I'm planning on reading philosophy books soon, however I've only read one (Meditations by Marcus Aurelius). However since I am planning on reading more, what tips could be given in order to make reading it to be less intimidating? >I'm going start with philosophers that are most familiar to me, like Nietzsche for example. I already learned how annotate with sticky notes.Thank you, I really want to get into philosophy as a endeavor i'd partake in my free-time.
>>18491684If you only read the primary material, you will inevitably miss or misunderstand shit and come away thinking you've understood everything. Read commentaries from contemporary philosophers if you want to avoid that.
>>18491684You can read about philosophy but if you want to learn how to do actual philosophy it's best to learn how you should reason first. Without this you won't be able to discern good arguments from bad arguments. Learn about the syllogism, learn about logic, how to make valid logical deductions, etc. Philosophy isn't just a "my favorite literature" class or a "throw out random bullshit because it sounds le deep". It's an actual practice, a way to reason about the world, a way to try to arrive at truths about the nature of reality.
>>18491687Also this. Primary material is good. But you should also be reading secondary literature on the material if you want to correctly interpret the works you read.
>>18491687>Read commentaries from contemporary philosophers if you want to avoid that. So like other people's accounts of the philosopher's works? In order to have a better idea what I'd be reading? I think they already do something like that through introductions, or am I misinterpreting?
>>18491691I should of mentioned this but I'm unable to afford to go study at a university, hence why I am here.>It's best to learn how you should reason first. Without this you won't be able to discern good arguments from bad arguments. Learn about the syllogism, learn about logic, how to make valid logical deductions, etc. What is syllogism? Otherwise thanks.>It's an actual practice, a way to reason about the world, a way to try to arrive at truths about the nature of reality. I agree, I want to go beyond "spewing quotes online to sound deep" even though I already don't do that.
>>18491684PHILOSOPHY IS NOT FOR YOU.
>>18491698>What is syllogism?A syllogism is a deductive argument with at least two premises and a conclusion. This method of reasoning goes at least as far back as Aristotle (to my knowledge) who formalized it under his own system of logic. Aristotle's logic has now been superseded, but it's still very useful as a grounding. As somebody who is going to do philosophy though you should be familiar with at least basic Aristotelian logic, mathematical logic, and informal logic. You don't need to become an expert logician or anything like that, but you should sharpen your reasoning and argumentation skills. Let me tell you that philosophy becomes way more engaging when you know how to 1). Make an argument2). Assess other people's arguments In truth this is what philosophy boils down to. It boils down to correctly reasoning about the world to arrive at its truths, and living as part of those truths. In the same way that physicists use mathematics to arrive at models of reality, philosophers use logic (both formal and informal) to correctly reason and deduce things about reality. Just at least give yourself a basic education about this stuff. Find an introductory textbook on logic online or something. Who knows. Maybe you'll find the subject so interesting you'll want to study higher orders of logic in their own right. Some philosophers only do logic all day, like modal logic or non-classical logics. You don't strictly need that but explore the field. Philosophy is a huge subject, with some parts of its focusing more on the humanities side, and some parts of it focus more so on the science side.
