So You Want to Study Philosophy…
Introduction
April 27th, 2021
Six years ago, I wrote and shared a little guide to studying physics called “So You Want to Learn Physics” in the hope that it would help anyone who wanted to learn physics on their own. As it turned out, people found it pretty useful (as of today, over six hundred thousand people have used it!), and ever since I published it, I’ve found myself wondering what else along those same lines I might know that I can share with others. Writing similar guides for philosophy, mathematics, computer science, and classics — all subjects that I have studied in depth both formally and informally — has long been on my to-do lists. And here, at last, is a guide to studying philosophy.
There is a kind of intellectual joy that comes from studying philosophy, and it has everything to do with the nature of the discipline. At the heart of it all is the desire to make sense of the world and our place within it — a painfully deep human desire to know who we are, what it means that we are beings that think and feel and perceive, how we should live and how we should treat others, and to know what is the nature of every other field of study (language, science, mathematics, economics…). (Note: It is no accident that so many other formal disciplines — math, linguistics, science, etc. — were originally considered within the realm of philosophy until they were mature enough to branch off on their own.)
In short, philosophy is so rewarding because it is concerned with the questions that are most fundamental and universal to the human experience. There is great satisfaction in thinking through fundamental, important things deeply, and I promise you that studying philosophy will completely change your life.
The purpose of this guide is to provide a roadmap so that anyone who follows and completes it will walk away with the knowledge equivalent to an undergraduate degree in philosophy. General philosophy education in the United States is split into undergraduate-level coursework, which is comprised of a series of overview courses of increasing difficulty that each focus on a different branch of philosophy (such as philosophy of language, or ethics, or metaphysics), and graduate-level coursework, which is generally comprised of highly specialized and narrowly-focused graduate seminars that focus on, for example, specific philosophers or philosophical theories.
While I was putting this guide together, I went back and forth quite a bit on whether to focus only on undergraduate-level philosophy coursework or to provide both an undergraduate and graduate curriculum (the way I did for the physics guide). While I would have loved to provide the latter option, I ultimately decided to only offer an undergraduate curriculum simply because of just how highly specialized many graduate seminars can be (for example, there are many that focus on just the work of one philosopher or, in even more extreme cases, just one book or paper). But this doesn’t mean you aren’t getting an advanced education in philosophy when you study the courses in this guide: One key thing to know about the undergraduate curriculum, especially once you get into the more advanced courses, is that in many philosophy departments, the upper-level philosophy courses (such as philosophy of math and philosophy of science) are cross-listed as graduate courses and these classes will have students that are junior and senior undergraduates and will also have MA and PhD students.
Another important thing I should note is that there are two main traditions or approaches to Western philosophy: analytic and continental. While I have included an introduction to continental philosophy as an elective course at the end of the curriculum, most of the courses in this guide (especially in the second half) are courses in analytic philosophy. I decided on an analytic-focused approach for two reasons. First, most undergraduate and graduate programs in the United States have analytic-focused philosophy curriculums. Second, I strongly believe that a primarily continental-focused education supplemented by analytic electives is incomplete in a way that an analytic-focused education supplemented by continental electives is not. Logic, mathematics, and science and our philosophical approaches to them are so incredibly fundamental to the world we live in that to not study these in the way that they are taught in analytic-focused programs would lead to what I would consider an incomplete philosophical education.
Remember that anyone can understand philosophy. The joy of living an examined life is accessible to anyone who has (1) the desire to think about things a little more deeply and (2) the humility and curiosity to learn from the philosophers of the past and present.
Godspeed!
Before You Begin
Accessible Philosophy Books
Before you dive into the more formal and difficult coursework, you might find it helpful or fun to read philosophy books that are a little more accessible than many of the textbooks you will find in the curriculum that follows. There are a few truly wonderful ones that I find myself reading and re-reading over and over, and I own multiple copies of each because I often send them to friends and acquaintances who I am trying to convince to study philosophy. The works of the Stoic philosophers are especially wonderful for this, because the Stoics were so focused on living a good and meaningful life and wrote so clearly about it.
Here are a few of my favorite philosophy books that are both accessible and unforgettable:
On the Shortness of Life: Life Is Long if You Know How to Use It by Seneca
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine
Histories of Philosophy
While some of the courses in the curriculum — specifically Ancient Philosophy and Modern Philosophy — are historical-survey-type courses, most of the various things you will study here are grouped by topic rather than presented chronologically and/or with detailed historical context. I’ve found that reading and referencing histories of philosophy can really help with this, and have enjoyed the following books quite a bit:
A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton. A fun and simple overview.
