Useful resources for beginners
Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 8:13 pm
Philosophical language is not like our everyday ordinary language - the reason for this is because some words may carry multiple meanings that make discussion confusing, we might think a word we use has a given meaning, but when we use it in philosophy, it just doesn't work very well.
Getting over the 'no common sense' formal language hurdle is hard for beginners and is frustrating. I completely empathise. There are however, lots of online resources for philosophical terms, Wikipedia has a few, if you go to the disambiguiation pages for certain words, you will see philosophy in brackets next to these words.
Here's another great resource: https://plato.stanford.edu/ Stanford has a wealth of information on most philosophers and philosophical concepts.
Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy: http://www.iep.utm.edu/
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://www.rep.routledge.com/
My advice is to keep things simple, take your time and don't worry if you don't understand something, it usually means it's not yet relevant to understand something when you are just starting out.
Plato is probably the best and easiest philosopher for beginners, his dialogues are very easy to read and understand, the more you can actually read books on philosophy the better, in fact, reading is essential. Philosophy is a devout pursuit, it is very time consuming and can take 2 or 3 years to get the hang of it.
Give yourself a break, philosophy isn't for everyone either, it can seem too personal and infuriating as it's like learning a whole new language and way of thinking.
Getting over the 'no common sense' formal language hurdle is hard for beginners and is frustrating. I completely empathise. There are however, lots of online resources for philosophical terms, Wikipedia has a few, if you go to the disambiguiation pages for certain words, you will see philosophy in brackets next to these words.
Here's another great resource: https://plato.stanford.edu/ Stanford has a wealth of information on most philosophers and philosophical concepts.
Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy: http://www.iep.utm.edu/
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://www.rep.routledge.com/
My advice is to keep things simple, take your time and don't worry if you don't understand something, it usually means it's not yet relevant to understand something when you are just starting out.
Plato is probably the best and easiest philosopher for beginners, his dialogues are very easy to read and understand, the more you can actually read books on philosophy the better, in fact, reading is essential. Philosophy is a devout pursuit, it is very time consuming and can take 2 or 3 years to get the hang of it.
Give yourself a break, philosophy isn't for everyone either, it can seem too personal and infuriating as it's like learning a whole new language and way of thinking.