philosophy help.

Miscellaneous General
1

I literally have no education in philosophy. as i continue to study AE i am finding my greatest hindrance in furthering my studies is my inability to think. So i need help!

I dont want to be an expert right now, but does anyone have suggestions of what to read? Best subject in philosophy to help me? im thinking philosophy on logic maybe. Something that will break my statist ability to learn. I will have time to read probably around 500-600 pages so if i think a few shorter books would be better. or a single treatise on the subject.

2

Do you want a general work on philosophy or something specifically on logic? Jevons’ textbook on logic is available in the Mises Institute literature section.

3

You should start out with essays from Hayek and Rothbard. I dunno where JJ has been (banned?), but he has a whole thread for things like this.

EDIT: You should also not study logical methods that are prior to Frege. Frege turned logic into what it is today.

4

Well, I think the first thing to realize is philosophy is an art, not a science. It is, by definition, an eternally open subject. Some people love this, some people hate it. Most of the “big ideas” were fleshed out by the early Greek philosophers but have been refined and re-explored many times, particularly by the medieval Scholastics (DesCartes, Aquinas, et. al.)

So, philosophy is really a grab-bag of big questions and “big ideas”, most of which have no definite answer. Is the Universe infinite in extent and age? Believe it or not, science really has not settled this question… it’s just taken to be settled within the standard cosmology which itself is full of holes. Is matter comprised of discrete point “atoms”, or is it a continuum “wave”? QM is supposed to say that it’s “both” but it turns out that is a misrepresentation of the facts. And so on. These millenia-old questions are actually still open because the fact is they are foundational.

I would commend the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy to your attention. There is also the SEP. This guy is engaging, I highly recommend Epicurus to your attention, as well as just explore around on YouTube… there are tons of videos uploaded on all the old philosophers. Learning a little about the lives of the ancient philosphers is useful because the human brain is a social brain… it’s easier to retain and operate on ideas that you can place in the context of the thoughts and ideas of real human beings.

Also, as just a matter of sheer amazing insightfulness, I recommend Mises’s Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science and the first 150 pages or so of Human Action. While he doesn’t directly deal with the foundations of philosophy itself, he makes many remarks - almost offhand - that go a long ways to dispel common philosophical tarpits. A wise man will heed the philosophical insights of Mises.

If I could say only one thing to save you time and effort, it is to always remember that all aspects of learning and study are human. That includes natural philosophy (today called “science”). All studies serve human ends. And they are performed by human beings. Anything that anyone has ever thought is, in principle, comprehensible by you, too. So, beware of imbuing philosophy with a kind of theological “apartness”. Many people fall into this trap. Philosophy will not get you greater certainty regarding what is true and right. That certainty has to come from within and is a matter of maturity, not book study. In fact, I think that is what attracts people to the ancient philosophers… they were “blue sky” thinkers… their thinking was unclouded by thousands of years of prior written dogma. They didn’t need to preface every remark with 10,000 qualifications and gotchas.

Clayton -

5

I’ll be politically incorrect and say with Macaulay that 99% of philosophy is total garbage, except for entertainment purposes. Think of it as Mad Magazine for intelllectuals.

What you want is logic. Strangely enough, the philosophy departments have courses and textbooks in introductory logic, and that’s what you should get.

You might find something here:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/

6

Really? Why him? No, Seneca?

Plus, if the kid is trying to learn about economics he’ll need metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and action philosophy. Moral philosophy won’t get him anywhere in terms of truth; moral philosophy is aimed at wisdom.

Such as? I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, but could you give examples of what is garbage?

Why is it strange? Or were you being sarcastic?

7

I want to offer a gentle counter-point to the emphasis on logic. While logic is important, its importance is lies mainly in its ability to assist in identifying fallacies.

What I think is missing from most modern philosophical discussion is causality, something that Mises places heavy emphasis on. Causality - like logic - is a category of human understanding and it is crucial to understand the difference between speculation (statistical inferences, etc.) and verstehen (comprehension, understanding, causality).

Clayton -

8

Yes, because these two are always at cross-purposes… *sigh

Clayton -

9

hahahh

Yeah, sigh it up, cause you do not know what you are talking about.