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. This is a classic for a reason!
A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny (This is comprised of four volumes which can also be purchased individually: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, and Volume 4). This is more modern (updated) than Russell and is a good supplement to any studies.
Philosophical Analysis in the Twentieth Century, Volume 1: The Dawn of Analysis and Philosophical Analysis in the Twentieth Century, Volume 2: The Age of Meaning by Scott Soames. A detailed history of analytic philosophy in two volumes.
How to Study
You’ll need to do a ton of reading, analyzing, and writing if you want to understand the material presented in this curriculum. It’s not enough to sit down and read through the textbooks here once — you could do that if you really wanted to, but I highly doubt that you’d walk away with a deep understanding of the material. If you want to study philosophy well and genuinely understand it, you need to engage with the material, period.
Over the years and after much formal and informal study, I’ve learned a pretty foolproof method for studying philosophy: read everything four times. Here’s how it works:
First read: Read casually, as if you’re reading a novel or a newspaper or magazine article. Your goal here is simply to observe, not to engage (yet).
Second read: This time, read to understand. Take notes. Ask yourself, “what does the author really mean here?” Summarize things in your own words. Try to break down the arguments being presented into bullet points, identifying the premises and the conclusions. When you read a term you are unfamiliar with or want to understand better, google it or look it up in the SEP.
Third read: Read again, and this time engage with the text. Go back to your notes, where you identified the arguments being presented. Think of arguments in favor of what the author is saying and arguments against. Think of counterexamples.
Fourth read: Now read for one last time. Read casually, the way you did in the first read. Notice how your understanding of the text is now so much richer and deeper than it was on the first read.
If you study this way, you’ll walk away with an incredibly solid understanding of philosophy and an intellectual foundation that will serve you well for the rest of your life.
In addition to studying and analyzing, you should also write short papers about what you are studying. I recommend writing at least one 5-10 page paper per class. Choose a subtopic, a paper, a book, or an argument that you covered in the book, and write a paper about it. In the appendix of the main textbook in the Introduction to Ethics course, you will find a very helpful overview of how to write a philosophy paper. You should also read Doug Portmore’s guide to writing philosophy papers, which will help you understand how to think about and structure a philosophy paper.
Additional Resources
One of the most amazing resources available is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, also known as the “SEP.” It is completely online, completely free, and filled with detailed and comprehensive entries on every topic imaginable. Before you start the coursework, you should familiarize yourself with the SEP and bookmark the website. Once you begin your studies, you should read the SEP articles on the topics you are studying. If you would like to have PDFs of the articles, you can join the Friends of the SEP Society, where for a small membership fee you can have the benefit of beautifully formatted PDFs and the joy of supporting a truly wonderful resource.
Another important resource you should be familiar with is philpapers.org. This is a truly staggeringly enormous bibliography of philosophical research in every area of philosophy. It’s a great place to go if you want to find out what research is being done in various areas, though it is a bit overwhelming and easy to get lost in the weeds.
Online Undergraduate Degree Programs
If you fall in love with philosophy and would like to obtain a bachelor’s degree in it (and perhaps someday go on to get a PhD!), you can of course apply to your local university and, if accepted, pursue a degree. But if this is not feasible for you — if, perhaps, you need some flexibility in your schedule because you have other more pressing obligations — and you still want to study philosophy formally, you should consider an online degree program.
The absolute best online undergraduate philosophy degree program is offered by Arizona State University: ASU Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. I can speak from experience that the philosophy department is excellent and the courses are wonderful (I studied there for several years and took many undergraduate and graduate courses in philosophy in their program before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania). I can also speak to the high quality of the online degree programs — I recently took a few courses for fun and registered for an economics degree that will probably take me years to get because I’m taking one class here and there as I’m able. The cost is not insignificant, but there are many financial aid options. You can pursue a first bachelor’s degree, a second if you already have one, or you can register as not pursuing any particular degree and take a selection of courses that way.
There are several other online programs I have heard of, though I do not have any direct experience of them, including the University of Arizona, the University of Illinois Springfield, and Oregon State University. If you are interested, I encourage you to reach out to the schools and learn more about their programs.
The Philosophy Curriculum
Overview
The curriculum of almost every undergraduate philosophy program covers the following subjects (along with some electives in various topics), and usually in the following order:
Introduction to Philosophy
Informal Logic
Introduction to Ethics
Ancient Philosophy
Modern Philosophy
Epistemology
Metaphysics
Normative Ethics
Political Philosophy
Formal Logic
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Mathematics
Electives
I'm going to cover the details of each of these course topics below, including the best textbooks to use and any additional reading you may find helpful in your journey.
