If you are series about photography, and really want to learn from the ground up I would recommend a film SLR. Get a 100% manual camera and a cheap light meter. By forcing yourself to learn on a completely manual camera you will slow down and understand light, composition, and how shutter/aperture work together produce an image.
Keep a log of the images you take writing down the shutter/aperture/film so that when you develop it you can see the differences.
The problem with learning photography on a digital camera is that people tend to shoot an image, look at it, make some correction and shoot again. This process continues until they get the right image. Or they shoot in completely auto mode letting the camera make the decisions. Yes, they get nicer images right away but they do not understand why or how.
Before people attack I would like to make a disclaimer. Yes you can learn photography on a digital camera, and many people do and are successful. From my experience teaching I have seen that people learning on film generally understand what goes into making an image better. Digital cameras can be set to auto way to easily if a person is upset with the outcome, thus not learning from there mistakes.
Also you can get a manual film camera and a few old manual lens that work just as good if not better than new lens for really cheap. Than you can develop your own film (which is extremely easy to do at home), and either get them printed or scan them into your computer to make digital images.
Either way have fun, and experiment. Once you get your first camera you will be sucked in for life.
Just to help out when I teach someone new to photography I start them out with a Holga (medium format film camera that costs $22 dollars). This camera has very limited settings, a film point and shoot really, but it help teach them lighting and composition. Then we move on to a manual film SLR with a fixed lens 35mm, 50mm, etc. This teaches them how to work a camera shutter, aperture etc. After you master that you can use any camera and produce great images.