a completely revamped version of my Micro-Philosophy: Foundations course which has been out for several months already.
If you have never heard of the course before, or are curious to learn more about it, I wanted to provide a detailed look inside of it so that you can decide whether it will benefit your life.
Honestly, making this course is the coolest and most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life.
I can’t wait to share it with you on February 22nd when the pre-sale officially ends and the course officially launches
(Join before the pre-sale ends to save up to $200 depending on which version of the course you enroll in. You can officially sign-up here)
Micro-Philosophy: Foundations is not your typical philosophy course.
It is a philosophy of philosophies course.
A kind of meta-course that teaches you the conceptual frameworks and systems underlying a plurality of philosophies, rather than teaching you any particular philosophy directly.
I spent years looking for answers in philosophy rather than developing them myself.
At the end of the day, you can either develop your own belief system, or follow someone else’s.
This was one of the core insights that led me to design Micro-Philosophy: Foundations.
I wanted to figure out my own philosophy.
World-class motivational speaker and life coach Jim Rohn once said:
“Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out”.
By the end of this course, you will create your own micro-philosophy statement which means that you will be able to confidently articulate your fundamental beliefs, core values, and moral principles so that you can live a life of purpose.
Mastering your own beliefs will help you make better decisions, focus your time and energy on what matters, and reshape what you take to be possible for yourself.
The problem isn’t that people don’t want to do these things, it is that they don’t know how to get started and lack a system for making progress.
Take Steve Chae, for example.
Prior to taking my course, Steve was struggling to develop a way to integrate his personal philosophical beliefs and worldviews with his teaching. As a full-time science teacher, Steve wanted a way to develop a teaching philosophy that felt authentic and effective.
After taking the course Steve said:
“I feel like I’ve progressed in leaps and bounds since taking on the course. At the start I remember I wasn’t sure how to philosophize about my teaching philosophy, both in regards to teaching middle school science curriculum and also managing student behaviours”.
And…
“[It] has shown me that philosophy can be highly pragmatic in helping one to solve one’s problems as it did for me as I reoriented my teacher identity into something that aligns with who I want to become. I think there is now a greater awareness in me and from what I read on other Substack posts, mostly those who are educators, that the process of philosophizing or the knowledge of micro-philosophy is vital to this solution”.
Steve took the course while working as a full-time teacher and living in Australia and would wake up at 7am to join our live calls.
Micro-Philosophy: Foundations gives you the system you need to build your own micro-philosophy even if you are already busy with work and life.
In this course, you will learn the philosophical skills, concepts, and frameworks that you need to think clearly about your life, rewrite old beliefs, and act in alignment with your ideal self so that you can live less randomly, reduce overwhelm, and act decisively.
Not knowing what you truly believe or value creates mental drag that ultimately prevents you from acting and living with confidence in your beliefs.
The goal of this course is to help you develop a framework for your life so you can focus on what matters, act decisively, and live more in alignment like Steve.
This course is for individuals who refuse to live on auto-pilot and want to create their own system for living that is grounded in serious philosophy.
What You Will Learn
In this section I provide a complete overview of the course content.
Module I: Micro-Philosophy & Worldviews
In order to build your micro-philosophy, you will need raw material to work with. The raw material we will use in this course is your pre-existing beliefs and worldview. Module I is focused on taking you through the steps you need to prepare to build your micro-philosophy. In Module I, you will learn:
How to identify your pre-existing beliefs and worldview so that you don’t live your entire life never fully understanding what is really influencing your actions
How to uncover hidden assumptions and blindspots so that you can unlock new avenues for personal growth
How to relate your current beliefs to a comprehensive map of human knowledge
Module II: World Beliefs
The primary goal of Module 2 is to help you construct a basic set of World Beliefs, which is the first pillar of your micro-philosophy. You will learn:
How to clearly articulate your deepest beliefs about the nature of reality, life, death, nature, and the supernatural because in order to thrive in this world, you must know what kind of world it is.
How to uncover new beliefs and assumptions about reality that deepen your thinking and break you out of old thought patterns.
How to identify internal tensions in your world beliefs that create conflict and chaos in your life, and also how to resolve them so that you can live more peacefully.
Module III: Values & Ethics
In Module II you put the first pillar of your micro-philosophy in place. Module III is where you put the second pillar in place. In Module III, you will learn:
How to derive your core values from your actions and ethical principles so that you can clarify exactly which things are worth pursuing, and what should be avoided completely.
