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Tell me about PHILOSOPHY

Just saw Revolutions, read the entire thread on this forum.

That made me realize just how ignorant I am on the whole philosophy thing.

So help me out, anything you might think will benefit in learning about what dead men with too much money thought of in their free time.

Books, websites, 5 millin page essays, well not 5 million page essays, movies, personal experiences, whatever you think will work with someone who doesn't know much about philosophy.

Helps if it is newbie friendly though, thanks

buy this book: http://www.phil-books.com/Reason_an...0136246028.html

well basically the word philosophy means "love of wisdom". it is believed that the first greek philosopher was thales but very little is known about him. there is however another school of thought the says pythagoras was the first greek philosopher because he was the first greek to actually define philosophy and use the term "philosophy". there are many many brilliant philosophers but the greeks remain the most popular due to socrates, plato and aristotle. the greek philosophers are good to start with. there is a lot of information on them and they're style of philosophy is easier for a person new to philosophy to understand then say nietzche or descartes. it is important to understand that the greeks didn't invent philosophy. there were many philosophers before the greeks but it was aristotle who was the first to actually write out and publish philosophy. in fact almost everything we know about socrates and his teachings was written by aristotle. before you dive into philosophy itself you should read a book or two about the history of philosophy so you can better understand it's evolution. cheers.

$ verify_connection Philosophy, Matrix
Checking Philosophy... 100% done
Checking Matrix... error: divide by zero



i'm so geeky...

back on topic:

Read norwegian Jostein Gaarder's Sophia's World. It's a nice novel that briefly covers western philosophy history. The book is kinda childish (I presume it was aimed to teenagers). It's last 75 pages are crap, but nice book to read overall.

Im sure your local bookstore has a philosophy section. Try treasure hunting there. You can never read a book and not learn something (ie "FUCK ME THIS PERSON IS STUPID AND A BAD WRITER!!...cool i didnt know that before I started!")

I know a few people who started getting into philosophy with some books from the "introducing..." series published by icon books... They introduce the basic concepts in layman's terms without getting too wordy. Although they do have their limitations - they should give you an idea of where to start in terms of primary texts. I recommend starting with something non-specific like Introducing Philosophy, getting an idea of which philosophers you should be reading, having a go at them then moving on to more specific areas of philosophy/philosophers Aristotle, Plato Descartes etc... probably moving in chronological order is a good idea as most philosophers are influenced by the work of their predecesors. When you get to modern philosophy probably a good idea to read up some stuff on existentialism and then work through some of the authors (Sartre, Camus - Kierkegaard if you really want to etc...). Before you get into the really interesting stuff like Postmodernism and poststructuralism you should obviously first read about Modernism, but also get some grounding in linguistics and semiotics in particular. As you get more into it you'll realise that philosophy underlies a lot of disciplines and you'll probably find yourself having a peek at Freud, Jung and Lacan (now there's a mindfuck).... Yeah so in summary the introducing... books might help explain the basics and point you in the right direction in terms of reading: http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/intro.cfm

Enjoy...

I, my friend, am a great philosopher! I love all knowledge, and i learn new things everyday. Mathematiks, science, technology, politics, medicine, and atheletics. Ask me any question you may have, and i will gladly reach into my wealth of knowledge and give you the best answer i could possibly give you

quote:

Originally posted by electric_soul $ verify_connection Philosophy, Matrix Checking Philosophy... 100% done Checking Matrix... error: divide by zero

so true!

Forget The Matrix. That's MacPhilosophy mumbo jumbo. In order to truly understand what philosophy is all about, you have to go way back to the Greek masters all the way to post-modernism and beyond. My favorite school of philosophy is French existensialism, it's so much fun! Read The Stranger by Albert Camus, so simple yet much more deep than anything in the whole Matrix trilogy. Then you can go on to read the great treatises by Jean-Paul Sartre and there's no going back. I'm also digging Foucault and Derrida lately.

