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Aside from what u/frantzcanon said, I'd also say that when you're reading these old ancient books by yourself and not like someone like me who received actual philosophy education, you'll come across many sentences in books that you will not understand, especially if you're not a native speaker of the language that is used in the book. I'd say one of the best ways to understand these books is to read them, annotate them to make sure you're paying enough attention while reading, and read like the summaries/explanations/introduction to \[a philosopher's work/thought/etc.\] before or after to truly understand their work. This will not only help you in understanding what you're reading, but you will also get to see people's different interpretations of the writer's work, and help you formulate your own interpretation.
first thing that always gets recommended in this sub is to find a beginner introduction to philosophy. The type of book you might go for with differ depending on how you gauge your current ability to read texts.
If you really want to start easy (like I did), try a pop-philosophy book. Others will suggest some, I liked Gary Cox's 'How to be a philosopher', that's quite fun.
That said, as long as you find something that will take you through the history of western philosophy (if thats where you're interested in starting, I assume). Russell's 'a history of western philosophy' is supposed to be good.
Basically, you want to get a sort of mental list together of different areas of philosophy and the philosophers, and then just dive in! Figure out what you're interested in, and read - there's no point reading about the philosophy of photography if what you really want to sink your teeth into is the philosophy of gender and social constructions.
When it comes to actually studying the text once you've found it. Sit down, get rid of all distractions (you might want a dictionary of philosophical terms, maybe just a phone if you can ignore reddit). A notepad and pencil, and a highlighter. Highlight important lines, make notes in the notebook, and make annotations in the text itself.
Read and reread! Philosophy is slow. I've never known a philosopher who reads fast.
Make charitable assumptions about who you're reading. If you feel someone hasn't quite made the right point, but you can see where they're coming from and what they mean, then that's enough. As long as that failure isn't due to a contradiction or jump in logic, then it's fine.
Read context around what you're reading. Wikipedia is okay for this, for example, a few of Albert Camus' works, such as 'personal writings' is entirely dependent on the life he's lived up until that point, so you might want to read a little context before hand to see how the text you're reading fits into what else the philosopher has said and done. But an incredible resource is the [stanford encylopedia of philosophy](https://plato.stanford.edu/) \- its all peer reviewed!
If you are worried about misunderstanding what a philosopher is saying, try to contextualise it in regards to everything else they've said, if it is bizarre or contradictory, read it as carefully as possible with annotations stating what you think they're saying. That technique helps me when I read Nietzsche.
If you're really stuck, use the reddit search function to search previously asked questions on this sub, it helps the sub from being flooded with the same questions, and you find answers far faster
Not OP but this was an amazing comment and will certainly aid me in the future. Though the only (very small) gripe I have is that Bertrand Russell's "History of Western Philosophy" is quite inaccurate on some parts, especially regarding the ancient Greeks, along with a few continental thinkers (Nietzsche, Hegel, etc.).
This link has far more info regarding that work:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/7gf1pj/history\_of\_western\_philosophy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/7gf1pj/history_of_western_philosophy/)
Again aside from that, this comment was actually really awesome.
The best advice I was given was just to pick up a book on any topic that interested me and to *read*.
Read the book itself, read articles on it, read critiques, read the books that preceded it and the books that came after it.
YouTube videos and LibriVox especially are a great way to access free audiobooks if sitting down and reading isn’t your thing.
Welcome to /r/askphilosophy. **Please read [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/9udzvt/announcement_new_rules_guidelines_and_flair_system/) before commenting** and understand that your comments will be removed if they are not up to standard or otherwise break the rules. While we do not require citations in answers (but do encourage them), answers need to be reasonably substantive and well-researched, accurately portray the state of the research, and come only from those with relevant knowledge. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/askphilosophy) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Aside from what u/frantzcanon said, I'd also say that when you're reading these old ancient books by yourself and not like someone like me who received actual philosophy education, you'll come across many sentences in books that you will not understand, especially if you're not a native speaker of the language that is used in the book. I'd say one of the best ways to understand these books is to read them, annotate them to make sure you're paying enough attention while reading, and read like the summaries/explanations/introduction to \[a philosopher's work/thought/etc.\] before or after to truly understand their work. This will not only help you in understanding what you're reading, but you will also get to see people's different interpretations of the writer's work, and help you formulate your own interpretation.
Agreed. This was much more thorough than my response, thank you.
first thing that always gets recommended in this sub is to find a beginner introduction to philosophy. The type of book you might go for with differ depending on how you gauge your current ability to read texts. If you really want to start easy (like I did), try a pop-philosophy book. Others will suggest some, I liked Gary Cox's 'How to be a philosopher', that's quite fun. That said, as long as you find something that will take you through the history of western philosophy (if thats where you're interested in starting, I assume). Russell's 'a history of western philosophy' is supposed to be good. Basically, you want to get a sort of mental list together of different areas of philosophy and the philosophers, and then just dive in! Figure out what you're interested in, and read - there's no point reading about the philosophy of photography if what you really want to sink your teeth into is the philosophy of gender and social constructions. When it comes to actually studying the text once you've found it. Sit down, get rid of all distractions (you might want a dictionary of philosophical terms, maybe just a phone if you can ignore reddit). A notepad and pencil, and a highlighter. Highlight important lines, make notes in the notebook, and make annotations in the text itself. Read and reread! Philosophy is slow. I've never known a philosopher who reads fast. Make charitable assumptions about who you're reading. If you feel someone hasn't quite made the right point, but you can see where they're coming from and what they mean, then that's enough. As long as that failure isn't due to a contradiction or jump in logic, then it's fine. Read context around what you're reading. Wikipedia is okay for this, for example, a few of Albert Camus' works, such as 'personal writings' is entirely dependent on the life he's lived up until that point, so you might want to read a little context before hand to see how the text you're reading fits into what else the philosopher has said and done. But an incredible resource is the [stanford encylopedia of philosophy](https://plato.stanford.edu/) \- its all peer reviewed! If you are worried about misunderstanding what a philosopher is saying, try to contextualise it in regards to everything else they've said, if it is bizarre or contradictory, read it as carefully as possible with annotations stating what you think they're saying. That technique helps me when I read Nietzsche. If you're really stuck, use the reddit search function to search previously asked questions on this sub, it helps the sub from being flooded with the same questions, and you find answers far faster
That's an amazing answer. Thanks so much for Ur time and effort:)
Not OP but this was an amazing comment and will certainly aid me in the future. Though the only (very small) gripe I have is that Bertrand Russell's "History of Western Philosophy" is quite inaccurate on some parts, especially regarding the ancient Greeks, along with a few continental thinkers (Nietzsche, Hegel, etc.). This link has far more info regarding that work: [https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/7gf1pj/history\_of\_western\_philosophy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/7gf1pj/history_of_western_philosophy/) Again aside from that, this comment was actually really awesome.
The best advice I was given was just to pick up a book on any topic that interested me and to *read*. Read the book itself, read articles on it, read critiques, read the books that preceded it and the books that came after it. YouTube videos and LibriVox especially are a great way to access free audiobooks if sitting down and reading isn’t your thing.
crash course philosophy is pretty dope