Studying philosophy, where to start.

I want to study philosophy on my own. With what books/articles should I start?

Are there any general overwiews on history of philosophy out there?

 

Try Sophie's World. :2thumbsup:

 

What kind of philosophy do you have in mind, as its a diverse thing.

If its western philosohy in general you are interested in, you could do a lot worse than reading Bertrand Russells "History of western philosohy". Gives a good overview from the greeks up to the twentieth century.

 

It's not where you should start that's the problem;more problematic perhaps is WHERE YOU SHOULD END...

 

If you end somewhere you are doing something wrong.

 

At the beginning I would assume

 

I think I should get around western philosophy first, to have better knowledge, but I'd also love to jump into philosophy of science.

 

Russells book would still be a good starting point. Russell was a materialst himself, and certainly had an input into the philosophy of science as it stands today.
If you do decide to read his book, you would see how starting in ancient times, the quest for knowledge of truth went through many twists and turns, leading up to the age of science.
Its really one of the best books ever written of its kind.
Its good to try to get a basic grounding in philosophy before going too far into specialized areas I think. And for many reasons. Not least of which is that so much was laid down by the Greeks, expanded in the middle ages and later, which led in the end to science. Even now, scientists use terms coined by the Greeks, such as atoms.The Greeks too invented mathematics. If you want to go deeper into things, its really useful to have some knowledge of how it all developed over time.

But no doubt others on here will differ from that view.

Russell, incidentally, was also a founder of the campaign for neuclear disarmament.

 

Russel a materialist? An out of date materialist perhaps. But he invented the timing of truth for materialist comments, and had idealism for the acceptance of common sense in schools. Did he know people though for his opinions?

 

Yeah, that's kind of a classic starting point (and a pretty good one).

But i don't think you should focus entirely on western philosophy.

 

For a good overview primer I would currently refer to wikipedia and it's links if you haven't already, that is for self study of philosophy.

Also I would find a way to get into wild spaces. Take up hiking or camping or such, learn bush craft.

That is according to your level of interest of course.

 

I'm sure thedope's not telling you take a hike, just to love nature, starting with the one you've got. The make or break of the wilderness has us every which way, but only the make holds our own.