How to connect your personal values to your fundamental world beliefs so that you can understand the deep ways in which your worldview predispose you to value some things over others.
Module IV: Action & Ethics
Module IV is all about taking an honest look at how the way you are living represents the implicit philosophy you are committed to.
It is important to never forget that the ultimate purpose of a micro-philosophy is to be a belief system that you can live by.
We start by looking at your concrete actions and build your philosophy from there.
In Module IV, you will learn:
How to move from theory to practice by crafting moral principles that connect with real world actions and attitudes so that you everything you do has a reason behind it.
How to determine which kinds of actions are worth pursuing in your life and which kinds of actions must be avoided so that you don’t waste time, make mistakes, and feel regret.
How to connect your core values to your fu system of ethics so that you can clarify exactly how you want to be treated by others, and how you want to treat them in turn.
Module V: Synthesis
In the fifth and final module of the course you will synthesize everything you have produced into a unified micro-philosophy. You will learn:
How the different beliefs you have discovered and/or clarified fit together into a coherent system for living.
How to test your micro-philosophy for errors and internal tensions and improve it through iteration.
How to expand your micro-philosophy as you progress through life, so that it continues to grow as you grow.
What Isn’t There Yet
I am always looking to integrate new ideas into the course without over-complicating things.
There are two big topics that I plan to integrate into future versions of the course (which you have lifetime access to by joining):
Life Purpose: Although creating your micro-philosophy does provide a very powerful way to start clarifying and articulating your life purpose, I do not have a distinct module dedicated to life purpose. This is a topic I am currently researching deeply and plan to incorporate more explicitly in the future.
Psychology: There is some psychology in Micro-Philosophy: Foundations, but eventually I would like to incorporate more psychology especially when it comes to figuring out how to help people execute their beliefs in practice and avoid psychological barriers to action. Additionally, there are fascinating areas of research on the psychology of belief and childhood development that I plan to integrate in later version.
Sociology/Anthropology: There are certain themes in the course that I touch on which would benefit from these fields. In particular, the ways in which we come to acquire worldviews and beliefs throughout our lives. This is something I am actively researching and learning more about.
What You Get By Joining
Lifetime Access & Future Updates
The Micro-Philosophy: Foundations course will continue to be updated over time with revised lessons and exercises, improved AI prompts, video content, and bonus resources.
By joining the course now, you will gain unlimited access to all future versions of Micro-Philosophy: Foundations.
Additionally, if you join the live cohort you will gain access to all future cohorts as part of your lifetime access.
Advanced AI Prompts
Each module contains a 2,000 word prompt engineered to deep insights and maximize your results. Students will use these results as a springboard for their own writing.
In a recent review of my course, Elliott Ploutz (Philosopher Scholar) had this to say about the prompts:
“A part of what makes this course so interesting, surprising, and well worth the price is the prompts developed by Dr. Musso. These are some of the best structured prompts I’ve ever seen, let alone for philosophy. The prompts cover a huge range of the ideas of philosophy, often 250+ of terms, actions, etc. The LLM of your choice becomes an interviewer assisting you in thinking and learning about your world view and all of the pillars and assignments”
Here is a short video preview of the latest version of my “Birthview & Worldview Discovery Prompt”:
Private Community Access
Micro-Philosophy: Foundations gives you access to a private community of like-minded individuals who are also enrolled in the course, or who have previously completed the course.
This community will be an intellectual space in which you can share ideas and receive feedback on your assignments, discuss philosophy, and connect with other people who are on the same journey as you. The community will be hosted on the platform Circle, which is one of the leading course & community hosting platforms (there are no additional fees or charges for having a profile on Circle).
Even after your cohort concludes, you will continue to have lifetime access to this community.
Bonus #1: Digital Course Textbook
In addition to the video lessons and written lessons hosted online, you will also have access to a permanent Digital Course Textbook, which is basically an entire book (100+ pages).
This textbook is great for anyone who wants to read and learn about the course on a tablet and it contains more detailed lessons and conceptual distinctions than I am able to squeeze into a video.
Think about this as providing a more full answer to many of the questions in the course.
Bonus #2: Digital Course Workbook
With the new version of the course I also created a complete Digital Course Workbook that students can use to complete exercises and stay on track.
