Where To Start With Philosophy: A Beginner’s Guide

Philosophy is more than just an art major taught to students who are either intensely interested or extremely confused. Here’s where to start with philosophy if you’re an interested beginner’s willing to find out the secrets of life and world or if you’re trying to delve into the mysteries of metaphysics and epistemology.

To say that it is a way of life might sound cliché, but it is that and more. The Greeks defined it as the love of wisdom, the Indians as Darśana or the power to see—with all the infinitely possibilities of what it could mean—and the Chinese call it Tao or the path. Path to what, to see what exactly, to become wise in what respect: that remains for us to decide.

This is a beginner’s guide to getting acquainted with philosophy—the mother of all disciplines—with some interesting and important source material.

Greek Philosophy

The word philosophy comes form the Greek root sophia meaning wisdom and philo meaning love. Philosophy is, therefore, the love of wisdom. Philosophy started in Greece with Thales, the first of the Ionian philosophers. Thales’ philosophy began with a cosmological account of the world as made up entirely of water.

During these times, most of thinking was concentrated on natural and cosmological issues—finding out answers to questions like ‘what the world is made of?’, ‘How did everything come into existence?’, ‘What existed before the world was created?’ and so on. Other Ionians included Anaximander and Anaximenes. Each of these answered the question of what the world was made of in entirely different ways.

The Presocratic Philosophers by Kirk, Raven & Schofield is a good introduction to these philosophers and more like Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno etc.

Three of the most well known of Greek philosophers Socrates, his pupil Plato, and his pupil Aristotle. They make up a crucial section of philosophy and are credited with several important advances in a number of disciplines, especially in the case Aristotle.

While there aren’t any written works attributed to Socrates—since his method was primarily dialectic and conversational—he is presented as a mouthpiece in several of Plato’s works.

The Republic is one of the most important and famous philosophical text written by Plato. It is a great place to start reading Plato as it contains many of his fundamental theories, including the cave analogy.

Another good place to start reading about Greek philosophy is through the secondary readings compiling all of the important philosophers along with a comparative analysis.

The Blackwell Companion to Ancient Philosophy, (Wareen & Sheffield) is a comprehensive compilation of essays on various ancient greek philosophers.

Classical Indian philosophy

Indian philosophy is called Darśana śāstra and can be classified into nine prominent schools of thought.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s Indian Philosophy (Volumes 1 & 2) is a great introduction to classical Indian philosophy, focussing intensively on each different school individually along with some of the minor schools such as Śaivism.

Cārvāka School

The Cārvākas were materialists who lived by their motto ‘Eat, drink and be merry’. They did not believe in the authority of the four Vedas and denied the existence of the immortal soul. According to them soul was just a by product of the four elements (epiphenomenalism).

One of the only surviving text on the Cārvāka school is Tattvopaplavasimha of Jayarasi Bhatta.

Jaina School

The Jaina school consists of Tīrthaṅkaras or leaders—the first being Riśabhdeva and last or twenty fourth being Mahāvīra. Jainism is divided into two sects—Digāmabara and Śvetāmabara. They practice the five Mahāvakyas (or great vows) of Truthfulness (satya), Non-violence (ahimsā), Non-stealing (asteya), Celibacy (brahmacarya) and Non-possession (āparigraha). The Jaina scriptures are called Agamas.

Buddhist School

Gautama Buddha is the founder of the Buddhist school of thought, which has since continued to thrive even several centuries after his death. Two important aspects of Buddhism are the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path to liberation. Non-violence or ahimsā is the central practice prescribed by this system of thought.

Peter Harvey’s An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices is a good introduction to Buddha’s life, early teachings as well as the later subschools and how they spread roots beyond Asia.

Nyāya School

Founded by Akśapāda or Gotama, this school is also called Ānvīkṣikī or the science of reasoning. It focuses on the logical aspects of philosophy, while also giving a thorough analysis of the nature and means of attaining knowledge.

The primary text of Nyāya school is the Nyāya Sūtra of Gotama—composed of more than 500 verses.

Vaiśeṣika School

The Vaiśeṣika School was established by Mahariṣi Kaņāda with Vaiśeṣika Sūtra as its primary text. The metaphysical tenets of Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika schools are very similar, which is why they are often grouped together while studying.

Yoga School

Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra forms the primary text of the yoga school of philosophy, which shows a way of attaining liberation or Kaivalya by means of practice of the wight organs of Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, Pratyāhāra, Dhārana, Dhyāna and Samādhi.

