The first 7 philosophy texts you should read

2024 ж. 17 Мам.
352 036 Рет қаралды

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I am Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and here is a list of the seven philosophical pieces of writing that I think someone first getting into philosophy should read, and why:
Plato’s Euthyphro (~399 BCE)
Rene Descartes’ Meditations
Princess Elizabeth's letter to Descartes
David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
HP Grice's Logic and Conversation
HLA Hart's The Concept of Law (just chapters 2, 3, and 4)
Peter Singer's Famine Affluence and Morality

Пікірлер
  • Awesome video! Here is the list: 1. Plato's Eythyphro; 2. Decartes' Meditations on First Philosophy 3. Princess Elizabeth's Letter to Decartes; 4. Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion; 5. H. P Grice's Logic and Conversation; 6. Ch. 2, 3, 4 of H. L. A. Hart's Concept of Law; 7. Peter Singer's Famine, Affluence, and Morality

    @PatriciusOenus@PatriciusOenus Жыл бұрын
    • I wish I had Kaplan's videos when I was an undergraduate! I've returned to the study of philosophy of later in life, and his videos are a great boon.

      @PatriciusOenus@PatriciusOenus Жыл бұрын
    • Schopenhauer's Notes on Pessimism, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and Aurelius' Meditations are always left off of academic reading lists. It's a good scam the colleges got these days.

      @weathforjr@weathforjr Жыл бұрын
    • @@weathforjr Sun Tzu's art of war is actual garbage. As for Aurelius, Meditations isn't exactly a philosophical work. There were much better more in-depth *philosophical* texts than Aurelius's mediations, such as those written by Epictetus. Finally, Schopenhauer doesn't really get left off academic reading lists so I'm not sure what you're on about.

      @Attalic@Attalic Жыл бұрын
    • @@Attalic Thank you for your opinion. I'm sure eastern countries take it very seriously, as they teach it to children. I'll let them know your assessment of their cultural and military history, and I'm sure they'll take notice and stop circulating it immediately. Was in American schools for 16 years, and the closest thing that was ever mentioned to me of Schopenhauer was his student Nietzsche. Was never on 1 reading list I ever encountered. I'm sure there was no logic behind that, and purely coincidental... had plenty of Karl Marx and Herbert Marcuse thrown my way though. I'm sure just random, that. Same with your estimation of Aurelius. I never said "StaY aWAy FRom CIceRo!", so I don't know what YOU'RE on about... Thankfully, neither of us has to take the other seriously. Grand how that works, eh?

      @weathforjr@weathforjr Жыл бұрын
    • @weathforjr Considering Meditations is less a philosophical text and more of a self-help book, I really don't see the value in teaching it over other books that cover the same material much better. As for your mention of Marcuse and Marx, I'm not sure what you're suggesting? Finally, appealing to other cultures as proof of the valuability of a text is pointless and does nothing. For instance, if someone defended some of the heinous things stated in Mussolini's works by appealing to Fascist Italy, you wouldn't say that they've defended the text itself, much rather just its historical role.

      @Attalic@Attalic Жыл бұрын
  • Aristotle wrote dialogues too. They are all lost, but were very highly regarded in antiquity. The most famous was "On Justice." What we have of his writing today are his lecture notes (or so say most scholars). That's why they read so strangely.

    @jamesduffy5980@jamesduffy5980 Жыл бұрын
    • yep. some scholars reconstructed the Protreptikos in a conversaational format, and it reads much easier than his ubiquitous lecture notes, which can be very ...ahem... dry. only true Aristotle buffs and fanatics will read Prior Analytics with enthusiasm for his method.

      @biln2@biln211 ай бұрын
    • ​@@biln2 if I would give 2 books of philosophy to anyone it would definitely be Aristotle's Nichomenian Ethics and a second variable depending on my mood. But Aristotle would definitely be there.

      @rishabhaniket1952@rishabhaniket195211 ай бұрын
    • Apparently Aristotle's dialogues weren't highly regarded enough for them to be preserved.

      @13tuyuti@13tuyuti11 ай бұрын
    • The only people that are favoring Aristotle in the comments, are the ones that want to defend physicalism, it's clear by the line of defence used, that's a perfect example of being intellectually dishonest.

      @DS-nv2ni@DS-nv2ni11 ай бұрын
    • Yet another commenter that reallllllly needs to be in the video, that really needs to gain attention.

