shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 16, 2017 21:40:09 GMT -5
Post separation, I suddenly find myself with a lot more time and a much longer attention span than I've had in years. I've been enjoying expanding my horizons as of late and just wrapped up reading Shakespeare's first Henriad from beginning to end for the first time. Anyway, I feel like trying something different now. I've always had an interest in philosophy, but I've never taken a course or read anything other than basic college level primers. I'm thinking of fully immersing myself in one philosopher and was wondering if anyone had suggestions. I was thinking of attempting to read Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit first (precisely because it's daunting) but am definitely open to other suggestions.
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Post by berkley on Apr 17, 2017 0:23:41 GMT -5
I've never taken any courses in philosophy but have done a fair bit of reading the last few years. One thing that can make it hard to read anything in isolation is that each individual writer is often reacting to the philosophical ideas of the preceding generation, so you almost need at least a working knowledge of what came before, especially from Kant onwards. Hegel is notoriously difficult - Schopenhauer had some highly entertaining rants about how his writings were completely unintelligible and had ruined the minds of German youth - so his Phenomenology is a particularly tough one to handle without some kind of guide or commentary to help you along. I found a pretty good one online when I read it a few years ago, I'll see if I can remember what it was called - I think it was from a university course or something that the lecturer had made available. I just had a quick look and didn't find the one I was thinking of, but came across this page from something called Sparknotes, which seems to give a pretty good overview, at least. Didn't read the whole thing or look very far ahead, so not sure how detailed it is on the later chapters: Sparknotes for Hegel's Phenomenology. I've also been reading a book called Introduction to German Philosophy: From Kant to Habermas, by one Andrew Bowie, that I've found gives a good overall picture, though it's necessarily brief on the individual philosophers since it's covering a fairly wide range. As the title of that book suggests, if you're interested in German philosophy you might consider starting with Kant, because he does mark a turning point and almost everyone who came afterwards built on or reacted against his work. Then again, Kant himself credited David Hume with "waking him up from his dogmatic slumber", so you could start with Hume ... you see how this goes. |
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 17, 2017 0:25:54 GMT -5
I'm not widely read in philosophy, I couldn't quote anybody or explain any doctrines, but I've read some Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Descartes, Erasmus, Rousseau, Nietczhe (sp?), Camus, and a few others (most of 'em in college). I can't read philosophy in large doses and I have to be in a certain mood. There are a few I read for pleasure. Love me some Voltaire. Montaigne is wonderful, especially if you get a good translation. I enjoy Bertrand Russell. That's about it.
Cei-U!
I summon the existential despair!
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Post by Rob Allen on Apr 17, 2017 2:34:57 GMT -5
Philosophy was my minor in college, and I'm a regular listener to the Philosophy Talk radio show/podcast: philosophytalk.org. I didn't start out intending to minor in philosophy, I just kept taking courses because I liked the subject(s) and the professors. I seem to recall studying more logic and epistemology, and less metaphysics and ethics. The introductory course started with Descartes' Meditations, and it seemed like a good place to start. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 17, 2017 5:31:24 GMT -5
You gentlemen have given me a lot to absorb. Thank you!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 17, 2017 6:16:53 GMT -5
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Post by Randle-El on Apr 17, 2017 9:03:48 GMT -5
Post separation, I suddenly find myself with a lot more time and a much longer attention span than I've had in years. I've been enjoying expanding my horizons as of late and just wrapped up reading Shakespeare's first Henriad from beginning to end for the first time. Anyway, I feel like trying something different now. I've always had an interest in philosophy, but I've never taken a course or read anything other than basic college level primers. I'm thinking of fully immersing myself in one philosopher and was wondering if anyone had suggestions. I was thinking of attempting to read Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit first (precisely because it's daunting) but am definitely open to other suggestions. No philosophy recommendations, but I'm sorry to hear of your current circumstances. Wish you the best and hope things work out for all involved. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 17, 2017 10:34:42 GMT -5
