This was great to hear. I'm not currently studying philosophy, but I am on a journey of teaching myself another skill and I often got stuck in the beginning trying to figure out where to start (this is after college). It was only until I asked that question of "Where do I want to start?" did I actually begin to make progress.
I couldn't agree more. This is how I usually approach any new subject- dive in on whatever catches my eye, and then follow my nose from there. I will usually find a path to take based on what seems most interesting, or sometimes it will become clear what concepts I'm struggling to make sense of and therefore need more foundational knowledge about.
Is this the most efficient way to learn? Well, probably not. However, it keeps me interested and engaged. Even if there happens to be a perfect path to learning a subject, it's worthless if you lose the motivation to stay on it.
I think this is a great idea. That was my approach and I agree that you don't understand everything at the beginning but you pick up useful pieces that nevertheless inform your worldview and affect the way you interact in the world. It is quite discouraging to be told that you must start all the way back at the beginning of philosophical thought because then you will never get to read what you really want to read! I find philosophy books are SLOW reads! Thank you for your insight. I appreciate it!
I am curious as to why so little attention is paid to secondary sources. If I were interested in something new and difficult, I would first turn to what someone else had done in this area, maybe even a couple of others. Like, I don't know, maybe a teacher writing an explanatory text :) That would give me enough background to select something to tackle on my own, or maybe to decide that I have a good enough understanding so that I don't need to read the original at all.
I am writing this thinking that the goal is understanding, but that doesn't have to be the case. If the goal of reading someone, say Camus, is to enjoy the art of his novels, then pretty obviously you need to read them. But if the goal is understanding what Camus' arguments are, and general world view, there may be an easier path.
We all have limited time, and deciding how to spend that time is an important skill. Secondary sources, e.g. textbooks, can be an effective way to help you decide what is important to you.
The reason I rarely discuss secondary sources is fairly simple. For most people outside of academia, the first step really is to get used to reading texts. Secondary sources do much of the intellectual labor for you. You may learn about thinkers or concepts this way, but you don’t develop the intellectual skills.
Developing intellectual skills is the end, not the beginning. Upon reflection, I think the best "place to start" is to take a class with a real teacher and fellow students. If a class is not available, then a text - likely written by a teacher, is the next best. Of course the text is just a guide, you need to "do the readings".
Personally, I believe I won't develop any meaningful intellectual skills just by reading challenging books (like Nicomachean Ethics). I think I will understand things superficially, but not truly. I will need to write something like a paper, or answer some essay questions in order to really understand things. It will be hard (very) for me to make myself do this.
Hi, I wanted to offer a few suggestions that might be useful, but I do not want to be heavy handed about it. (Please let me know if I am being heavy handed!) First, I think that the read-alongs, with weekly commentary, and with monthly Zoom calls, give your followers much better retention of works like Nicomachean Ethics. I am in Book 9 and I must confess that, while rewarding, Nicomachean Ethics is a very tough read. But like any hard book, once you have worked through it, you are better off. This is a very good contribution of your read alongs: your followers make progress. Second, their cognitive skills are sharpened elsewhere. This leads me to my third point, where I might be viewed as overly opinionated. Point three: in Walking Away your have a product that while elusive, is still useful. I don't think that you need to justify this product, including its usefulness for you. But, and this Point 4: I think that the product's value needs to be made more obvious. By product, of course, I mean the pleasure and usefulness of participating in Walking Away--very much as in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. After completing the course, what do followers gain? I have no doubt that they do gain, but this has to be made more clear. Thanks for listening.
This was great to hear. I'm not currently studying philosophy, but I am on a journey of teaching myself another skill and I often got stuck in the beginning trying to figure out where to start (this is after college). It was only until I asked that question of "Where do I want to start?" did I actually begin to make progress.
I couldn't agree more. This is how I usually approach any new subject- dive in on whatever catches my eye, and then follow my nose from there. I will usually find a path to take based on what seems most interesting, or sometimes it will become clear what concepts I'm struggling to make sense of and therefore need more foundational knowledge about.
Is this the most efficient way to learn? Well, probably not. However, it keeps me interested and engaged. Even if there happens to be a perfect path to learning a subject, it's worthless if you lose the motivation to stay on it.
A very timely post for me as I try to build a reading list. Thank you, Mr. Henderson!
Beautiful. Ever since I started living my life like this, so many opportunities have opened up to me!
I think this is a great idea. That was my approach and I agree that you don't understand everything at the beginning but you pick up useful pieces that nevertheless inform your worldview and affect the way you interact in the world. It is quite discouraging to be told that you must start all the way back at the beginning of philosophical thought because then you will never get to read what you really want to read! I find philosophy books are SLOW reads! Thank you for your insight. I appreciate it!
You've completely revolutionized my approach to philosophy with this post, thank you!
Here is my podcast on learning versus education:
https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/3kj1AtElhMb
I am curious as to why so little attention is paid to secondary sources. If I were interested in something new and difficult, I would first turn to what someone else had done in this area, maybe even a couple of others. Like, I don't know, maybe a teacher writing an explanatory text :) That would give me enough background to select something to tackle on my own, or maybe to decide that I have a good enough understanding so that I don't need to read the original at all.
I am writing this thinking that the goal is understanding, but that doesn't have to be the case. If the goal of reading someone, say Camus, is to enjoy the art of his novels, then pretty obviously you need to read them. But if the goal is understanding what Camus' arguments are, and general world view, there may be an easier path.
We all have limited time, and deciding how to spend that time is an important skill. Secondary sources, e.g. textbooks, can be an effective way to help you decide what is important to you.
The reason I rarely discuss secondary sources is fairly simple. For most people outside of academia, the first step really is to get used to reading texts. Secondary sources do much of the intellectual labor for you. You may learn about thinkers or concepts this way, but you don’t develop the intellectual skills.
Developing intellectual skills is the end, not the beginning. Upon reflection, I think the best "place to start" is to take a class with a real teacher and fellow students. If a class is not available, then a text - likely written by a teacher, is the next best. Of course the text is just a guide, you need to "do the readings".
Personally, I believe I won't develop any meaningful intellectual skills just by reading challenging books (like Nicomachean Ethics). I think I will understand things superficially, but not truly. I will need to write something like a paper, or answer some essay questions in order to really understand things. It will be hard (very) for me to make myself do this.
Hi, I wanted to offer a few suggestions that might be useful, but I do not want to be heavy handed about it. (Please let me know if I am being heavy handed!) First, I think that the read-alongs, with weekly commentary, and with monthly Zoom calls, give your followers much better retention of works like Nicomachean Ethics. I am in Book 9 and I must confess that, while rewarding, Nicomachean Ethics is a very tough read. But like any hard book, once you have worked through it, you are better off. This is a very good contribution of your read alongs: your followers make progress. Second, their cognitive skills are sharpened elsewhere. This leads me to my third point, where I might be viewed as overly opinionated. Point three: in Walking Away your have a product that while elusive, is still useful. I don't think that you need to justify this product, including its usefulness for you. But, and this Point 4: I think that the product's value needs to be made more obvious. By product, of course, I mean the pleasure and usefulness of participating in Walking Away--very much as in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. After completing the course, what do followers gain? I have no doubt that they do gain, but this has to be made more clear. Thanks for listening.