Have you read Seneca? (read this one too) (He read Epicurus…) I’ll let you read it yourself, since I know you have not. I guess a priori categorical understanding comes from wisdom, huh? That is why you “know” so much about people you have never met (the Queen of England for instance)…and their motivations and actions? Because you are wise? Boy, what can’t you just pull out of your ass?

He bashes logic pretty hard. And makes the case that most of philosophy is aimed at trivalities since the study of logic will not help one “banish lust.”

For the OP, Bertrand Russell’s Problems of Philosophy has a pretty good reputation. It has nothing to do with ethics or virtue theory (trust me, moral lessons will not get you an understanding of economics despite what some of the sophists on this board claim).

10

What you need, I think, may be not so much a primer on philosophy in general, that might actually leave you more confused than before. But rather, take a look at the political philosophy of Austrians.

Read Rothbard’s Ethics of Liberty, or For a New Liberty and you’ll get a treatment in there of the philosophical underpinnings of a free society based primarily on the philosophical concepts surrounding natural rights.

11

@Aristophanes: I have no idea what you’re on about. Your posts often border on the trollish but here they’ve gone over the border.

Clayton -

12

@Clayton. You are a sophist. (from this advice to your “a priori knowing” about geopolitics - when it is apparent that you do not read about geopolitics at all…)

You’re telling this poor kid to read Epicurus as a primer to economic methodology…it is absurd. He might as well read the Marquis…

You throw “trolling” around with absolutely no reason to…

Like this statement:

It is apparent that you do not study these things.

OP should read (I’m sure these names are on the Stanford site)

Donald Davidson (one of the biggest names)

Harry Frankfurt

Brian O’Shaughnessy

Robert Audi

Carl Ginet

Wayne Davis

Gilbert Harman

Michael Bratman

Hugh McCann

Alfred Mele

Paul Moser

Jennifer Hornsby

if he wants to read about “causality” (which is discussed within philosophy of action and/or mind)

You could even go into Wittgenstien…Searle, Frege (classic), Gilbert Ryle, Christine Korsgaard…

“missing from modern philosophy” my ass…you are missing from modern philosophy.

OP there is a world outside of the Mises realm of philosophy that many here apparently are not familiar with in the least.

13

The original post talked about how he felt he couldn’t think properly, reading more books on philosophy won’t help, what’s needed is a book on logic and critical thinking. Go over those books until you are certain you understand everything. After that “practice makes perfect”. (There are many books on logic and critical thinking. Going to Amazon, typing in “Introduction to Logic” or “Critical Thinking” then picking the books with the best reviews is the best way to get started in my opinion, the Listmania feature is good for finding books on the subject, some of the lists are Beginner to Pro, giving you the best order to read certain books to understand the subject.)

14

Can everyone just stop with both the sighing and the mocking laughter?

15

Only if we can still use the Michael Jackson eating popcorn animation.

16

@Daniel: What’s the problem with a sigh? Aristophanes has put white text in a post and that is not worthy of a sigh?

17

could you give examples of what is garbage?

I refer you to Macaulay’s Essay on Bacon [in volume 2 of critical and historical essays]. The section relevant to this discussion begins with the words, “Two words form the key of the Baconian doctrine, Utility and Progress.”

What he says of the ancients applies, IMHO, equally to almost all the ones that followed.

I say it is strange, that given all the works many philosophers wrote that demand a suspension of logical thinking [I’m looking at you, Hegel and Dewey and who knows who else], that works on logic should show up there. It’s like Marx writing the definitive text on AE.

18

So, you are referring directly to Epicurus and Seneca. I thought that when I read Euthyphro. Modern analytic philosophy has gone a long way from the ancient doctrines.

19

You can try to take a programming language if thats the kind of logic you want to pursue.

Hell even basic algebra that you took during middle school should suffice.

If not logic, then what you want is to get into a philosopher mindset…

20

I have given the subject of how to think clearly an incredible amount of thought. I would first suggest reading as little as possible. Less reading, more thinking. Reading entire books is especially hazardous and should be done with great care not to pick up the bad habits of the author subconsciously: “It’s not what you know, it’s what you know that just ain’t so.” (And also the reasoning habits you think are legitimate because famous people use them, but they aren’t.)

Here are my recommendations for how to think clearly.