New at Philosophy, and in need of some advice.

[Picaro]

..... Don't waste time on rubbish like Kant or Nietzsche.

Hey OP: Do NOT listen to the uniformed musings of the ignorant. Don't discount any of the great Philosophers based on some yahoo on the internet.

Don't listen to some troll who is a scat fetishist and thinks the short term internment of a few Japanese at the beginning of WW II is the moral equivalence of Hitler's gas chambers, i.e. a moron. Reading Ayer's book first will give you some basis for understanding most of the others and the arguments and some idea of the validity and points they make. You will find that most of the 'great philosophers' weren't particularly 'great' and many of the modern ones are better and make more sense. It's a overview of many of those you're interested in to begin with, and why Kant is a waste of time, as is the homosexual Nietzche who died of syphilis and was never more than merely a sheltered middle class academic who became fashionable for a while and never wrote anything worthwhile. A lot of emotionally disturbed closet cases with Daddy Issues probably think he's 'interesting', but that's about it.

The recommendation of William James and Bertrand Russell is also good as well, though I think Ayer's history is the more interesting, in that he was an 'extremist' who later kind of moderated his views due to personal experience and is informative in itself.

Personal acrimony aside, the OP should not listen to anyone here, including me. Unlike the wannabe experts here, I have a degree in philosophy, but I will not presume to make a reading list or denigrate figures in the history of the science just to look like I know what I’m talking about. Everyone’s journey is their own. The OP can start anywhere and go where his interests take him.

lol ...Dumbass bourgeoisie Burb Brat hippie nonsense, as usual. Why not just recommend some acid and a lava lamp?

 

[Votto]

I just sparked an interest in philosophy recently. I have been reading a lot on philosophy and the different branches. My goal is to have a broad knowledge of all the branches.

What I need advice on, is there a specific order to study them? Like do I need to understand 1 branch in order to understand another. Or does it matter where I start and they all intertwine with each other?

This is the order of the branches that I am most interested in learning. Should it be in a different order to help me understand and have a broad knowledge of the different branches of philosophy?

metaphysics
ontology & logic together
epistemology
axiology
ethics
aesthethics
political theory

What I came across while researching, when developing your own philosophy use another philosophers concepts and ideas as a framework to get started?

Is there any key concepts that are recommended?
Any websites?
Any particular philosophers work?
Any theories I should study?
Any advice would help?

I understand what philosophy is, but I want a better understanding. Any advice and or help would be much appreciated, Thank you.

One of my favorites is Socrates, probably because I'm a Christian.

There are interesting similarities between Socrates and Jesus. Both did not write about themselves, but depended on others to do it for them, and both pursued truth, so much so it cost them both their lives. In fact, when both were confronted with continuing to embrace the truth, which would mean their death, or rejecting it, they both chose truth over saving their own skin.

What interests me most of all are some of the quotes from Socrates that seem eerily Christ like.

"A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive for even a short time."

"My plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth"

Socrates understood that truth is brutal. It is a double edged sword that spares no one. Truth strips you down naked and makes you see yourself for who you are, which is the good, the bad, and the ugly. Truth does not take your side, rather, it merely crushes you eventually if you oppose it. This is why both Socrates and Jesus were murdered. It is because men loved darkness rather than the light.

As Socrates said, "I was afraid that by observing objects with my eyes and trying to comprehend them with each of my other senses, I might blind my soul altogether."

Socrates understood that although men could see with the eyes, they were spiritually blind to the reality of their inner depravity.

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light"

And what of the Golden Rule, the cornerstone of the teachings of Jesus?

Socrates said this.

"One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him."

There is also one other similarity between Jesus and Socrates, historians often question the existence of either. It's as if it is inconceivable that such men existed at all, that is, those would give their life for the very truth from which other men hide in shame.

 

[Unkotare]

..... Don't waste time on rubbish like Kant or Nietzsche.

Hey OP: Do NOT listen to the uniformed musings of the ignorant. Don't discount any of the great Philosophers based on some yahoo on the internet.