      @skiphoffenflaven8004@skiphoffenflaven800411 ай бұрын
  • Please post more often, Professor Kaplan! I had you as a GSI during my undergraduate years at UC Berkeley, and I am so happy to have found your KZhead channel. You were the best GSI I had at Cal! The clarity of your teaching (as I remember it from section years ago and still in these videos) is truly a gift. You have the ability to make learning anything really fun (let alone philosophy which I enjoy). UNCG and all your students are lucky to have you. Thank you!!!

    @redvelvetsprinkles@redvelvetsprinkles Жыл бұрын
    • Hello! I am glad I left a positive impression at your GSI.

      @jeffreykaplan1@jeffreykaplan1 Жыл бұрын
  • Plato is actually extremely fun to read. I listened to a lot of his works in audiobook form, with different narrators for the different people participating in the dialogues. It almost made it sound like a modern day podcast in a way, I would recommend this to everyone.

    @sanserof7@sanserof77 ай бұрын
    • What is the version that you listened to? I will seek it out on audible

      @ianyoung6706@ianyoung67067 ай бұрын
    • @@ianyoung6706 the ones narrated by Ray Childs

      @sanserof7@sanserof77 ай бұрын
  • I love that you seem to genuinely love teaching and imparting knowledge to students. I think it would be great to be a student in your class.

    @JeffRebornNow@JeffRebornNow Жыл бұрын
  • I found _Russell's Paradox_ in my suggested feed a few days ago and loved it. I'm working my way through the rest of your catalog now. I can't believe I (and apparently many others) have been sleeping on your channel for so long. This is really good stuff! And the presentation is easy to follow and engaging. Absolutely love it. I wish I had resources like this when I first began to dive into philosophy. So many "masterpiece" works are incomprehensible drivel to the average Joe, who knows how many people have been turned off to philosophy as a whole because they didn't start in a good place. I know I was almost one of them. I'm so glad something like this exists to help people begin from a solid starting point. I'm sure there's a tired joke to be made about _what else would he do with a philosophy degree other than teach philosophy_ but it's clear that you've got a real talent and passion for it. I'm probably gushing a little much here, but hopefully this helps to get mor3 attention from The Algorithm™ to spread your stuff around some more.

    @RobExNihilo@RobExNihilo Жыл бұрын
    • Go ahead and gush... this guy is really really good. I too found the Russel's Paradox talk suggested, and I never inteded to watch 20 minutes or more of technical philispoical double talk. But I was riveted for the entire talk. Profesor Kaplan really has a gift.

      @JamesHunterRoss@JamesHunterRoss Жыл бұрын
  • This guy is great. I watched his videos on how to be a better student, and I managed to go from C's and B's to one B and all A's in college.

    @ianclark7553@ianclark7553 Жыл бұрын
    • Wow, that's great to hear. Glad my advice was helpful!! Pass it along.

      @jeffreykaplan1@jeffreykaplan1 Жыл бұрын
  • Brilliant! Great approach towards making philosophy fun, clear, approachable! I enjoy your videos immensely! The energy and passion you keep putting into explaining these concepts - remarkable! Transparent whiteboard making it even better. Great work, man!

    @CistiC0987@CistiC0987 Жыл бұрын
    • Thank you. That's very kind!

      @jeffreykaplan1@jeffreykaplan1 Жыл бұрын
    • @@jeffreykaplan1 I've been trying to figure out how the transparent white board works. You aren't writing backwards. Correct? How do you have the writing come through properly oriented. Do you flip left and right post production? Film a mirror reflection of the live production? Something else?

      @acaryadasa@acaryadasa Жыл бұрын
    • @@acaryadasa my thought is he flips it horizontally in post as he likely doesn't wear a wedding ring on his right hand.

      @zacharysmith5061@zacharysmith5061 Жыл бұрын
  • could you do a video on how to object to philosophical arguments by attacking premises, using counterexamples, spotting logical flaws or attacking metaphysical underpinnings?

    @AGirlyBoi@AGirlyBoi Жыл бұрын
    • That's a good idea. I don't have a single video on all of that. But for a start, here is a video on counterexamples: kzhead.info/sun/nbSdiphqjIpqZHk/bejne.html

      @jeffreykaplan1@jeffreykaplan1 Жыл бұрын
    • Also another based on unlawful fallacies

      @eduardosuela7291@eduardosuela7291 Жыл бұрын
    • u want vdo of it , thn it is just knwlg, not wisdom,

      @defghi9698@defghi9698 Жыл бұрын
    • @@defghi9698 ?

