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How to Start Reading Philosophy

 Philosophy is intimidating. Philosophers use words in a weird way, introduce new and puzzling concepts and write like philosophy’s 2,500 years of tradition is common knowledge to everyone. Nevertheless, a lot of people still want to spend time reading philosophy, as we all have a burning desire for knowledge somewhere in us. But how can you start reading philosophy if philosophy is so difficult? How to start? 

The good news is you do not have to be a specialist to start reading philosophy. Every philosopher and philosophy student started as a complete beginner. In the article below I will go over some tips and resources that can help you get started in philosophy.

1. Start with accessible thinkers and books.

One of the most important pieces of advice I can give is to start with accessible thinkers and books. It can be very tempting to head straight for the most important thinkers and the books that have single-handedly changed the course of history. However, a lot of these works are simply inaccessible to beginners. Starting with Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason or Heidegger's Being and Time is simply not smart. I do not want to discourage those who have a burning passion to start reading these books. If that is what you want to do, then go for it. However, from a pedagogical standpoint, it does not make sense. These books require background knowledge, and there are no miracle people who can read these books and understand them as they go without background knowledge. 

There are thinkers and books that do make great starting points for beginners. As for books, I recently made a blog post covering 5 beginner-friendly philosophy books.  There are also thinkers that have a reputation for being easier to read and for being beginner friendly. I would personally recommend Plato, Epicurus, Saint Augustine, Descartes, Locke and Hume. I would advise absolute beginners to stay away from almost anything written in German. There are certainly some books by German philosophers that are beginner-friendly, but German thinkers have a reputation for being some of the most complex thinkers in history.

I can also add that the edition of a book can make a great difference as well. A lot of philosophical works are translated. Some of these translations try to stay as close as possible to the original text. This results in weird phrases in English when we try to express the nuances of another language. Other translations emphasise readability for a larger audience. They lose some of the nuances, but in turn they become more beginner-friendly. What also differs between editions are the notes. Editions with a lot of good footnotes should help you better understand texts and give some professional insight as to what the author is trying to convey. 

2. Use Guides and Secondary Resources

What helped me the most getting started in philosophy is secondary resources. As I said, there are no miracle people that understand the most complex philosophical books on their first try. What helps enormously when reading philosophy is background knowledge, professional interpretations and guides that lay out the argumentative structure of a philosophical text. 

Most classical philosophers from the Western canon have entire libraries of books written about them that try to interpret their works. Some of these are very technical studies of particular concepts. Others are companion books that are meant to serve as an introduction to new readers. A lot of these books have titles that suggest that they are there to help you. Think of the title as Reading Plato, Understanding Aristotle, How to Read Kant. The Cambridge Companion Guide series is a great example of this.

Another great and free resource to help you understand philosophy is the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. This encyclopaedia is filled with very readable peer‑reviewed articles on nearly every concept and thinker. Even in academia this is used as an important source. I used this encyclopaedia a lot during my bachelor’ degree. 

A fair word of warning: make sure to read these resources alongside the primary text and not as a replacement for primary texts. 

3. Take It Slow and Re-read

At the end of the day, philosophy is still difficult. Philosophers pride themselves on coming to the pinnacle of human wisdom; it is meant to be difficult. Re-reading is part of the game and probably the most essential step in understanding complex thinkers and texts. Philosophy students spend most of their time re-reading and re-reading again. They understand that the most complex of argumentations cannot become fully clear after one reading of a text. Even if an argumentation seems obvious or simple, re-reading can sometimes reveal hidden nuances that make the conclusion all the more interesting. 

Taking notes is also a great technique that boosts understanding and memory. By going over an argumentation slowly while writing, we can often better see the connections between the arguments. Writing also boosts memory, which is a nice added bonus as well. What helps even more is when we try to reformulate an argumentation in our own words. Being able to change the wording of the argumentation shows that we have truly understood and mastered it. 

Taking it slow requires a lot of patience. Which are the most important qualities of a philosopher? It is impossible to finish philosophy. It is even impossible to finish reading any given philosopher. Reading philosophy will always bring its fair share of obstacles. Some of these obstacles we can overcome, but there are also some obstacles that we never seem to overcome. There are philosophical texts which have puzzled interpreters for centuries and which simply are ambiguous. 

4. Join a community and ask for help.

The internet has greatly helped with the popularisation of philosophy. There are subreddits and Discord groups with a lot of philosophy students willing to help anyone. Make use of it! Formulating what we do not understand is already an essential step towards understanding. Most of the questions concerning the comprehension of an author or a philosophical text have answers, and there are a lot of capable students willing to help.

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