Don't listen to some troll who is a scat fetishist and thinks the short term internment of a few Japanese at the beginning of WW II is the moral equivalence of Hitler's gas chambers, i.e. a moron. Reading Ayer's book first will give you some basis for understanding most of the others and the arguments and some idea of the validity and points they make. You will find that most of the 'great philosophers' weren't particularly 'great' and many of the modern ones are better and make more sense. It's a overview of many of those you're interested in to begin with, and why Kant is a waste of time, as is the homosexual Nietzche who died of syphilis and was never more than merely a sheltered middle class academic who became fashionable for a while and never wrote anything worthwhile. A lot of emotionally disturbed closet cases with Daddy Issues probably think he's 'interesting', but that's about it.

The recommendation of William James and Bertrand Russell is also good as well, though I think Ayer's history is the more interesting, in that he was an 'extremist' who later kind of moderated his views due to personal experience and is informative in itself.

Personal acrimony aside, the OP should not listen to anyone here, including me. Unlike the wannabe experts here, I have a degree in philosophy, but I will not presume to make a reading list or denigrate figures in the history of the science just to look like I know what I’m talking about. Everyone’s journey is their own. The OP can start anywhere and go where his interests take him.

...Why not just recommend some acid and a lava lamp?

Why would I do that?

 

[BreezeWood]

lol ...Dumbass bourgeoisie Burb Brat hippie nonsense ...

one might wonder what impact John Lennon would have in today's world if the haters, picaro had not killed him ...

 

[Picaro]

lol ...Dumbass bourgeoisie Burb Brat hippie nonsense ...

View attachment 163689


one might wonder what impact John Lennon would have in today's world if the haters, picaro had not killed him ...

lol well I certainly wouldn't argue that somebody with your lack of intellect would consider John Lennon a 'Deep Thinker', since he was just a self-absorbed narcissist whose only interest was in selling insipid songs to drug-addled teenagers for as much money as he could get out of the tards. That's why he had such appeal to your ilk, after all; he understood his target audience completely and could relate well to them and their real ideals. That's what made him and the rest of the boys such masters at marketing.

I bet you have every episode of Beavis N Butthead memorized, too.

 

[BreezeWood]

lol ...Dumbass bourgeoisie Burb Brat hippie nonsense ...

View attachment 163689


one might wonder what impact John Lennon would have in today's world if the haters, picaro had not killed him ...

lol well I certainly wouldn't argue that somebody with your lack of intellect would consider John Lennon a 'Deep Thinker', since he was just a self-absorbed narcissist whose only interest was in selling insipid songs to drug-addled teenagers for as much money as he could get out of the tards. That's why he had such appeal to your ilk, after all; he understood his target audience completely and could relate well to them and their real ideals. That's what made him and the rest of the boys such masters at marketing.

I bet you have every episode of Beavis N Butthead memorized, too.

.

... your lack of intellec would consider John Lennon a 'Deep Thinker', since he was just a self-absorbed narcissist whose only interest was in selling insipid songs to drug-addled teenagers for as much money as he could get out of the tards.

I guess you got nailed pretty good ... shot in the dark and look what crawls out.

 

[Picaro]

lol ...Dumbass bourgeoisie Burb Brat hippie nonsense ...

View attachment 163689


one might wonder what impact John Lennon would have in today's world if the haters, picaro had not killed him ...

lol well I certainly wouldn't argue that somebody with your lack of intellect would consider John Lennon a 'Deep Thinker', since he was just a self-absorbed narcissist whose only interest was in selling insipid songs to drug-addled teenagers for as much money as he could get out of the tards. That's why he had such appeal to your ilk, after all; he understood his target audience completely and could relate well to them and their real ideals. That's what made him and the rest of the boys such masters at marketing.

I bet you have every episode of Beavis N Butthead memorized, too.

.

... your lack of intellec would consider John Lennon a 'Deep Thinker', since he was just a self-absorbed narcissist whose only interest was in selling insipid songs to drug-addled teenagers for as much money as he could get out of the tards.

