How to Begin to Study Philosophy
A Brief Note
Here is what I think is the best way to begin to study philosophy. Pick a short Platonic dialogue. The Apology of Socrates, Crito, Euthyphro, etc. Try to make sure that you choose one that you enjoy at first blush. Your enjoyment will increase your understanding; your increased understanding will make it easier to enjoy a wider variety of philosophic texts.
Ok, so you have your chosen dialogue. Read it. Repeatedly read it! Read and think about at least a couple of pages every single day. Write down the thoughts that emerge as you read, whether they are extensions of the ideas on the page, clarifications, or objections. Take the arguments seriously and wonder about why such arguments take place with this particular interlocutor. What is Socrates hoping to accomplish? What does the interlocutor want out of the conversation?
Eventually, the text will be like a painting to your mind. You will read the beginning in light of the middle and end. You will see the movements; you will see when the interlocutor makes a step forward or backward in understanding; you will see the obstacles or problems that emerge in trying to understand whatever is being inquired into.
When I think about the times I feel like I am making progress in understanding important things, it has always been while obsessively studying one dialogue over several months. Of course, you can read other things while you do this. But there is something valuable about keeping your mind trained on one text, one set of ideas. Sitting with the ideas like this is very different than reading an AI summary of the dialogue. The goal is not to simply extract facts or information out of the text. Rather, you are attempting to let the drama of the dialogue play out in your soul. You need to feel what is at stake in the dialogue, as in the Euthyphro: what kind of being is a god? Of course, reading beyond the Euthyphro will be helpful on this (the Bible comes to mind), but the Platonic dialogues help you ask the fundamental questions for the first time.
In our sophisticated time, Plato helps us see that it is good to begin from the beginning—to ask questions like: what is justice? We can admit our ignorance, our perplexity, and begin to understand what would be required to give an account of the most important things.
I had not done this in a while. I read the Republic last summer and read a few dialogues for fun, but it wasn't in the mode that I am proposing here. A week ago I started doing this with the Euthyphro. Incredibly rewarding. I feel my old powers returning! I will try to demonstrate the proof that is in this pudding by posting a line by line verbal commentary on the dialogue, starting at the beginning of next week.
In the meantime, good news:
Wheelwright and I have recorded on the Aeneid up through Book 6. We are both refining our written versions of our comments before posting the recordings.
Mrs. MCC and I just recorded the next installment in our Nietzsche series which should be out very soon.
I had a conversation with a musician over on X about the difference between the ancient view on the artist and the contemporary view. We are going to post companion essays offering competing portraits of the artist.
If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy On Reading Plato
“Read it. Repeatedly read it! Read and think about at least a couple of pages every single day. Write down the thoughts that emerge as you read, whether they are extensions of the ideas on the page, clarifications, or objections. Take the arguments seriously and wonder about why such arguments take place with this particular interlocutor. What is [author] hoping to accomplish? What does the interlocutor want out of the conversation?”
Do this with the Bible too!
This is excellent advice. Reading it gives me a renewed sense for what reading philosophy is, at its best.
Looking forward to your commentary on the Euthyphro.