Two good translations of Yoga Sūtra are those by Swami Vivekananda and G. L. Verma.

Here is a detailed explanation of the Yoga Sūtra for those who want to read more about Yoga Philosophy.

Sāmkhya School

This is one of the oldest systems of thought and is characterized by its dualism of Puruṣa and Prakṛti. The primary text of Sāmkhya system is the Sāṁkhya Karikā by Īśvarakrṣņa.

Swami Virupakshanada’s translation of Sāmkhya Kārika is a short verse by verse analysis of the text with objections by critics and their answers.

Another good compilation of the Sāmkhya philosophy is Gerard James Larson’s Classical Sāmkhya: An Interpretation of its History and Meaning

Mīmāmsā School

Also known as Pūrva Mīmāmsā, this school emphasises the karma kānḍa or action part of the vedas. The two major thinkers of Mīmāmsā are Prabhākara and Kumārila Bhatta.

The primary text is Mīmāmsā Sūtra composed by Jaimini, a thorough translation of which can be found in Gaṅgānāth Jhā.

Vedānta School

Vedānta or Uttar Mīmāmsā focuses on the jñāna kānḍa or knowledge part of the vedas

There are many different sub-systems of Vedānta thought, but the two main ones are the Advaita School of Śańkarācārya and Viṣiṣṭādvaita School of Rāmānuja.

Advaita Vedānta is the school of unqualified monism and admits of the unqualified brahman or ātman (Ultimate Reality).

Rāmānuja’s qualified monism admits of the ultimate brahman and the personal īśvara.

Where the Cārvākas are materialists, Vedāntins stand on the opposite side of the spectrum, being absolute idealists.

Hajime Nakamura’s History Of Early Vedanta Philosophy is a good place to get an introduction to Vedāntin philosophy before delving into further texts.

Egyptian Philosophy

Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations, predating even Greece not only in terms of its scientific and political theory, but also its philosophy.

While not many sources remain that can tell us about the philosophy of Egypt, there are still some references that can be unearthed.

Egyptian Philosophers: Ancient African Voices from Imhotep to Akhenaten by Molefi Kete Asante is one such book which delves into the ancient Egyptian philosophers that have been often forgotten by modern scholars.

Chinese Philosophy

Dao or Tao is a word that comes up often when we start reading about chinese philosophy. It means way-making or the road we walk in life. Chinese philosophers put a lot of emphasis upon the relationship between humans and the world, and how the road of life stands analogous to a person’s development.

Feng Youlan’s A Short History of Chinese Philosophy is one place to get the basics of chinese philosophy.

Modern western philosophy

Modern Western Philosophy begins with René Descartes and his revolutionary conception of the mind as being the most reliable source of knowledge as opposed to the sensory data.

A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell is a great place to get acquainted with the landscape of western philosophy. It includes a chapter by chapter compilation of all the major philosophers in chronological order.

This period of western philosophy is characterized by the famous debate between two prominent schools of thought—rationalism and empiricism.

Rationalism

Some prominent rationalist philosophers are René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Wilhelm Liebniz.

Descartes’ Meditations On First Philosophy is a great place to start reading modern western philosophy. The text is easily understandable and yet extremely structurally well built as it forces us to doubt and reconsider our most fundamental beliefs.

Leibniz’s Monadology is an important text that students read in the process of studying western philosophy. Lloyd Strickland’s Leibniz’s Monadology: A New Translation and Guide consists of a detailed analysis of each of the 90 paragraphs.

Empiricism

Empiricists like John Locke, David Hume and George Berkeley give importance to sensory-data rather than reason.

John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding starts by giving a detailed critique of innate ideas and establishes the mind as a tabula rasa or blank slate. He establishes senses as being the primary sources of knowledge.

David Hume is one of the most renowned empirical philosophers, credited for rousing Kant from his dogma with his A Treatise of Human Nature. But since it didn’t gain much popular appreciation, he revised his Treatise into An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, in which he makes the crucial distinction between ideas and impressions. He establishes senses as being the primary source of knowledge, not reason, and advises a mitigated or academic scepticism for any student of philosophy.

George Berkeley is a subjective idealist known best for his principle ese es percipi.

One of his most important works is the Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, which is refutation of critics.

Here then is a brief introduction to some of the world philosophies a beginner in the field might be interested in. Pick any you find interesting annd build your way up from there.