      @AGirlyBoi@AGirlyBoi Жыл бұрын
    • @@AGirlyBoi Maybe you can start with reading lot of philosophy, contemplating over it, talking to people of diff ages.

      @defghi9698@defghi9698 Жыл бұрын
  • Descartes‘ Meditations was one of the first things I read when majoring in philosophy. It is a great Text because of its simplicity and because you can really follow the argument and see where the premise stops and the conclusion starts.

    @turquoise8916@turquoise8916 Жыл бұрын
  • Great stuff! Your energy and way of explaining things makes a lot of these more complicated issues way easier to understand as a relative newcomer and your students are very lucky.

    @ethansalvesen8268@ethansalvesen8268 Жыл бұрын
  • Stumbled on this and other videos of yours, and they are fantastic. Feeds a strong interest of mine and will guide my ongoing deep dives. Thanks so much!

    @christopherschmaltz182@christopherschmaltz182 Жыл бұрын
  • I have been looking for this channel for more than a decade. Not in name, but in spirit. Glad to have finally found it.

    @joshuasroka4403@joshuasroka4403 Жыл бұрын
  • So glad I found your vids through your reddit post. Your sense of humor and ability to make topics easily digestible, if you had the chance to write a book on philosophy I would buy it in an instant lol

    @dauhloweme8127@dauhloweme8127 Жыл бұрын
    • I am busy publishing academic papers in order to get tenure at the moment. But a book (or two) will be coming soon!

      @jeffreykaplan1@jeffreykaplan1 Жыл бұрын
  • Very nice choice and great presentation. Descarte's Discourse on Method is mandatory reading in French high school and the cornerstone of logical thinking, at the origin of both abstract scientific research and French Enlightement. Having a "cartesian spirit", searching for the principles behind the symptoms, is deeply engrained in French minds. I would add Louise Labbé's Debate of Folly and Love, pursuing Plato's Symposium to analyze how love, even disappointed, creates the impulse for creativity, achievement, mixing illusion and aspiration to perfect harmony.

    @gengis737@gengis737 Жыл бұрын
  • I'm so glad I've found this channel. Thank you.

    @raquelr.700@raquelr.700 Жыл бұрын
  • Can’t wait to start reading these! I’ve been wanting to start reading philosophy, but had no idea where to start. Thank you sooo much!

    @AustinWestbro@AustinWestbro Жыл бұрын
  • Thanks for acknowledging Princess Elizabeth!!😍😍👏👏👏God bless you!!

    @tatianagoncalves944@tatianagoncalves944 Жыл бұрын
  • It should be noted that Plato wrote the texts bearing his name. Aristotle's texts are probably compilations of notes taken by his students. The texts are redactions.

    @gerryleb8575@gerryleb8575 Жыл бұрын
  • Thanks very much for recommending Famine, Affluence, and Morality! I read it right after watching this. What an incredible paper, certainly a lot to grapple with.

    @Inabin@Inabin Жыл бұрын
  • Man had been posting mad videos for the past 3 years. How am I just getting recommends now. Instant new subscription!

    @aravindappat@aravindappat Жыл бұрын
  • Thanks for the video, now I know what to read to start learning philosphy

    @joseernestovillagrabaldivi6986@joseernestovillagrabaldivi6986 Жыл бұрын
  • Ran across your channel through your video on set theory and Russell's Paradox. Amazing work. Addictive binge watching.

    @FuriousGeorge67@FuriousGeorge67 Жыл бұрын
  • Thank you Professor Kaplan so much for sharing this. I am just wrapping up a Philosopy 101 course that covered the first 4 items. I have added the last three items on your list to my future reading list.

    @TMIvey-gk4mw@TMIvey-gk4mw10 ай бұрын
  • My man, you have found your calling. Thank you for your work.

    @nickhodge8063@nickhodge8063 Жыл бұрын
  • I’ve wanted to access philosophy for years. Thank you for this video.

    @j_vasey@j_vasey Жыл бұрын
  • Professor Kaplan, I you read these comments then I get to reiterate what many others have said; you are very good at what you do. I had to subscribe.

    @JamesHunterRoss@JamesHunterRoss Жыл бұрын
  • I’m so glad to see a new video of you😍

    @scottie_2058@scottie_2058 Жыл бұрын
  • Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics", as well as Saint Gregory Palamas's “Triad” and “Apology”.

    @orthochristos@orthochristos Жыл бұрын
  • Excellent, thank you. Grice and Implicature have always astounded me for the charity of thinking that his analysis needed, and yet it is so obviously true that you think, how could we possibly have not understood that before? Wonderful.