Post separation, I suddenly find myself with a lot more time and a much longer attention span than I've had in years. I've been enjoying expanding my horizons as of late and just wrapped up reading Shakespeare's first Henriad from beginning to end for the first time. Anyway, I feel like trying something different now. I've always had an interest in philosophy, but I've never taken a course or read anything other than basic college level primers. I'm thinking of fully immersing myself in one philosopher and was wondering if anyone had suggestions. I was thinking of attempting to read Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit first (precisely because it's daunting) but am definitely open to other suggestions. No philosophy recommendations, but I'm sorry to hear of your current circumstances. Wish you the best and hope things work out for all involved. Thanks. It's a mess, but I'm learning I have all this extra energy when I'm not putting it all into trying to save a marriage that didn't want to be saved. So I'm picking up where I left off nearly 20 years ago and continuing the interests I put off to the side back then. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 17, 2017 10:36:17 GMT -5
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Post by mikelmidnight on Apr 17, 2017 11:26:08 GMT -5
I have an undergraduate degree in it, but never completed my Master's. My main interests were analytic philosophy and philosophy of science. I'd recommend Douglas Hofstadter's work - a bit of a sprawling mess at times but he touches on all sorts of interesting subjects and is a very entertaining writer.
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Post by badwolf on Apr 20, 2017 9:12:58 GMT -5
I took a philosophy class in college and it was one of my favorite courses. Fortunately I got the prof who just wanted to sit us in a circle and talk about stuff, and not the one who made everyone memorize names and dates.
As for readings, apart from the textbook, I've only read more contemporary stuff. Though it was too long ago for me to remember exactly how or why, I feel like Robert Pirsig's books changed my life. And if you feel some of the classic works are too daunting, you might try Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World, "a novel about the history of philosophy", which presents the old philosophers and their ideas in the context of a story. I thought it was amazing.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2017 9:36:16 GMT -5
In my College Days, one of the classes that's required for graduation at a Community College Level that time was Philosophy 101 and I took it in my 1st year there and I did not understand one word that the Professor said to me and anyone else that matters. I was trying to figure out what the world that he is teaching here and we had only two tests for the whole quarter and I was shocked getting a B+ grade for the course and still didn't understand one iota of what the Professor said to all of us.
At the end of the quarter the Professor said to me you are one of my better students and I was stunned by his comments and all and after that class was over; I did not take any more classes after that.
I did read lots of books from my older brother who was a fan of Philosophy and more I read about it the more I didn't understand one iota and I did read lots of books.
Consider me a reader of Philosophy that had a hard time understanding it.
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 27, 2017 9:32:13 GMT -5
I'm not one for philosophy, but to me it sort of comes with the territory of psychology, anthropology, and sociology, which I've always had an active interest in. I like learning about what makes us collectively human so that I can try and help others break away things that are holding them back (i.e. human nature) from achieving true greatness not only in life but in of themselves
And it's very much in my human nature to give of myself to others that they might be able numb at least some of the emotional/mental pain
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Post by Rob Allen on Apr 27, 2017 12:05:26 GMT -5
I'm not one for philosophy, but to me it sort of comes with the territory of psychology, anthropology, and sociology, which I've always had an active interest in. Interesting that you mention those three fields. As I said above, philosophy was my minor in college. My major field was Behavioral Science, which was a cooperative offering by the departments of Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology. You could major in any one of them or do the Behavioral Science major which included all three. So I agree, in my life at least, philosophy went along with those fields very well. |
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Post by berkley on Apr 28, 2017 0:10:58 GMT -5
There's an ongoing controversy over whether or not philosophy has any place in the modern world as a serious discipline as more and more of its traditional domain is taken over by science. Of course you could say that science itself emerged from philosophy and was once considered part of it, so perhaps this is just a matter of nomenclature. But regardless, I think there is still a need for philosophy as such and that the more science discovers and grows the more there is to think about in philosophical terms.
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