Midnight Pub

So You Want to Get Into Philosophy

~contrarian

Take this from someone who has no prior knowledge of philosophy and is majoring in it as an undergraduate at a public university in the US. This is what I would do if I wanted to continue my interest in philosophy if I was unable to continue now that I have more of an inside scoop.

What you want to avoid is pop philosophy like YouTube edutainers that give rise to distortions like Broicism. What YouTube is good for is talks that have been given and actual interviews.

Kuhn's Closer to Truth is a good series especially with regards to philosophers of religion, his politics which have nothing to do with the show aside.

The History of Philosophy podcast is a good one.

You will not fail to notice that philosophers are stuck up people. You may as well learn to live with it.

You will see r/philosophy and r/askphilosophy pop up a lot in search results. They can be somewhat helpful as far as the stupid questions you're afraid to ask.

There are several philosophy encyclopedias online, but two stand out in particular: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) and Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP).

The latter is more entry level.

The former is more suited for a deep drive.

Go on Philosophy Compass and just start reading whatever seems interesting. You can branch out from there to more serious articles.

Look at Oxford bibliographies to get a feel for the standard stuff.

If there are small conferences nearby that pique your fancy, don't be afraid to go to them. Universities are there secondarily to serve the public.

You learn philosophy by doing it like Bertrand Russell. "Look ma, I'm doing philosophy." Someone's else trammeled ground is going to be new to you, and you have to master the literature before you can enter into conversation.

Slang

Cash it out

Pump intuitions


thebogboys

Thanks for the read. I have a long distance relationship with philosophy: something that has always allured me and also something that has always stayed just a bit out of reach. As with ~theoddballphilosopher, I read Kierkegaard when I was younger and was engaged. Sickness Unto Death was a great read. I enjoyed Fear and Loathing, which is kind of philosophy in its own right.

I feel like I'm a folk philosopher type. I find there is a lot of profundity in the profane, and the lives of the ordinary joes around me are good mirrors of the archetypes. I also find a great deal of wisdom in good fiction writing; not schlock, but traditionals that have withstood the test of time. East of Eden is a great example. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, too.

I read Becker's Denial of Death, and it was transformative.

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theoddballphilosopher

I myself admire the philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard.

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