I’m young (17) and love philosophy, but a majority of this limited experience of mine is in the political branch of philosophy (the socio-political theory of libertarian socialism, in particular), with a little bit of logic and ethics. I would like to extend and develop my overall scope of philosophical understanding into all of the branches. …so…where should I start?? Aristotle? Ancient philosophy?? Should I start with pre-Socratic and just move up the historical timeline of philosophical thought to the modern day? Or are there a few works, from separate time periods, that I should focus on?
Just grab and growl. Start anywhere with anyone, you will develop as you go and grow. Maybe think about how you believe and feel now and then go with the philosopher that is opposite or vastly different.
plato, aristotle, hume, kant, mill, descartes, russell…
Start with the pre-socratics and work forward. Make sure to take in Machiavelli and Hobbes and then obviously Mill and Marx, and read plenty of Orwell to dilute the Marx, and eat plenty of bananas.