# On Beginning to Read Philosophy Sources



## RamistThomist (Mar 23, 2020)

The goal here is to read the actual sources, not secondary ones.

This is a fly-over view of approaching philosophy. It is overly simplistic. On the other hand, it is a useful handout in seeing different philosophical movements. The first part are basic texts that every educated Westerner must read. The second are snapshots from the Russian sociologist Aleksandr Dugin. I do not endorse Dugin’s larger projects, but he does a good job reading postmodern philosophy.

_Key Texts_

Plato. I recommend the Great Dialogues translated by Rouse. It gives you the Republic plus a few others. Being is now an Idea. It is that which is placed before man. Ideas are always across from man. There is a “gap.” Man is always “before” (across) the ideas. Thus Heidegger’s conclusion: man (being) is no longer in the world, but across from it. Man is pre-sented before the world, which means Ideas have to be re-presented to him. Truth is now correspondence between Idea and Object.

Aristotle, _Categories/Organon_. It’s a good intro to his metaphysics without getting bogged down. And I would study Aristotle’s table of being in metaphysics. It gives you the gist of it.

Augustine, _Confessions_. Pay attention to chapters 8, 10-12.

Thomas Aquinas. I don’t really know where you should start. It’s too much of a cliche to just begin with the 5 Proofs, but that’s also probably the easiest place to start.

Descartes. _Meditations _is a fairly straightforward read. Everything is is re-presented before the Subject. Descartes calls these beings objects (115). A subject must have an object to stand before it

Locke. At least read Book IV of his _Human Understanding_. It’s actually funny in parts.

Berkeley. Despite his apparently bizarre philosophy, he is a good writer.

Hume. _Dialogues on Natural Religion_.

Hegel. This is a tough one. I actually don’t think Philosophy of History is all that hard. Spend some time with a good intro to Hegel and you will be alright.

Marx. _Early Philosophical Writings_. Marx stays true to the metaphysical topography. He has a subject (society, class) and an object (matter, product, thing). Marx correctly noted that Machenschaft created alienation. His solution is to use techne (objects) to overcome the alienation.

Nietzsche. Most people like _Zarathustra_. I was underwhelmed. I liked _Genealogy of Morals_, though.

Heidegger. Probably don’t start with Being and Time. My personal favorite is the Harper Perennial edition of his _Major Works_, which gives you snippets from Being and Time, along with his better essays.

_Postmodernism and Beyond (From Dugin, see above link)_

Starting with Plato’s forms, philosophical man has had a leitmotif, often dual in structure, to explain reality.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1


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## Nate (Mar 24, 2020)

BayouHuguenot said:


> The goal here is to read the actual sources, not secondary ones.
> 
> This is a fly-over view of approaching philosophy. It is overly simplistic. On the other hand, it is a useful handout in seeing different philosophical movements. The first part are basic texts that every educated Westerner must read. The second are snapshots from the Russian sociologist Aleksandr Dugin. I do not endorse Dugin’s larger projects, but he does a good job reading postmodern philosophy.
> 
> ...



Many thanks for posting this. Amazon tells me my copy of Plato is arriving by 5pm today, so I look forward to starting tonight!

Reactions: Like 1


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## RamistThomist (Mar 27, 2020)

Someone also asked in the other thread about history of philosophy type books. I've used them in the sense that they give you a bird's eye view and keep you from making silly summaries of a thinker or movement.

Pride of place, of course, goes to Coplestone.

Bertrand Russell's text is very well-written, if you can get past his ego.

I actually love Alasdair MacIntyre's _A Short History of Ethics_.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## ZackF (Mar 28, 2020)

Thanks for giving us a pass on Hegel.


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## RamistThomist (Mar 28, 2020)

ZackF said:


> Thanks for giving us a pass on Hegel.



Mixed thoughts on him. On one hand, he is utterly misunderstood (largely his own fault) by right-wing bloggers today. 

After Kant, however, modernity starts with him (and not all in a bad way). Hegel is one of those few philosophers where you are better off reading a reliable secondary source (Taylor, Westphal, Magee, etc).


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