I have provided a preview below of 9 pages from the workbook (which is itself another 50+ pages).
This is where you will do a lot of your writing for the course and, eventually, turn that writing into a complete micro-philosophy statement.
Digital Course Workbook
Bonus #3: Paperback Micro-Philosophy Journal (Cohort Only)
If you decide to join the upcoming live cohort, you will also receive a special bonus that I am incredibly excited about.
I will be shipping to every student a printed version of their micro-philosophy like the book I published for myself below.
One of my original dreams was to have people be able to carry around their micro-philosophy in their backpacks as a kind of manual for life (similar to Epictetus’ Enchiridion).
The printed journal will include space for you to add to what you produced in the course.
My Promise To You
My #1 priority is to make sure that you have an awesome experience with this course and community.
You must find that this course gives you a greater level of clarity about your personal beliefs, values, and life, and helps you feel a strong sense of direction moving forward.
If this does not happen I will provide you with a 100% No Questions Asked Refund anytime within 60 days after purchasing the course.
Also, this is going to sound crazy, but I will still provide you with a refund even if you finish the course.
Why would I do this?
Because I honestly do not want you to pay for this course if it doesn’t make a noticeable impact on your life.
I truly believe that Micro-Philosophy: Foundations has the potential to transform your life and set you on a new path of self-discovery and self-creation.
I hope you are willing to give it a try if you think it can help you.
How Do You Join The Course?
If you are interested in trying the course out 100% risk-free, then you can officially sign-up through my Stan page here.
Note: Do not subscribe to my Substack to join Micro-Philosophy: Foundations. The Substack subscription gives you access to an entirely separate experience called The Micro-University, which provides a more traditional philosophy education for a fraction (.25%-1%) of the cost of a university degree.
Frequently Asked Questions
I wouldn’t be a philosopher if I didn’t enjoy answering questions…
Is This A Self-Paced Course, Community, or Cohort?
There are currently two versions of the course being offered:
Self-paced: The self-paced version of the course gives you lifetime access to the current version of the course + all future updates and the private course community (but not cohort chat). Every week, you are given material to study, an exercise to complete, and an assignment to submit to the community for feedback.The course is scheduled to drip-feed content so that you give each exercise the time and attention it requires.Each new module will open after 7 days.
Live Cohort (group experience): The cohort version of the course gives you access to everything in the self-paced version plus a more immersive group experience that involves live group calls, private group chat, and a paperback micro-philosophy journal of your micro-philosophy shipped to you. It also involves increased accountability and social networking.
How Much Time Do I Need To Invest?
The course takes 5 weeks to complete, but you don’t need to spend hours a day.
Each weekly module can be completed on a Saturday or Sunday morning and should take about 2 hours to complete (although each assignment is designed to allow you to spend more time on it if you choose).
For cohort members, there is an additional weekly group call that lasts 1 hour every Sunday.
If you are not willing to invest 8-16 hours into developing your personal beliefs, values, and ethics, then this course is probably not for you.
This isn’t a “quick fix”.
Do I Need To Know Anything About Philosophy?
This course does not require any pre-requisite knowledge of any discipline.
Knowing a bit of philosophy can definitely enhance your experience, but everything in the course will be explained in an accessible way assuming that you don’t know any philosophy. To get the most out of the course, it you simply need to be willing to think deeply and honestly about your life and complete the exercises even if they feel challenging.
This requires a moderate amount of writing.
In the future I plan to release advanced courses that will get into some more complex philosophical concepts, but the goal here is to help as many people as possible have more mental clarity and control over their beliefs without getting hung up on complex philosophical debates.
Do I Need Any Technology Or Paid Software To Complete The Course?
As I mentioned above, the course will be hosted on Circle, so you will need to make an account on that platform to access the course. That is where everything is hosted.Additionally, access to the paid versions of either Chat-GPT or Claude is strongly recommended, although not absolutely necessary.
What Happens If I Don’t Finish The Course?
Life happens.
If for any reason something happens that prevents you from completing the course and you would like a refund, you are completely covered by my No Risk Guarantee. Contact me within 60 days of purchasing the course a
nd you will receive a full refund no questions asked.Alternatively, I can allow you to join another cohort if you would like to start again at a later time.My goal is to make sure everyone has a positive experience and feels like they are getting their money’s worth.