    @smithscott1700@smithscott1700 Жыл бұрын
    • Loved learning about Grice's work when I was studying linguistics.

      @digitig@digitig Жыл бұрын
  • You are an excellent teacher. Please continue making these videos.

    @robabramovitz5192@robabramovitz5192 Жыл бұрын
  • A fellow Philosophy KZheadr! Keep on doing the good work.

    @PhilosophyWithLilly@PhilosophyWithLilly Жыл бұрын
  • Great video! This was a well thought out list, and I surprisingly haven't read all of these books. Can't wait for new videos

    @WhoRoui@WhoRoui Жыл бұрын
  • I consider chapters 1 and 2 of Aristotle’s Metaphizica to be the best starting point as he literally comes with a genealogy of knowledge

    @Georginho-io2ng@Georginho-io2ng Жыл бұрын
  • I have never read any of these but thanks for the nice short introductions, they seem succinct and precise 😅

    @tuchngo5475@tuchngo547511 ай бұрын
  • I enjoy your content; thank you for helping me progress in my learning journey.

    @howardmceachern6614@howardmceachern6614 Жыл бұрын
  • Good shit. Keep'em coming doc

    @bokramubokramu8834@bokramubokramu8834 Жыл бұрын
  • Hey, Loving your work after watching your video on Peter Singer. Was just wondering if you would recommend After Virtue by Alasdair Macintyre, or know of any texts I should also read alongside it?

    @Ahmad_code@Ahmad_code Жыл бұрын
  • Your channel is amazing man!

    @lessthanzero.@lessthanzero. Жыл бұрын
  • This is such an interesting video, I was fascinated by your beautiful tie! :>

    @LearnThaiRapidMethod@LearnThaiRapidMethod Жыл бұрын
  • I am bored and stumble upon this video through algorithm. And it's not disappointing at all. I have read one of these reading list (like meditation by Descartes). This guy open possibilities for me to read similar tone of works in philosophy reading that is so beginner friendly yet intriguing at the same times. Thanks, professor :)

    @aldi6622@aldi6622 Жыл бұрын
  • I like that you jump around and point out the most talked about and undersrandable portions of works. Too often, people suggest you read one 500+ page book after another. That approach can be fine, if you are already super motivated to read philosophy. Most people aren't that robot like though.

    @dellh86@dellh86 Жыл бұрын
  • I didn’t have you as a GSI at Berkeley, but I’m so glad you included Princess Elizabeth’s letters to Descartes. They were part of the readings in Crockett’s Descartes course and I remember thinking why doesn’t anybody ever mention these letters when discussing Descartes. They’re so important!

    @Chris.4345@Chris.4345 Жыл бұрын
    • Wtf I was in that class too. Small world

      @luketorre5116@luketorre511611 ай бұрын
    • @@luketorre5116 It’s been like 8 years and I still think about Hintikka’s paper on cogito ergo sum. Such a great class.

      @Chris.4345@Chris.434511 ай бұрын
  • Thank you for this amazing list. I was wondering if there were any accessible reading materials you would suggest to get into Eastern Philosophy?

    @shaheerziya2631@shaheerziya263111 ай бұрын
  • Your channel is a goldmine

    @henricamayo3160@henricamayo3160 Жыл бұрын
  • I hope it isn't unwelcome for me to make requests like this in your comment section, but I would love to see a video series on James's Pragmatism lectures at some point! No other philosopher seems to shoot himself in the foot so often to actually make himself understood by his readership, a fact made all the more troubling by how clean his prose is. Whereas other philosophers are challenging because their writing is dense or even obscurantist, James's is hard to understand because it so radically appears otherwise. I have a bias here in that I'd consider myself a pragmatist, so of course I want to see content on James, but this is an influential piece of writing whose unassuming appearances make it prone to dramatic misinterpretation. Regardless, adore your videos!

    @radshiba3345@radshiba3345 Жыл бұрын
  • Love H. L. A. Hart's little book (the only J. L. Austin book I've ever read is the even smaller How to do Things with Words). So far as 'legal studies' in general are concerned I also dug a few very different, perhaps more 'literary' as opposed to 'technical,' texts: Sir Henry Maine's Ancient Law, Oliver Wendell Holmes' Breakfast Table series, and a mammoth biography of Learned Hand I read a few years back, the author of which now escapes me! Will check out the Grice paper --thanks!

    @ve6753@ve6753 Жыл бұрын
  • Thank you, my thinking self feels much better situated.

