How to get into: Philosophy

[Anonymous No.3482451]

>>3482276

Ok /lit/ lets do this!

I'm specifically looking for recommendations of introductory books. We can build this chart out from there.

[Anonymous No.3482457]

Perhaps the chart should be radial instead of linear. Philosophy doesn't branch very linearly.

[Anonymous No.3482480]

why aren't we arranging it using the topology of a klein bottle

[Anonymous No.3482491]

>>3482480

klein bottle's make me hard. So do Mobius Strips.

[Anonymous No.3482527]

>>3482451
Russell's History of Western Phil is more of a curiosity that shouldn't really be there. The problems of philosophy could replace it, that's still vaguely relevant. There's also no Sophie's World, and the chart seems to think analytic phil. is the only philosophy, as well as there not being anything really new in the last 100 years or so.

[Anonymous No.3482528]

Hmm..if you want an anecdotal view of philosophy:

Alain de Botton - The Consolations of Philosophy
Umberto Eco - How To Travel With A Salmon (it's not strictly philosophy, but...you'll laugh your ass off and think about how he's a great writer/observer)
Andre Comte-Sponville - The Little Book of Philosophy
Mel Thompson - Teach Yourself Philosophy

[Anonymous No.3482530]

Russell's book is not good as an introduction. Its best use is probably as Leibniz scholarship.

[Anonymous No.3482532]

>>3482491
You know I was going to make a joke about having a "Klein-Penis" then I remembered German.

[Anonymous No.3482539]

>>3482451
>Bert Rand Rustle
Chart dismissed.

[Anonymous No.3482538]

>>3482532
Klein schniedel ist besser als kein schniedel

[Anonymous No.3482543]

>>3482527
This - analytic philosophy always read to me as much more nebulous thing than continental philosophy, that's much more crystalline and satisfying (usually more challenging, too) to read and think through.

[Anonymous No.3482550]

The first step for acquiring a good knowledge of philosophy will be to get the hell off /lit/

[Anonymous No.3482559]

>>3482550
>still thinking you can have "good knowledge" in philosophy

[Anonymous No.3482566]

[Anonymous No.3482570]

when can you move into specific subsets like ethics and epistemology? can you start with them or do you need to go through lots of the intro stuff

[Anonymous No.3482574]

>>3482570
Most early philosophy has those rather entwined. I'm going to share this link again for the 1000th time this week:

http://www.historyofphilosophy.net/

[Anonymous No.3482585]

>>3482559

And this is exactly what I mean. The level of affectation on this board about philosophical topics is off the charts

[Anonymous No.3482591]

>>3482457
>>3482527
>>3482570

How about this as a better starting point?

[Anonymous No.3482605]

Not really an introduction chart or anything, but more of an overview of western philosophy:

http://www.mindmeister.com/de/23290325/western-philosophy

Might be good for people who want to have an overview of different schools of philosophy and all the important names.

[Anonymous No.3482608]

>>3482574
I also highly recommand this page too!

[Anonymous No.3482610]

>>3482591
Well, it's certainly an improvement.

[Anonymous No.3482611]

in your guy's opinion, which one of these books mentioned is the best history of philosophy?

[Anonymous No.3482618]

>>3482611
Probably the VSI.

[Anonymous No.3482622]

>>3482591
goddamn, you suck. i sincerely hope you understand that no one ever is going to take that chart seriously. it's chaotic,unnecessary
and wrong all-over the places.

regarding philosophy, there's a 100 times better chart in the sticky.

[Anonymous No.3482639]

ask the right questions and the answers show themselves

[Anonymous No.3482640]

>>3482622

The guides to philosophy on the /lit/ wiki are great, but they are almost useless to anyone that doesn't already have solid understanding of the history of philosophy and is comfortable reading primary text. The idea of this chart is to provide a route into these works. Telling people to start by reading Plato without any introduction is counter-productive and likely to turn those with a nascent interest away.

I willing to admit my chart is shit, hence asking /lit/zens for their input. If you can do better I'd be happy for you to make one.

[Anonymous No.3482647]

>>3482640
>Telling people to start by reading Plato without any introduction is counter-productive and likely to turn those with a nascent interest away.

boo fucking hoo. cure your fucking ADHD, kids, and problems like these will magically resolve themselves.

[Anonymous No.3482667]

>>3482647

>2013
>Trying to be an elitist

[Anonymous No.3482668]

You want my french lessons?

[Anonymous No.3482669]

>>3482640
>Telling people to start by reading Plato without any introduction is counter-productive and likely to turn those with a nascent interest away.
So start with the VSI to Plato.