1. Introduction to Philosophy
What It’s All About
The goal of this class is pretty simple: to familiarize you with the big questions and problems in philosophy and give you a broad overview of the discipline. You’ll revisit these ideas later in the curriculum and will explore them in more depth. Don’t spend too much time on this course — just let your mind wander and try to appreciate the questions and why they are important. When you feel hungry for more, move on to the next class!
Readings
Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy by Simon Blackburn (essential). A good overview of the big questions in philosophy. Begin by reading this book from cover to cover.
The Norton Introduction to Philosophy (essential). This is a gigantic book filled with some of the most famous essays and excerpts, and it introduces the major branches of philosophy. It also has very useful exercises and study questions. You do not need to read through the entire book (unless you want to, of course). Instead, read the introductory material, and then read all of the material in sections 3, 5, 6, 13, 17, and 20. Then choose an additional two or three sections that sound interesting to you, and read all of the relevant material.
Additional Material
The University of Edinburgh has an Introduction to Philosophy course on Coursera that you may find interesting. It is not detailed enough to serve as a substitute to the textbooks above, but it is a useful supplement. You do not need to pay for this and get the certificate — just take the free version.
2. Informal Logic
What It’s All About
Informal logic (also called “critical thinking”) is exactly what it sounds like: an informal system of logic that is useful for everyday reasoning. Here, you’ll learn about arguments, fallacies, inductive and deductive reasoning, and more. This class will familiarize you with some of the tools you’ll need for the rest of the courses, so don’t skip it and please don’t move on until you feel like you have a solid understanding of the material presented here.
Readings
Critical Thinking by Brooke Noel Moore and Richard Parker (essential). This introductory textbook does a very good job of explaining informal logic and has a wealth of good examples and exercises.
Informal Logic: A Pragmatic Approach by Douglas Walton (supplement). An enjoyable book to read through as a supplement to the primary text.
An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments by Ali Almossawi (supplement). Fun and lighthearted overview of informal logic.
Additional Material
Duke University offers an Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking Specialization on Coursera that you might find interesting. It is not detailed enough to serve as a substitute to the textbooks above, but it is a useful supplement. You do not need to pay for this and get the certificate — just take the free version.
3. Introduction to Ethics
What It’s All About
Broadly speaking, ethics is concerned with the principles of morality (e.g., right and wrong). In this class, you’ll be introduced to relativism, utilitarianism, deontology, natural law theory, virtue ethics, feminist ethics, and various issues in applied ethics (including abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty).
Readings
Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues by Barbara MacKinnon and Andrew Fiala (essential). A wonderful introduction to ethics. Read through the entire thing, and supplement it with the books listed below. (Note: there is a handy appendix on how to write a paper in the back — read this carefully and refer back to it!).
The Fundamentals of Ethics by Russ Shafer-Landau (supplement). A wonderful supplement to the main text.
4. Ancient Philosophy
What It’s All About
In this class, you’ll learn about the birth of philosophy (and science! and mathematics! and logic!) and study the presocratic philosophers, Plato (the greatest philosopher of all time), Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, and the Skeptics.
Readings
Ancient Greek Philosophy: From the Presocratics to the Hellenistic Philosophers by Thomas A. Blackson (essential). My absolute favorite textbook on the subject.
A Presocratics Reader: Selected Fragments and Testimonia (essential). Read through this when you are covering the presocratics in the main textbook.
Plato: Complete Works (essential). When you cover Plato in the main textbook, read the relevant dialogues here. (Note: you can also purchase the dialogues individually, but it’s much more cost-effective to buy this collected works edition.)
The Basic Works of Aristotle (essential). Read through these when you reach the chapters on Aristotle.
Hellenistic Philosophy (essential). Read through these selections when you reach the last section of the textbook.
Additional Materials
Ancient Philosophy: Plato & His Predecessors and Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle and His Successors classes on Coursera. These classes from the University of Pennsylvania have some lectures that you may find helpful and enjoyable to watch while you are doing the above readings. I wouldn’t recommend only taking this class, but it’s a good supplement. You do not need to pay for these and get the certificates — just take the free versions.
5. Modern Philosophy
What It’s All About
Here, you’ll study the so-called “modern” philosophers, including Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, Pascal, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, Rousseau, and Kant.
Readings
Modern Philosophy (essential). This book contains all of the primary material you’ll need to read. Read the entire thing, and don’t skip any of it. As you study the work of each philosopher, supplement your reading by looking at each philosopher’s SEP entry.
6. Epistemology
What It’s All About
Epistemology is the theory of knowledge. In this class, you’ll learn about knowledge, justification, belief, and so much more.