Sophie's World is a nice overview, Western Philosophy for dummies. That's an alright starting guide for the philosphy newbie.

fuck dead men and their books, i live my own philosophy




on the other hand, watch "waking life", if you can sit through the whole thing and not fall asleep, you might just love it.

Read "Republic of Plato"

It really depends upon what kind of philosophy you are interested in.

I would recommend �The History of Western Philosophy� by Bertrand Russell, as an introduction to philosophy it�s quite good. While not perfect, and no philosophy book is, it�s a good place to start. It covers all Western Philosophy, plus it includes some of the history behind the thinking, making it easier to understand why some philosophies that seem stupid now, but weren�t back then. Also, because it�s an overview of most of the thought up to about 1900 its possible to get an idea of what areas of philosophy interests you the most and then go read the works in questions.

Also it is important to realize that philosophy is divided into metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, politics, logic, aesthetics, and the like. at some later point perhaps you'll want to specialize.

quote:

Originally posted by InAcoma I would recommend �The History of Western Philosophy� by Bertrand Russell, as an introduction to philosophy it�s quite good.

Heh, I was reading that while sunbaking today. I bought it ages ago but intend to have it read by New Years (only up to like page 150 out of 1000 or so though). It's good as a history lesson as well.

Like everyone else here has said though, Cal, your best bet is to buy an "introduction to philosophy" type book in order to get yourself aquainted with all the ideas. When I first started reading philosophy (about 3 years ago, when I was about 17) I started reading one of my dad's old philosophy text-books during my first summer after school and it helped immensely. You probably won't understand it all first time (or, at least, I know I didn't) but at least you become aware of the basic philosophical ideas, the major philosophers and get a better understanding about what philosophy actually "is" (like electric_soul said, it's not all that similar to the Matrix Trilogy - though some of the basic ideas are there if you look hard enough).

So, in short, I reccomend you buy this book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=glance&s=books

And register on these forums:

http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/phpbb/index.php

(You could register on philosophyforums.com as well, but they're more advanced. Depends on which side of the pool you want to jump in on.)

Happy learning.

quote:

Originally posted by Renegade Heh, I was reading that while sunbaking today. I bought it ages ago but intend to have it read by New Years (only up to like page 150 out of 1000 or so though). It's good as a history lesson as well.

I heard his treatment of Kant isn't too good.

quote:

Originally posted by astroboy I heard his treatment of Kant isn't too good.

I'll let you know once I get that far. :-/

(Still only up to Plato. If his treatment of "Critique of Pure Reason" is anything like his treatment of "The Republic" though, it could make for interesting reading. )

A very very good philosophy book that is still read by many military students and intellectuals. It is the...

Art of War - by Mao Tze (written about 2000 years ago in CHina)

Read his teaching on military warfare, and you can see that it just doesnt regard military strategy, but daily life as well.

In some military academies, this book is required reading.

quote:

Originally posted by Heinz A very very good philosophy book that is still read by many military students and intellectuals. It is the... Art of War - by Mao Tze (written about 2000 years ago in CHina) Read his teaching on military warfare, and you can see that it just doesnt regard military strategy, but daily life as well. In some military academies, this book is required reading.

I think you meant Sun Tzu... the only famous Mao Tze i know of is Mao Tze Tung... and he came a bit later in China's history. Not Strictly a philosophical text, The Art of War does give some great advice that's applicable to your daily dealings with people.
Another "way of the warrior" work worth checking out is Hagakure by Yaamoto Tsunetomo. It's pretty wacky... it ranges from the philosophical (Zen/Samurai musings), to the mundane (advice for daily life of a samurai - eg keep powdered rouge in your sleeve), to the grotesque (eg. Urinating on a face after cutting it lengthwise helps make it easier to remove the skin).

If you are interested in Eastern philosophy try the Taoist works such as the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu or some of Chuang Tse's works... But perhaps read The Tao of Pooh first to get an idea of what its all about

right...Sun "Tzu", not Tze.

quote:

Originally posted by Trancender Read "Republic of Plato"

awesome book!!
if you arent used to plato's style...check out "Euthyphro" first

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