I guess you got nailed pretty good ... shot in the dark and look what crawls out.

Another Beatles fan ... Beatlemania is like an incurable venereal disease, except the 12 year old girls who made up the vast majority of their fan base and targeted market grew up and moved on, while the stoners couldn't.

 

[Unkotare]

..... Don't waste time on rubbish like Kant or Nietzsche.

Hey OP: Do NOT listen to the uniformed musings of the ignorant. Don't discount any of the great Philosophers based on some yahoo on the internet.

Don't listen to some troll who is a scat fetishist and thinks the short term internment of a few Japanese at the beginning of WW II is the moral equivalence of Hitler's gas chambers, i.e. a moron. Reading Ayer's book first will give you some basis for understanding most of the others and the arguments and some idea of the validity and points they make. You will find that most of the 'great philosophers' weren't particularly 'great' and many of the modern ones are better and make more sense. It's a overview of many of those you're interested in to begin with, and why Kant is a waste of time, as is the homosexual Nietzche who died of syphilis and was never more than merely a sheltered middle class academic who became fashionable for a while and never wrote anything worthwhile. A lot of emotionally disturbed closet cases with Daddy Issues probably think he's 'interesting', but that's about it.

The recommendation of William James and Bertrand Russell is also good as well, though I think Ayer's history is the more interesting, in that he was an 'extremist' who later kind of moderated his views due to personal experience and is informative in itself.

Personal acrimony aside, the OP should not listen to anyone here, including me. Unlike the wannabe experts here, I have a degree in philosophy, but I will not presume to make a reading list or denigrate figures in the history of the science just to look like I know what I’m talking about. Everyone’s journey is their own. The OP can start anywhere and go where his interests take him.

lol ...Dumbass bourgeoisie Burb Brat hippie nonsense, as usual. Why not just recommend some acid and a lava lamp?

Why would I do that?

 

[BreezeWood]

lol ...Dumbass bourgeoisie Burb Brat hippie nonsense ...

View attachment 163689


one might wonder what impact John Lennon would have in today's world if the haters, picaro had not killed him ...

lol well I certainly wouldn't argue that somebody with your lack of intellect would consider John Lennon a 'Deep Thinker', since he was just a self-absorbed narcissist whose only interest was in selling insipid songs to drug-addled teenagers for as much money as he could get out of the tards. That's why he had such appeal to your ilk, after all; he understood his target audience completely and could relate well to them and their real ideals. That's what made him and the rest of the boys such masters at marketing.

I bet you have every episode of Beavis N Butthead memorized, too.

.

... your lack of intellec would consider John Lennon a 'Deep Thinker', since he was just a self-absorbed narcissist whose only interest was in selling insipid songs to drug-addled teenagers for as much money as he could get out of the tards.

I guess you got nailed pretty good ... shot in the dark and look what crawls out.

Another Beatles fan ... Beatlemania is like an incurable venereal disease, except the 12 year old girls who made up the vast majority of their fan base and targeted market grew up and moved on, while the stoners couldn't.

.

Another Beatles fan ...

- one might wonder what impact John Lennon would have in today's world if the haters, picaro had not killed him ...


you needn't worry yourself, lost opportunities are a dime a dozen ...

 

[DustyInfinity]

I had a teacher once tell me you can't really appreciate Plato's Republic until you have read it three times. It is stunning how relevant and how much you can take away from this book. One rookie mistake is to believe that morality is subjective. It takes awhile to figure that one out. I took a course on the study of knowledge, and I hated it. All you come away with is that you can't prove the sun will come up tomorrow. I don't think you need any special order of study. In Metaphysics, I learned that the physics students told me that physics professors make stuff up. I don't understand Leibniz at all, and what the heck is a "monad" I love Kant. His Kingdom of Ends is a logical match for the Bible's Golden Rule. It is logical to treat others as you would be treated. Finally, most philosophy professors are drunks looking for God.