Readings
Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge by Robert Audi (essential). A really solid and straightforward introduction to epistemology
Epistemology: An Anthology (essential). Read this along with the main text. Yes, there are a ton of articles in here, but they are all very important and all very much worth reading.
Epistemology by Ernest Sosa (supplement). Overview of the field by one of the best epistemologists working today.
7. Metaphysics
What It’s All About
Metaphysics is, in a nutshell, the study of existence, of being. In this class, you’ll learn about abstract and concrete entities, universals, individuation, identity, time, realism and anti-realism, and so much more.
Readings
Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction by Michael Loux (essential). The classic (and fantastic) undergraduate metaphysics textbook.
Metaphysics: An Anthology (essential). Read this anthology alongside the main text. Try to read everything if you can.
8. Normative Ethics
What It’s All About
In this class, you’ll revisit the topics you covered in the Introduction to Ethics course, but you’ll learn about them in more depth and with greater rigor.
Readings
Moral Theory: An Introduction by Mark Timmons (essential). As you read through this excellent overview, read through the books listed below.
Ethical Theory: An Anthology (essential). Supplement the main textbook with readings from this. Read all of the material in this book, if you can.
Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill (essential). Read this when you read Chapter 5: Classical Utilitarianism in the main textbook.
Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant (essential). Read this when you read Chapter 8: Kant’s Moral Theory.
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle (essential). Read this when you read Chapter 10: Virtue Ethics.
9. Political Philosophy
What It’s All About
Political philosophy is the branch of philosophy concerned with government. Here, you’ll study the history of political philosophy (ancient political philosophy, political philosophers from the modern era, and contemporary political philosophy), philosophers like Plato and Rawls, concepts like liberty, justice, rights, and more.
Readings
An Introduction to Political Philosophy by Jonathan Wolff (essential). A solid main textbook.
Princeton Readings in Political Thought: Essential Texts from Plato to Populism (essential). Supplement the main textbook with these readings, and read them all if you can (you won’t regret it).
Plato’s Republic in Plato’s Complete Works (essential). Read Plato’s Republic in its entirety. (You should have this collection on hand after studying Ancient Philosophy.)
10. Formal Logic
What It’s All About
No philosophy education is complete without a class on formal logic. In this class, you’ll learn the basics of propositional logic, first-order logic, and second-order logic.
Readings
The Logic Book (essential). Start with this book for a very solid and accessible introduction (I love it so much). (Note: you can also buy solution manuals for this book, which you may find very helpful if you are new to logic and/or mathematics — just make sure you buy the one that matches your edition of the book.)
Logic for Philosophy by Theodore Sider (essential). This book covers even more than the first one and builds on what you learned there. Includes really cool chapters on counterfactuals and modal logic.
A Mathematical Introduction to Logic by Herbert B. Enderton (supplement). After you’ve mastered the material in the first two books, you can jump into this one.
The Joy of Sets by Keith Devlin (supplement). My absolute favorite introduction to set theory.
11. Philosophy of Language
What It’s All About
Philosophy of language is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of language. You’ll cover truth, meaning, names, reference, ascriptions, descriptions, indeterminacy, vagueness, metaphor, and so much more.
Readings
Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction by William G Lycan (essential). The classic philosophy of language textbook.
The Philosophy of Language (essential). A comprehensive anthology to read alongside the main textbook.
Naming and Necessity by Saul Kripke (supplement). Worth reading in its entirety.
The Frege Reader (supplement). Frege was one of the giants of philosophy of language (and philosophy of math, and logic, and philosophy of logic…), and you won’t regret diving into more of his writing.
12. Philosophy of Mind
What It’s All About
When you study philosophy of mind, you’ll learn about the mind-body problem, dualism, behaviorism, functionalism, mental causation, theories of consciousness, qualia, computational theory of mind, externalism, and so much more (and so many more -isms).
Readings
Philosophy of Mind by Jaegwon Kim (essential). A fantastic textbook on the subject, written by one of the most influential philosophers in the field.
Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings (essential). A comprehensive anthology to read alongside the main textbook. (You can also buy the older edition, which is less expensive.)
13. Philosophy of Science
What It’s All About
Philosophy of science is the study of, very broadly speaking, the foundations of science and the philosophical implications of science. Here you’ll learn about the difference between science and pseudoscience, the scientific method, scientific revolutions, the problem of induction, underdetermination, scientific realism, empiricism, and more.
Readings
Understanding Philosophy of Science by James Ladyman (essential). A very concise introduction to the field.
Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues (essential). A truly extraordinary anthology. Be sure to read all of the essays carefully.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn (supplement). This famous book (which had an outsized impact on both the philosophy of science and science itself) is worth reading in its entirety.
14. Philosophy of Mathematics
What It’s All About
The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, metaphysics, and epistemology of mathematics (it is also one of my personal favorites, second only to ethics!). This is where you’ll learn about older philosophical theories of mathematics (like mathematical platonism), logicism, formalism, intuitionism, and Gödel’s incompleteness theorems.
Readings
Thinking about Mathematics: The Philosophy of Mathematics by Stewart Shapiro (essential). A very accessible introduction to the philosophy of mathematics. You should have studied the material in the formal logic course by the time you get here. No knowledge of mathematics is strictly necessary, but you will have a much richer understanding of the topics if you have some familiarity with advanced math.
Philosophies of Mathematics by Alexander George and Daniel J. Velleman (essential). This is a wonderful book to read either alongside Thinking About Mathematics or immediately after. There is a great deal of overlap between the two books, but this is a feature, not a bug — the material is quite complicated and it helps to read multiple explanations of the various theories.
Philosophy of Mathematics: Selected Readings (essential). A goldmine of the most important and influential essays in philosophy of math. As you make your way through the above textbooks, read through the relevant essays in this book.
The Joy of Sets by Keith Devlin (supplement). So much of what you will learn in philosophy of math has to do with set theory in some way or another. This book is my absolute favorite introduction to the subject, and you should be able to understand it if you’ve worked through the formal logic course earlier in the curriculum.
On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems by Kurt Gödel (supplement). Read this along with Gödel's Proof by Ernest Nagel and James Newman (supplement), which breaks down how it all works in an accessible way.
The Frege Reader (supplement). If you purchased this book for the Philosophy of Language course, you’ll want to read the selections from The Foundations of Arithmetic (I believe it starts on page 84); if you don’t want to purchase the entire Frege Reader, you can purchase a standalone (and very inexpensive) copy of The Foundations of Arithmetic by Gottlob Frege.
15. Electives
What They’re All About
Now that you understand the fundamentals of philosophy, you have a solid foundation and can study more advanced and specialized topics, including (but not limited to): aesthetics, biomedical ethics, continental philosophy, existentialism, formal epistemology, medieval philosophy, metaethics, modal logic, philosophy of biology, philosophy of economics, philosophy of law, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of physics.
Readings
Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts: An Introduction to Aesthetics by Gordon Graham and Philosophies of Art and Beauty: Selected Readings in Aesthetics from Plato to Heidegger.
Biomedical Ethics: Biomedical Ethics is the classic textbook. (Note: you can also buy one of the older — and less-expensive — editions.)
Continental Philosophy: Continental Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction by Andrew Cutrofello. Supplement with The Continental Philosophy Reader.
Existentialism: Read the selections in Basic Writings of Existentialism alongside the essays in The Cambridge Companion to Existentialism.
Formal Epistemology: Mainstream and Formal Epistemology by Vincent F. Hendricks. This book expertly bridges the gap between mainstream epistemology and formal epistemology. Supplement it with Readings in Formal Epistemology: Sourcebook.
Medieval Philosophy: Read through Anthony Kenny’s Medieval Philosophy and supplement with readings from Philosophy in the Middle Ages: The Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions.
Metaethics: Metaethics: A Contemporary Introduction by Mark van Roojen is a wonderful overview of the subject.
Modal Logic: A New Introduction to Modal Logic by G.E. Hughes and M.J. Cresswell. A solid introduction to modal logic. Supplement with Modal Logic: An Introduction by Brian F. Chellas.
Philosophy of Biology: Read Philosophy of Biology by Peter Godfrey-Smith, and then read through the excerpts and essays in Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology.
Philosophy of Economics: Philosophy of Economics: A Contemporary Introduction by Julian Reiss and The Philosophy of Economics: An Anthology.
Philosophy of Law: Start with Philosophy of Law: Introducing Jurisprudence by Jeffrey Brand and then read through the commentary and readings in Philosophy of Law: Classic and Contemporary Readings with Commentary by Fredrick Schauer and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong.
Philosophy of Religion: Philosophy of Religion: An Introduction by William L. Rowe. Supplement with Readings in Philosophy of Religion: Ancient to Contemporary.
Philosophy of Physics: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Physics: Locality, Fields, Energy, and Mass by Marc Lange, Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time by Tim Maudlin, and Philosophy of Physics: Quantum Theory by Tim Maudlin. It helps to have a basic grasp of physics — if you would like to learn physics, check out “So You Want to Learn Physics…”
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.” - Seneca
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