    @antonomaseapophasis5142@antonomaseapophasis5142 Жыл бұрын
  • Greatly appreciate the Hart suggestion. Might have my students look at this.

    @jrshipley@jrshipley Жыл бұрын
  • I concur with you on Kant's _Critique of Pure Reason._ Also with your quip about Singer's _Famine, Affluence, and Morality,_ as I have a hard enough time getting enough quality sleep. By the way, thank you for introducing me to that last work.

    @hadmatter9240@hadmatter9240 Жыл бұрын
  • A really fun text I read in philosophy class on highschool was Anselm's Ontological Argument. It's simple but kinda weird and you can also do as we did in class and make your own critique of it.

    @guaranafria@guaranafria Жыл бұрын
    • I like Anselm's formulation of the ontological argument much better than I do Descartes'. Neither formulation, however, can escape Kant's objection that existence is not a predicate.

      @JeffRebornNow@JeffRebornNow Жыл бұрын
  • I first read Singer in the early 80‘s. I’ve carried his views with reflection since, with some affection.

    @stevefranklin9176@stevefranklin9176 Жыл бұрын
  • I just found this channel and absolutely love it. As far as is being could you touch upon the theory that the universe as we know it could be the creation of a highly advanced computer programming set to create a universe based on evolving programming?

    @mentalasylum3969@mentalasylum3969 Жыл бұрын
  • Man, amazing video, almost convinced of reading his recommendations, never philosophy in my readings..thanks.

    @davidnevett5880@davidnevett5880 Жыл бұрын
  • When I was adrift doing my masters with one abandoned thesis topic under my belt, I had a vague idea to write about first aid ethics, inspired by my time volunteering with my campus first aid team. My advisor gave me Singer's Famine and told me to respond to it. It ended up being the crux of my first chapter as I tried to argue that Singer's requirements to act are too strong and narrow to be a useful framework when examining actions along a beneficence continuum. I argued that knowledge (specifically phronesis, or practical wisdom) is the key to selecting morally appropriate actions in emergencies (that's the gist, but there was a lot more that went into fleshing it out). I found Singer super frustrating because of how good his argument is, and it took me a long time to turn my vague hunch into a defensible position. Anyway, this video was a great walk down memory lane for me!

    @huckster86@huckster86 Жыл бұрын
    • If I may ask you as someone who is in the field: Have philosophers managed to, shall we say "dismantle" some of those Singer's arguments in the past 50 years since they have been proposed? I guess what I'm trying to ask is if there is a consensus on this topic?

      @RunawayYe@RunawayYe Жыл бұрын
  • Hi, i've just subrcribed. I studied philosophy of science and politics for my degree in Behavioural sciences - you are persuading me to take up more readings in other areas

    @Tymbus@Tymbus Жыл бұрын
  • Good evening sir! I am a student of UCP and attended your lecture on Law and Morality. I wanted to thank you for imparting your knowledge and expressing philosophy so well!

    @sherryr8671@sherryr8671 Жыл бұрын
  • Fantastic! Could you do a part 2 with your recommended introductions into Islamic and Eastern philosophy?

    @IIsPaco@IIsPaco Жыл бұрын
  • Was just watching this and thnking Professor Rosencrantz had me read all those back when I took his philosophy classes at UNC-G. And then you said the thing about UNC-G:)

    @billfarrar6153@billfarrar6153 Жыл бұрын
  • Truly amazing presentation and selection. Can't thank you enough for directly aknowledge and then just cut off all the bloating usually invade any text about thinking.

    @ardidsonriente2223@ardidsonriente2223 Жыл бұрын
  • My plunge into philosophy occurred in the Seventies, but bypassed all the names listed in this piece and instead led to De Beauvoir, Sartre, Camus, Russell and various writers whose works involved philosophy, but were not in themselves philosophical treatises, Hesse, Huxley, Kafka among others. De Beauvoir's "The Blood of Others" kept me awake at nights in an existential dilemma! 😅

    @rexharrison6827@rexharrison6827 Жыл бұрын
    • De beauvoir is marxist trash, better to read manga than that crap

      @nonbreapelido3549@nonbreapelido3549 Жыл бұрын
    • Have you discovered Castaneda and Ouspenski?

      @thoseaglestone9372@thoseaglestone9372 Жыл бұрын
    • ​@@thoseaglestone9372 do you.mean Carlos Castaneda ?

      @13locomamama@13locomamama Жыл бұрын
    • @@13locomamama yep!

