Ask HN: Learning about philosophy
This is apparently an unpopular opinion, but READ THE PRIMARY SOURCES.<p>&quot;There is a strange idea that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. Thus I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the Symposium. He would rather read some dreary modern book ten times as long, all about ‘isms’ and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said. The error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility. The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator. The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism. It has always therefore been one of my endeavors as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.&quot; -C.S. Lewis<p>I attend the best &quot;Great Books&quot; program in the country, the Torrey Honors College. Here are the strictly philosophy texts they had us start off with the first semester: Plato&#x27;s <i>Meno</i>, <i>Symposium</i>, and <i>Republic</i>,  and Aristotle&#x27;s <i>Nicomachean Ethics</i>. You can find the full reading list here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.biola.edu&#x2F;torrey&#x2F;academics&#x2F;reading-list" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.biola.edu&#x2F;torrey&#x2F;academics&#x2F;reading-list</a><p>If you want to dig in more, I would encourage you to look into the &quot;Great Books of the Western World&quot; set compiled by Mortimer Adler. There is an accompanying curriculum that walks you through reading them without a teacher or classroom [<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thegreatideas.org&#x2F;tgi-program.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thegreatideas.org&#x2F;tgi-program.html</a>]. You can typically find them on eBay for relatively cheap.