I'd Like To Study Philosophy Independently

[CatherineM]

I can truthfully say that I hate philosophy. My mother would say it is a bunch of guys with nothing better to do talking just to hear their heads rattle. I hate it so much that I withdrew from my spiritualities class. If I want to study New Age carp, I'll go down to the local Wiccan book store.

[4588686]

[quote name='CatherineM' timestamp='1328739070' post='2383934']
I hate it so much that I withdrew from my spiritualities class. If I want to study New Age carp, I'll go down to the local Wiccan book store.
[/quote]

That's not really philosophy.

[CatherineM]

[quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1328742856' post='2383960']


That's not really philosophy.
[/quote]
Hence why I dropped the class.

[Amppax]

To bring this back up, if I wanted to specifically do some introductory study in logic, what would the general suggestions be?

[Amppax]

[quote name='Amppax' timestamp='1329254014' post='2387068']
To bring this back up, if I wanted to specifically do some introductory study in logic, what would the general suggestions be?
[/quote]

bump.

[qfnol31]

I have very little experience with logic and what experience I do have I don't want to inflict on you.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

phil osophy , i don't know the guy, though i possibly could kinda maybe somewhat assume he is an ok kinda guy once you get to know him. j/k Sorry my forebears are irish. " To be sure, to be sure."

I know nothing of the science of philosophy though i do have my own day to day assumptions built on numerous or few facts past,present and possible futures.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Amppax' timestamp='1329254014' post='2387068']
To bring this back up, if I wanted to specifically do some introductory study in logic, what would the general suggestions be?
[/quote]
I've studied logic a bit on my own and I'm not really sure what to recommend. I've yet to find my dream book on the subject.

If you want something short and very introductory I might mention [i]Being Logical[/i] by D. McInerny and/or [i]The Elements of Reason[/i] by Munson and Black. Peter Kreeft's [i]Socratic Logic[/i] is said to be good, but I've not read it. Another place to start (depending on your background, interests, and temperament) might be the [i]The Organon[/i] of Aristotle.

Okay, actually, I like the idea of at least some of the Organon, plus some reading in Stoic logic. There is a volume by A. A. Long called [i]The Hellenistic Philosophers[/i] which contains some good text and commentary. I'd recommend the section on logic under Stoicism. That's just me and maybe I'm weird.

I'm not sure about the nature of your interest but you might get the best practical results from a logic or critical reasoning textbook. I have a couple of old textbooks that seem pretty good, for example [i]Logic and Philosopy: A Modern Introduction[/i] by Tidman and Kahane. I also have a "critical thinking" textbook that is fun but I can't find it at the moment and don't remember what it's called. lol.

I guess that's what I'd say. My favorite logic books are not good introductions. For example, I have a certain devotion to Tarski's [i]Introduction to Logic[/i] which, ironically, I would not recommend as a good introduction.

[Laudate_Dominum]

P.S. I bookmarked this M.I.T. course a while ago and still thing it looks pretty rad.

[url="http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-241-logic-i-fall-2005/index.htm"]http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-241-logic-i-fall-2005/index.htm[/url]

The textbook is downloadable for free as pdf files.

[url="http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-241-logic-i-fall-2005/readings/"]http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-241-logic-i-fall-2005/readings/[/url]

[MissMaro]

[quote name='Amppax' timestamp='1329254014' post='2387068']
To bring this back up, if I wanted to specifically do some introductory study in logic, what would the general suggestions be?
[/quote]

When I studied Logic in college, we used these books:

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Logic-Propositional-Revised-3rd/dp/0130258490/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1"]http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Logic-Propositional-Revised-3rd/dp/0130258490/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1[/url]

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Logic-Predicate-2nd/dp/0131649892/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2"]http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Logic-Predicate-2nd/dp/0131649892/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2[/url]

There might be better ones out there, but I thought they were really good and I loved that they gave you a lot of exercises for practice. I don't know if they'd be good for teaching yourself though. A lot of the students had a hard time, even with a teacher there...

[WillT]

Full disclosure, B.A. in philosophy and hoping to go to grad school as well. For logic, http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004E6W8HE/ref=mp_s_a_3?qid=1329714971&sr=8-3 is pretty much the standard text for undergrads.

For the original poster concerned with where the modern systems go wrong, it might be helpful to narrow down the concerns to more specific areas. Unfortunately, many modern philosophers do not work from any sort of overarching system but rather from different theories in each particular area of philosophy. Thus, you may find an ethicist with no great interest in epistemology who will not have a deep understanding of those issues not specific to ethics, etc. This is in opposition to the ancients who typically worked from within schools and would have had more specific views in each area.

Edited February 20, 2012 by WillT

[4588686]

We use this one.

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Symbolic-Logic-Irving-M-Copi/dp/0023249803/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329716065&sr=8-1-fkmr0"]http://www.amazon.com/Symbolic-Logic-Irving-M-Copi/dp/0023249803/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329716065&sr=8-1-fkmr0[/url]



I really liked it.

[Amppax]

Huh.  I'd forgotten about this.  I sounded like a tool.   :unsure:

[arfink]

Huh.  I'd forgotten about this.  I sounded like a tool.   :unsure:

 

So you bumped it? IDGI

[Amppax]

So you bumped it? IDGI

That was a bit of an ADD moment, I went back and found the thread with the intention f posting something, read the thread, forgot what I wanted to post, and then made a post to justify finding it. Or something like that. Anyway, there was originally a reason for finding and bumping this, when I remember, I'll come back and post something. Hopefully. Or I'll forget.