      @thoseaglestone9372@thoseaglestone9372 Жыл бұрын
    • @@thoseaglestone9372 can I ask you why do you mention him ?

      @13locomamama@13locomamama Жыл бұрын
  • I was wondering only yesterday about something along the lines of Singers reasoning. basically... why is it ok to justify just about any policy that is in the national interest, no matter how damaging it might be for others. Glad I found this, I will read it.

    @zafar0132@zafar0132 Жыл бұрын
  • Would consider making a video on philosophy book recommendations covering metaphysics, epistemology, axiology and logic??

    @manavkhatarkar9983@manavkhatarkar9983 Жыл бұрын
  • thank you for the advices!

    @letsimage@letsimage Жыл бұрын
  • I have studied philosophy for more than half my life recreationally and in academia. All your recommendations are great and I to recommend that you read all of. That being said the bible has some of the most elegant answers to all of these questions. Especially when it comes to number 3

    @YugaKhan@YugaKhan11 ай бұрын
    • Lawl. A lifetime of reading philosophy and all for nought.

      @araucariapasquale1@araucariapasquale110 ай бұрын
  • I do understand a little, but it helps me to expand my logic. Subscribed with pleasure♥. May I ask you to explain the mathematic Discriminant? I was pretty good in school at calculating it, but I never understood the reason why I do it.

    @MrVeryfrost@MrVeryfrost Жыл бұрын
    • It's to see whether your solution is imaginary

      @pwmiles56@pwmiles56 Жыл бұрын
  • Thank you, Jeffrey!

    @ConwayBob@ConwayBob11 ай бұрын
  • I might just read Logic and Conversation first because the concept of it intrigued me so much! But hey, did you notice that while the first texts are somewhat "western-global", the last ones are mostly from the English speaking world? Don't you think there might be a bias at work here, that one believes that ones surroundings are of more "general importance" than they really are, as in, in 500 years from now, professor Jeffrey Kaplan VII might be recommending texts from today that are "western-global" rather than the anglosphere ones you're recommending? I'm just rambling here, great video none the less!

    @EricZucchini@EricZucchini Жыл бұрын
  • I love your lectures. Let me put a bug in your ear to do a presentation on Robert Prisig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and his philosophy of Quality.

    @SingleMalt77005@SingleMalt77005 Жыл бұрын
  • Fantastic ! I miss when philosophy channels were more about philosophy and less about performance.

    @NelsonStJames@NelsonStJames Жыл бұрын
  • Would recommend reading “The Problems of Philosophy” by Bertrand Russell before any of the works in the list?

    @David-mj2nx@David-mj2nx11 ай бұрын
  • Grice's "Logic & Conversation" is something of a surprise as a recommendation for introductory readers. Grice's conception of implicatures makes more sense in the context of the linguistic turn in early 20th Century analytic philosophy, especially post-Wittgenstein.

    @mattcat83@mattcat83 Жыл бұрын
  • Thanks for the Grice. I hadn't heard of him, and in fact when you said it, I thought _Greiß._ Anyway, I just read the paper. One good recommendation deserves another. Along these lines, here are two: The former is _Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things_ by George Lakoff. It gives a description from a cognitive science perspective of something called _Idealized Cognitive Models,_ which are related to an older idea by Chuck Fillmore called _frames._ Grice's _maxims_ could be massaged into a CONVERSATION ICM, but there are many others. This gets very interesting. Consider the utterance _John isn't stingy; he's thrifty._ Note that _isn't_ does not negate any predicate. It negates the ICM or frame, suggesting that a different one is better. The latter is Nietzsche's "On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense." This presages a lot of cognitive science by a century. Very few philosophers seem to know about it, and the ones who do seem not to focus on the parts relevant to CS.

    @deadman746@deadman746 Жыл бұрын
  • Mr. Kaplan how can we study Rhetoric and master oratory like Cicero, Churchill Lincoln etc?

    @Ahmed-iy1cn@Ahmed-iy1cn9 ай бұрын
  • This is actually pretty cool. My introduction to Philosophy was Nietzsche (like so many other people) and even if I like his work I have to say that it’s not for everybody. Also the recommendation changes if you want to understand whats Philosophy all about or you want to understand a particular topic. Great video by the way

    @elpeonbigoton8022@elpeonbigoton8022Ай бұрын
  • I'm liking your clear cut and well explained videos on philosophy, but if I may recommend using a better microphone. The audio is ok but even a slightly better mic could make it sound a lot better.

    @Gator732@Gator732 Жыл бұрын
    • YES. Seriously, I will Venmo this dude $100 if he'll just buy an AT2020 and use it.

