I want to learn Philosophy. How should I start ? (lemmings.world)

submitted 11 months ago by gunpachi@lemmings.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Lately I have found an interest in philosophy. I would love to dig deeper into it when I get the time.

I just started reading Seneca's Letters from a stoic and plan to read Tao te Ching next, as I always wanted to implement thoughts from Stoicism and Taoism in my life.

I'm aware that, randomly reading different philosophical works won't give me much in-depth knowledge.

I want to know what's a good way to go about it and the resources I could use.

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[-] platypode@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

There are a lot of good resources in this thread, but nobody has mentioned the single most important part by far:

actually practice philosophy

Study is worthless if you don't engage in the practice of philosophy. Find people to debate with, preferably ones who have a formal grounding (and I mean a real debate, where you make reasoned arguments and investigate the truth of a matter, not the bullshit-flinging points game that gets popular online). Write arguments, revise them, give them to people to tear them apart.

The literature is good, but it will only teach you (a) how philosophers approach questions, (b) what arguments and counterarguments have been successful or popular, and (c) what the big questions are. If you do not practice philosophy, you will never learn philosophy; you will only learn what philosophers have said.

this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023

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