[Anonymous No.3482675]

>>3482451
>How to get into: Analytical Philosophy
fix'd it for ya

but on another note, someone should make a "How to get into: Philosophy" chart

[Anonymous No.3482680]

>>3482640
telling people how to read philosophy just makes them churn out the same results as everyone else

[Anonymous No.3482682]

>>3482647

[Anonymous No.3482684]

>>3482680
it's not how to read philosophy, it's how to get into philosophy, there's a difference

[Anonymous No.3482701]

Read all four volumes of Kenny's a new history of western philosophy and then actually figure out what interests you

[Anonymous No.3482734]

what about this?

[Anonymous No.3482742]

>>3482669
they should just skip the plato all together. no point in reading somebody who influenced all of the wrong kinds of thought.

[Anonymous No.3482740]

>>3482647
>tough love in 2013

you just sound like a frank miller character these days

[Anonymous No.3482747]

>>3482734

I used it for a high school philosphy class and found it usefull

[Anonymous No.3482750]

Alright, I've decided to make a collection of introductory philosophy books ebooks.

So far the list looks like this:

sophie's choice
rustles' history of philosophy
blackburn's think
copleston's history of philosophy
solomon and higgins short history
craig's introduction
gottlieb's dream of reason
kenny's history

Anything else you guys think is essential?

[Anonymous No.3482749]

>>3482684
this. it's a lifestyle of contemplation. it's not something you just 'pick up'.

i've picked up russell's history of western philo, but i haven't actually read it.

i think if you want good starting points, start out with the basics:

plato's republic
aristotle's nicomachean ethics
hume's theories on morality
kant's metaphysics
mill's utilitarianism
sartrean existentialism
nihilism

then branch off from there, and read into whichever theories you like best.

and then branch off from there. whatever y

[Anonymous No.3482754]

>>3482742
>>>/sci/

[Anonymous No.3482755]

>>3482742
plato's republic is a light, simple read. the dialogues are meant to be "fun" and interactive.

you don't need much background for plato's republic.

reading aristotle without some light intro to plato's theories (especially on Forms), however, will not go unpunished

[Anonymous No.3482759]

INTRODUCTION TO WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

Histories of Philosophy:
1. (Short, 1 Volume) A Short History of Philosophy by Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins
2. (Medium, 2 Volumes) A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny
3. (Long, exhaustive, 10 Volumes) The Routledge History of Philosophy by various

Essential texts and suggested editions in chronological order:
1. The Complete Works of Plato, by John Cooper
2. Aristotle: Selections, Translated with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary, by Irwin, T. and Fine
3. Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings, by McInerny, Ralph
4. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff, Dugald Murdoch and Anthony Kenny
5. The Philosophical Works of David Hume by T.H Greene
6. The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant
7. (Hegel's) Phenomenology of Spirit, by A. V. Miller
9. Karl Marx: Selected Writing by David McLellan
10. The Portable Nietzsche, by Robert Solomon

Important Literature:
1. The King James Bible

Internet resources for secondary literature suggestions and continued research:
http://plato.stanford.edu/
http://philpapers.org/browse/all

[Anonymous No.3482762]

>>3482750
>sophie's choice
lol, wrong book m8

[Anonymous No.3482766]

>>3482750
>sophie's choice

[Anonymous No.3482770]

>>3482762
>>3482766

You lads know what I meant.

[Anonymous No.3482769]

>>3482759
you're suggesting complete works of philosophers. that's not a good introduction, and inherently an abuse of the word "intro."

suggest the "essential" works of these philosophers, after which the agent can branch off into the more complete works of his philosopher of choice

[Anonymous No.3482774]

>>3482759
Actually, I'd replace 4 with
Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings, by Cottingham, et al because you don't need to read all of Descartes.

and I know it needs more Hegel, but I don't really know much about him.

[Anonymous No.3482781]

>>3482769
Most of these are selected works, which offer a comprehensive tour. The only complete works here, that I didn't suggest revision of, are Plato, Hume, and Kant. Maybe a selected Hume, too? Kant and Plato are easily important enough for complete works.

Everything else is selected works. If you do individual works, you usually sleight some area of philosophy and emphasize another.

[Anonymous No.3482797]

>>3482759
>1. The Complete Works of Plato, by John Cooper

Would everyone else here suggest starting with Plato?

[Anonymous No.3482802]

Somebody posted a link here yesterday to a history of philosophy podcast produced by a professor, and from what I can tell it's better than other introductory resources (aside from being incomplete.) I've been using it to review/fill in gaps in my knowledge. Nearly all significant philosophers and movements are covered chronologically in ~20 minute installments... so far it goes from Thales to Augustine in 116 episodes and will presumably continue up to the present day. After Boethius, the plan is apparently to take a long detour and cover philosophy in the Islamic world up through Mullah Sadra in about 50 installments. It's shaping up to be an excellent resource on the History of Western Philosophy; y'all should check it out.