      @RadicalShiba1917@RadicalShiba1917 Жыл бұрын
  • Thank you Professor

    @thinkaboutwhy@thinkaboutwhy Жыл бұрын
  • (I know it's just the first 7; however just curious if) any reason Aquinas and Nietzsche weren't included - i.e. 1. because some of their best arguments are "redundant" to your list? or is it moreso ... 2. just not in the first 7? Edit : thanks BTW awesome presentations etc.

    @drumsofspace@drumsofspace Жыл бұрын
    • While I do not know his reasoning as such, his list is very similar to what I read in my analytic philosophy undergrad. We did a lot of Plato, starting in fact with the Euphythro, as well as Descartes' Meditations, tons of Locke and Hume, skipped Kant, and read Singer and Hart. The entirety of medieval philosophy was skipped (since supposedly nothing pertinent happened in the 1000 years between St Augustine and Descartes) and Nietzsche was considered as not really philosophy and something one might better study in the literature department. I think analytic programs tend to shy away from broad sections of philosophy.

      @David_Alvarez77@David_Alvarez77 Жыл бұрын
  • Simply fantastic.

    @kevinkasp@kevinkasp Жыл бұрын
  • Thank you for this very helpful video. I am more interested in metaphysics, ontology and the philosophy of self, rather than ethics or law or morality. Can someone please recommend good, well translated introductory texts on this matter? The older the better.

    @theskoomacat7849@theskoomacat7849 Жыл бұрын
  • The Eloquent Peasant from The Middle Kingdom of Egypt is an excellent philosophical piece regarding the obligations that the wealthy and powerful have towards society.

    @jaredjordan9863@jaredjordan9863 Жыл бұрын
  • Thanks,what about epistemology, which text you recommend to read?

    @sattardulaimy3677@sattardulaimy3677 Жыл бұрын
    • I recommend Ed Gettier's landmark, very concise and clear, 1963 paper "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?" His answer to that question is "no" and he presents a couple counterexamples aimed at showing that.

      @jeffreykaplan1@jeffreykaplan1 Жыл бұрын
    • @@jeffreykaplan1 I love that paper. It was one of the first papers that I read as a young teen, because I didn't understand how anyone knows anything at all. The problem of, "Do people know anything?" still bothers me to this day (I'm 29 now), but I try not to let it bother me too much. Life seems to continue on despite our not knowing much of anything. 🤣

      @Paraselene_Tao@Paraselene_Tao Жыл бұрын
    • @@jeffreykaplan1 Honest question, why not Theaetetus? It addresses the very same question, and also ends with a "no" answer, and is one of the more compelling works of writing I've ever engaged with.

      @MMurine@MMurine Жыл бұрын
  • Bertrand Russels take down of Plato in Unpopular Essays is epic: "Plato possessed the art to dress up illiberal suggestions in such a way that they deceived future ages, which admired the Republic without ever becoming aware of what was involved in its proposals. It has always been correct to praise Plato, but not to understand him. This is the common fate of great men. My object is the opposite. I wish to understand him, but to treat him with as little reverence as if he were a contemporary English or American advocate of totalitarianism."

    @GingerDrums@GingerDrums7 ай бұрын
  • I love linguistics and structuralism, and I have not read Grice. Thanks for the reccomendation!

    @samuelsisti4849@samuelsisti4849 Жыл бұрын
  • Indeed, a must ;)...Great suggestions ;)

    @gibson2623@gibson2623 Жыл бұрын
  • I'm reading coherence of the cohorance by Averroes, I find it so good.

    @starcapture3040@starcapture3040 Жыл бұрын
  • Thank you for your suggestions. (Do you write backwards or alter the video?)

    @chrisoglesby9071@chrisoglesby9071 Жыл бұрын
    • The video is flipped in post. He made a video explaining the university's light board here kzhead.info/sun/acOdZJiao5OVenk/bejne.html

      @joew1865@joew1865 Жыл бұрын
  • the question about where you should start with reading philosophy is what it is that you want to gain from it. there is no singular answer, though this is a fairly good list for people wanting to understand several key points in the history of philosophy

    @thetwiceapostle6175@thetwiceapostle6175 Жыл бұрын
  • Is Euthyphro ever translated in multiple ways so that virtue and piety get mixed up, or is their conversation essentially just about virtue despite them going over piety? Are the two conflated in translation?

