How to learn philosophy?
How to learn philosophy?
By "learn philosophy" I simply mean to have the ability to understand philosophical texts and to find answers in them. I don't mean the ability to write academic articles nor (obviously!) the ability to produce your own philosophical system.
Now that I've brought the conversation down to earth let me explain that this is a worthwhile aim if you are the kind of person who has an inner flow of philosophical questions. If you grew up with this inner voice, it won't go away no matter how much you ignore it or pretend it isn't there. So since you have to live with the questions anyway, it's better to try and do something with them.
If on the other hand, you don't have these questions, I would question your motives: some people want to engage with philosophy because of its prestige or because it makes them sound profound. Don't be this kind of person, spend your time engaging with something that is your true calling. Philosophy is far from the only way to be intelligent or think critically about the world.
So, how to learn how do read a philosophical text? What follows is a series of tips. It is a humble offering but it is honest, based on long experience, and realistic. I think this last word "realistic" to be of great importance here. Much of the advice you'll get out there lacks in exactly this respect. On the one hand, you'll find the professors who advocate for a life dedicated to the study of two or three philosophers. Who has the time for this outside the academy? On the other hand, there are YouTube videos that will explain you a philosopher in three minutes. Don't get me wrong, some of these videos are great (see this series for instance), but we are looking for more depth here. How do we get to the via media between these two?
☝Consider unpopular views. This is why ancient philosophy, especially Plato is great, it goes against the grain of much that is considered common place today. Asking yourself why you think these views are wrong means that you finally start taking your own beliefs seriously rather than just follow the majority.
✌Take your views seriously. People are often encouraged to understand philosophy as a purely theoretical exercise. "For as long as we are in this room, let's doubt the existence of chairs and ethical norms, but this is just for pedagogical purposes and it would be naive to extend this way of thinking outside the classroom". Now, if this is the case, philosophy is just a sort of educational veneer, a useful accessory for a professional career in law or diplomacy and a mark that reminds people that you are smart. I would claim instead that you should consider what sort of actions and what way of living would follow from your philosophical convictions and that if you find them unpalatable you have some further thinking to do.
💂 Don't be afraid to be un-academic. Academic standards of expertise are simply unrealistic for the layman. Also, much of academic writing is a cryptic exercise for the initiated. You don't want to advance academic knowledge but answer important questions. In the same vein, read widely instead of focusing on a few thinkers or a specific era or school.
👦Join a group. Now with the pandemic there is a host of online groups that you can join for free. Discussing with others helps the understanding, makes you notice how you differ from other people and what is unique about your own thought and is a huge help in understanding difficult texts. I've been running such a group for a year now, and I learned a tremendous amount in the process.
💗 Get this book. Cottingham did an amazing job at choosing, editing and introducing texts. This is much better than "a history of philosophy" because in such books you just read one author's opinion about many. What you want to do is get to know many different authors, taste their writing style and maneurisms, compare them with each other and take them all seriously. Think of the visual richness of the School of Athens but in book format.
Some epigrammatic DOs: commit your thoughts to a text, join twitter, start with easy, understandable texts, use context (interviews, wikipedia entries) to understand the authors, use YouTube- it's a wonderful resource
and some DON'Ts: don't try to get straight to the most difficult writers without knowing the history of philosophy first (eg Derrida and Hegel), don't throw around cryptic words without reason, don't get obsessed with fallacies.
More reflections on how to philosophize soon.
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