Any resources for those unfamiliar with philosophy?

[FlawedIntellect]

Are there any free online resources that one can recommend for those that are curious about learning philosophy?
Particularly aimed at beginners?

I think that such resources might be useful to myself and to others.

Plus, maybe if any resources get linked here, maybe this topic could get added to the FAQ just in case someone else comes along to look for similar resources?

[Jac3510]

I don't know of anything that I can endorse. I studied out of books and talking to people both online and in person. If you don't mind spending a little money, I cannot encourage you enough to start with the works of Edward Feser, particularly The Last Superstition and Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide. Another very helpful book is Objectivity in Biblical Interpretation by Howe. I would also very highly recommend, as I have before on this site, The Unity of Philosophical Experience by Etienne Gilson, and though it is a heavier read, An Interpretation of Existence by Joseph Owens.

I know that's not free and online . . . it's just hard enough as it is to find decent philosophy, much less decent philosophy written on a beginner's level, and still less than that such material online for free.

Hmmm . . . gives me an idea of yet another project to work on after I finish Simplifying Simplicity (which is coming along, I promise! I keep saying that, but really, I am making progress, haha).

[abelcainsbrother]

I'm not that familiar with philosophy myself however Christian philosophical apologetics is very effective against atheism check out this philosophical exchange between an atheist philosopher and a Christian philosopher.

http://www.reformed.org/apologetics/ind ... n_TAG.html

[Furstentum Liechtenstein]

Are there any free online resources that one can recommend for those that are curious about learning philosophy?Particularly aimed at beginners?

I just checked; you can get Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy free. Google The Story of Philosophy and click on the .pdf download. Will Durant writes entertainingly and you don't have to be Jac to understand! I read the book about 30 years ago and recommend it.

FL

[Squible]

In all honesty one of the first books I read on philosophy was:

Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview



It gives a solid foundation on many topics like logic & argumentation, epistemology, belief theories, truth theories, mind body problem and so on.. The book tries to treat debates between topics equally and fairly in order for you to decide.

Having said that, I have also moved onto other views (not covered in the book, like scholasticism (Edward Feser has a few books) ) and heavier philosophy since reading it a number of years ago, but there are still times I refer to it.

From my own personal experience starting with a book like this really does give a solid starting point to grow from.

And ss you grow in your journey you may find things you don't agree with or other areas you want to pursue not covered in the book..

[Jac3510]

Just found out you can get Jacques Maritain's Introduction to Philosophy for free as a PDF. Very important early 20th century Catholic philosopher. It's actually a fairly easy read. Here's a sample section in which he concludes a lengthy discussion on the nature of philosophy saying this:

• Thus philosophy, alone among the branches of human knowledge, has for its object everything which is. But in everything which is it investigates only the first causes. The other sciences, on the contrary, have for their object some particular province of being, of which they investigate only the secondary causes or proximate principles. That is to say, of all branches of human knowledge philosophy is the most sublime.
  
  It follows further that philosophy is in strictest truth wisdom, for it is the province of wisdom to study the highest causes: sapientis est altissimas causas considerare. It grasps the entire universe in a small number of principles and enriches the intellect without burdening it.
  
  The account we have just given is applicable in an unqualified sense only to the first philosophy or metaphysics, but may be extended to philosophy in general, if it is regarded as a body of which metaphysics is the head. We shall then define philosophy in general as a universal body of sciences whose formal standpoint is first causes (whether absolutely first causes or principles, the formal object of metaphysics, or the first causes in a particular order, the formal object of the other branches of philosophy). And it follows that metaphysics alone deserves the name of wisdom absolutely speaking (simpliciter), the remaining branches of philosophy only relatively or from a particular point of view (secundum quid).
  
  • Conclusion I.—Philosophy is the science which by the natural light of reason studies the first causes or highest principles of all things—is, in other words, the science of things in their first causes, in so far as these belong to the natural order.

That's from pp 107-08. Not the easiest read, but not the hardest thing every written, either. Overall, I would recommend.

Link: https://ia700502.us.archive.org/9/items ... 00mari.pdf