    @cmmusic4721@cmmusic4721 Жыл бұрын
  • I would think An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding would be a better choice for Hume since it has most of the same points as the Treatise, as well as some of the points on religion in the On Miracles section. In general I think a lot of people getting into philosophy are interested in Existentialism, and since most of the existentialists are also very literary in the same vein as Plato, I think they are good places to start.

    @robertdullnig3625@robertdullnig3625 Жыл бұрын
  • Thank you for this guidance. It is useful for a newcomer to Philosophy like me. However, I wonder why all the names are only Western philosophers, and no Eastern philosophers figures in the list. Names like Buddha and Confucius come to the mind straightaway. But I am sure there are many others, considering Eastern civilizations like China and India have been around for thousands of years - possibly for longer than the European civilization?

    @stephenmani8495@stephenmani8495 Жыл бұрын
    • Too boring

      @pwmiles56@pwmiles56 Жыл бұрын
    • Well I am not a professor of philosophy but here is what I understand, philosophy as a discipline is considered by and large to be western philosophy, where philosophy is a creation of Greeks and from there on taken on by Europe, other historical civilizations and their philosophical developments are not studied in discipline of philosophy except in a small degree. This is because of following reasons : 1) methods of philosophising of other civilizations are at times very different from those in west and philosophical discourses and inquires themselves vary quite significantly from the major established discourse and inquires in Western philosophy 2)western philosophy is inseparable from history of Europe and its evolution which is specific to it and other parts of world do no share that, so enterprise of academic abstract philosophy is not universal in its presence and hence the historical philosophical legacies from other parts of the world could not continue to be inherited and developed by their descendant societies . 3) epistemic organization and genealogy of western philosophy is more break free than other parts of the world . If you wish to dive into non western philosophy, you would have to unlearn a lot of western philosophy and learn about methods, inquires and discourses present in other historical philosophical legacies and read them and contemplate over them slowly. Just to give an example Buddhist thought from east does not involve inquires through abstract ideas only but they have their own ontological practise of yog and vipasanna say for example on which they have massive contemplative discourses, and these discourses are enlightening on multiple epistemic subjects like neurology, biology, mind sciences, psychology and even philosophy.

      @maniron2861@maniron2861 Жыл бұрын
  • Make a part 2 please!

    @JoashExplains@JoashExplains11 ай бұрын
  • LMAO I had that Aristotle style rigidity issue hit me in the face like a brick after I finished City of God by St. Augustine and started Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas. Augustine has this swaggering form of rhetoric that's really fun to read and Aquinas would list out a question, write out each detailed objection to the question, followed by his argument which neatly addressed every single objection that was previously raised. Aquinas was extremely rigorous, well thought out, and that's why he's this titanic monolith in Catholic theology. But he can be so dull. Fun fact, Aquinas refers to Aristotle only as "The Philosopher." That is a massive compliment and makes a lot of sense considering the obsession with rigor that both men shared.

    @AlephOmega-zy5qs@AlephOmega-zy5qs Жыл бұрын
  • As an attempt at a solution to the Euthyphro, there is an interesting article called "Abraham, Isaac, and Euthyphro" by Norman Kretzmann that is worth checking out.

    @David_Alvarez77@David_Alvarez77 Жыл бұрын
  • Professor Kaplan, could you recommend an agile, brief reader, anthology or introductory textbook for brilliant but young readers? I a 10 year old who has pointed questions and shows some interest in the world of ideas. I would like to kindle rather than suffocate it.

    @danielgarcia6418@danielgarcia64184 ай бұрын
  • Philosophy works best when you read it in chronological order , getting an idea of how and when certain concepts came to be

    @actionjack7655@actionjack76557 ай бұрын
  • Nice move to highlight Princess Elizabeth at '#3', depite the fact that you neglect to say whether they're in order of importance. The Princess was no doubt a 'super-smart cookie' but her entanglement with Descartes makes it almost impossible to decide who influenced whom on many different issues.

    @michaelbedford8017@michaelbedford8017 Жыл бұрын
  • I just started started college, I'm majoring in philosophy and I completely agree, my curriculum has me reading Aristotle's Metaphysics as my first philosophy book and it's been confusing to say the least, the fact that the book is trilingual (greek, spanish and latin) does not help at all.

    @damaplehound@damaplehound8 ай бұрын
  • Wow there were ads at the beginning of this video. I hope you are getting a share of the monetization... Your videos are great.

    @joew1865@joew1865 Жыл бұрын
  • I would say read process and reality first, it’s clear concise and short!

    @xibbit6322@xibbit6322 Жыл бұрын
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