I picked up Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche a few weeks ago, but haven’t been able to make much sense of it, owing much to the extensive references to other works (e.g. Kant) with which I am not familiar. I’m not so sure that I’d need to take a completely grounds-up approach from the very beginnings of Greek philosophy (or earlier works, even), but any suggestions on where to get started would be nice. I’d really like to read and comprehend Nietzsche’s works, considering how important I’ve heard them to be.
I would benefit deeply from this information as well. I would also like to know which work of Nietsche to start with. I’ve been reading “thus spoke Zarathustra” but would like to know if I should start with another work of his.
Looking at Philosophy -The unbearable heaviness of philosophy made lighter by Donald Palmer is the best introductory book into the major players in the western philosophical tradition…
-Imp
I’m familiar with the book Imp speaks of and I agree. However, I do think it would be valuable to take that “ground-up” approach.
One can’t expect to truely know what something is, without first knowing where it came from.
The book is about an inch thick. It is by no means complicated to read, and even has pictures to help the reading go along.
Nietzsche purposely made himself hard to understand so that your regular ole Joe can’t interpret him. Being as complicated as he is, You wouldn’t stand a chance without first knowing philosophy prior to him and actually a fair amount of mythology.
Try starting with Beginners Guide to Logic. If you want something in print try “Being Logical” by D.Q. Mcinerny, or “Philosophy Made Simple” by Popkin and Stroll, or things in that class. Something basic.
Nietzsche’s way over rated, and many Nietzsche fans don’t follow the basics outlined in the Beginners Guide to Logic cited above.
For print I’d also recommend the “Enlightenment Reader”, edited by Isaac Kramnick; has alot of short essays, and not to hard to read.
- Nietzsche didn’t believe in logic.
- Tunis is the same guy who says that all of Nietzsche’s ideas were stolen by some made up person. ha.
Thats why he fails.
False accusation (straw man fallacy). I never said all of Nietzsche’s ideas were stolen. Not on this thread, or any thread. Never said “any” of his ideas were stolen, if by stolen you mean plagarized. Never said it.
Nietzsche, despite what others say, is way too important to pass up. I started with him as well. You should still understand BG&E without previous knowledge in philosophy; I did. It’s pretty basic and far from complicated.
If you come across a name like Kant or Spinoza, just go to the The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy and look them up.
Also, a 20th century philosopher named Gilles Deleuze liked to base entire books around individual philosophers and reinterpret them. His Nietzsche and Philosophy is terrific.
“A short History of Chinese Philosophy” by Feng Youlan (probably spelled Fung Yu-lan or Feng Yu-Lan) is a pretty good introduction to Eastern philosophy (obviously with an emphasis on the Chinese traditions). It is a distilled version of his “History of Chinese Philosophy” and is a must-read in my incredibly biased opinion.
At the very least it will give you some inkling as to whether any aspects of Eastern Philosophy interest you from a pretty hardcore vantage point (as opposed to some of the more watered-down versions we normally encounter in the west).
I once had a professor say that Nietzsche was so offensive and full of BS that he almost wasn’t worth reading…except for the few moments of absolute brilliance and importance that made it essential to read. So good luck with that. I wish I could remember what excerpts he picked out for us but that was a few years ago.
As for where you should start…I think you can start anywhere. The internet is your friend; while Wikipedia is not to be completely trusted, if you come across a name or concept you don’t know or understand, Wiki or Google can point you in the right direction. It may be a laborious process, but it’s one way to do it, and it forces you to actively learn the material.
Should I just pick up a copy of The Republic and go from there? On a side note, WTF is postmodernism, anyway?
Read GE Moore, Frege, Russel, Quine, David Lewis, JL Austin, and of course Aristotle. I can email you lots of books in .pdf. If you want the republic, or anything else Plato ever wrote I can send that.
exactly
Isn’t post modernism another word for analytic philosophy?
Postmodern philosophy is an eclectic and elusive trend of thought. Beginning as a critique of Continental philosophy, it was heavily influenced by phenomenology, structuralism and existentialism, including writings of both Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger. It was also influenced to some degree by the later Ludwig Wittgenstein’s criticisms of traditional philosophy, including earlier analytic philosophy. Postmodern philosophy is skeptical of many of the values and bases of analytic philosophy; for instance a postmodernist might disavow that the complex system of meanings embodied in normal or philosophical language could be represented in logical annotation (some might even disavow any traditional notion of “meaning” altogether).
Postmodern philosophy is often particularly skeptical about simple binary oppositions characteristic of structuralism, emphasizing the problem of the philosopher cleanly distinguishing knowledge from ignorance, social progress from reversion, dominance from submission, and presence from absence.
there you have it, straight the always trust worthy, Wikipedia (yeah right)
Dope,
Given your name . . . have you considered Shulgin as an intro to philosophy?
As for postmodernism, I’ll stick with the Moe Syzlack definition: Wierd for the sake of wierd.
Reading any ol philosophy book because it says its related to philosophy is pretty tough. The best way to get into philosophy is to try to see it from a birds eye view. What is philosophy as a whole and then what are its parts. E.g. Logic? Metaphysics? ethics and so on. Once you have found a particular part you are interested in, then you can dig deeper.
I do not really know any good beginners books though.
Another good way to start reading into philosophy is relate it deeply to what your interests lie. Hence you might ask yourself why are you reading philosophy in the first place. Is it because of something to do with religion? Maybe someone said something to you, which you did not like or perhaps it does not make sense. Most people get into philosophy due to some major experience in their life.
Try and relate philosophy to what you have been through, you would not believe how flexible philosophy can actually be.
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The Philosophic Quest - TZ Lavine