A complete newbie on Philosophy

WolvesAtMyDoor February 05, 2018 at 02:43 3100 views 7 comments

Greetings everyone,
I am completely green / newbie to the subject Philosophy and all of its colorful palettes, I don't have any academic knowledge in this regard nor worked with it professionally, however I am truly fascinated with the subject and its many facettes, so while these kind of topics may annoy some of you, I am sorry for that, but what would be a good way to get introduced to the discipline?

I hope I could get some great key pointers.

Best regards,
WolvesAtMyDoor

Comments (7)

René Descartes February 05, 2018 at 03:18 #149885 0 likes

[Delete] @Baden

WISDOMfromPO-MO February 05, 2018 at 03:25 #149887 0 likes

It depends on your present position relative to philosophy.

If you have specific questions, such as "Why is there something rather than nothing?", then delve into those questions.

If you have certain intuitions--maybe you sense that there's more to life than what your culture has led you to believe--then delve into those.

If you simply heard about this thing called philosophy and are wondering what all the fuss is about, pursue that angle.

Etc.

Rich February 05, 2018 at 03:27 #149889 0 likes

Choose a specific subject that you are interested in and just begin studying it. Don't study philosophers. Study questions that you have.

Ying February 05, 2018 at 04:31 #149916 0 likes

Quoting WolvesAtMyDoor

...but what would be a good way to get introduced to the discipline?

Well, it pays when you know philosophy is mostly about problems, so I suggest diving straight in with an easy one. The problem of the historical Socrates is a good place to start off since it doesn't require much reading to get a somewhat educated view on the matter. All it requires is some reading of Plato ("Apology", "Crito" and "Phaedo") and Xenophon ("Apology" and "Memorabilia"). Those two authors paint a different picture of Socrates, and knowing both allows you to piece together some understanding of the actual man on your own.

BC February 05, 2018 at 04:35 #149917 0 likes

We've been going here for about 2 years+. The old forum that many of had belonged to had run for at least 10 years. You might want to look over the list of thread titles.

On the left side of the screen is "All Discussions". Click on that button, and the list of topics will come up, the most recent first. At the bottom of the page are page numbers of more topics. Feel free to chime in on an old topic. Doing so will bring the thread up to the top of the list where other people may also see it and join in.

Or start your own thread.

Welcome.

René Descartes February 05, 2018 at 05:06 #149922 0 likes

[Delete] @Baden

WolvesAtMyDoor February 06, 2018 at 14:01 #150540 0 likes

Thank you very much for your understanding, and replies!
I am looking forward to browse through this forum, as it's fascinating to me to hear other peoples perspective.