>http://www.historyofphilosophy.net/

[Anonymous No.3482806]

>>3482802
>>3482574

Aww sheeit someone beat me to it.

[Anonymous No.3482811]

You should habve forkes going to different schools of thought, for example the continental rationalists and the British Empiricists

[Anonymous No.3482813]

>>3482797
just read up on his ideas so that you can start with aristotle.

[Anonymous No.3482822]

>>3482813

No. You deserve to have fun with Plato's dialogues before wading through Aristotle's bone-dry prose.

[Anonymous No.3482826]

>>3482797
because he is an important philosopher?

[Anonymous No.3482827]

>>3482822
>fun
>plato

maybe if you're 12. plato is boring as fuck b/c his thought is everywhere and none of it will be new to you.

[Anonymous No.3482828]

>>3482797
nope its a realy bad idea.
You start with Kant, you finish with Kant.

[Anonymous No.3482832]

>>3482828
kant sucks. start with quine.

[Anonymous No.3482837]

>>3482828
lol

[Anonymous No.3482841]

>>3482826
how about reading my question again, pal.

[Anonymous No.3482865]

>>3482755
if you think the republic is a simple read that you can casually and entirely ponder on your own; think again.

get any (say, blackwell's) companion to plato and you'll soon come to a realization that he's a tough nut to crack. it takes elbow grease to understand and interpret plato; this is exactly why you should absolutely study him in great detail, taking secondary literature as your auxiliary. you will simply not be able to comprehend his thought in it's full scope, light and diapason by superficially going over a few of his dialogues. subsequently, running around and spouting shit like

>Hi Guis Just read PLato's Apology xD Am i Ready for NIetzsche? :3

that said, no wonder plato's work is largely misunderstood and undervalued. all philosophy really is a footnote to plato and his contemporaries; have the balls to study him appropriately.

[Anonymous No.3482955]

>>3482832

>kant sucks

[Cellis !eTB.HcnPbU No.3482967]

>>3482955
He does.

[Anonymous No.3482976]

>>3482967

[Anonymous No.3482978]

>>3482865

First post in this thread but: I suspect you've spotted few of my other posts advising people to start with the republic by default, although I'm not the only one.

>>no wonder plato's work is largely misunderstood and undervalued

I think you've missed the point as to why that is, or indeed why philosophy as a whole is so widely ignored and despised as irrelevant, when in reality it should be a life skill. Your attitude indicated there contributes towards this; it's a slightly self deluded elitism that doesn't wish to include or educate, or even acknowledge who pays the bills...

It's a great thing when people want to show an interest and if enough people do, maybe in a few years there will actually be some public support for continuing faculty funding, which at this rate will be a minor miracle.

[Cellis !eTB.HcnPbU No.3482979]

>>3482976

[Anonymous No.3483340]

Something like this?

An illustrated Brief history of Philosophy
Anthony Kenny

>You like ancient stuff?
W.T. Jones History of western Philosophy Vol. 1
Plato's Republic
Arisotle's Nicomachean Ethics
>You like Medieval Stuff?
W.T. Jones History of western Philosophy Vol. 2
St. Augustine's Confessions
Summa of the Summa Theologica
>You like The rationalist vs. Empiricist divide?
W.T. Jones History of western Philosophy Vol. 3
Descartes Meditations on first philosophy
Hume's enquire on human understanding
>You like 1800s philosophy?
W.T. Jones History of western Philosophy Vol. 4
Schopenhauer World as will and representation
Kant Prolegemena to any Future Metaphysics
>You like modern philosophy?
W.T. Jones History of western Philosophy Vol. 5
Sartre Existentialism is a Humanism
A.J. Ayer Language, Truth, and Logic


I'm looking for a mix between something like 300 pages of history mixed with a few hundred pages of primary text. You can read a broad narrative and say, "Philosophy is Easy!" only if you've never jumped into the primary texts. Still, if you only read the primary texts, you might have no goddamn clue what is going on.

[Anonymous No.3483369]

>>3482750

>https://anonfiles.com/file/2b114117c137cbeb72cb169e01d5b18c
>https://anonfiles.com/file/ca2bf39a54e77269a04c90da33179d84
>https://anonfiles.com/file/e8bcff0e38d7716db5853b0259d600ff
>https://anonfiles.com/file/7711316b432799bb3cb42c4362e8af8b

Here are most of the books on that list.

[Anonymous No.3483417]

OK guys when people say "Read the Greeks" which specific books is that referring to?

[Anonymous No.3483426]

>>3482978
>who pays the bills...

watchu talking about here? who pays them?

[Anonymous No.3483450]

>>3483417
The Pre-Socratics -fragments
Plato -everything he wrote
Aristotle -most of the things he wrote
The Early Epicureans -Epicurus
The Early Stoics - more of a Roman thing