It's easy to get immersed in philosophical projects, especially when, like me, you don't have anyone 'guiding you.' Perhaps it makes sense to state what I'm working towards: the production of an "introduction to philosophy" book that will be better than any intro book I've seen. I've never been satisfied with any intro-to-philosophy book. Why? Because they fail again and again to stree the real-life consequences of philosophy, or the reality of philosophical-questions. My book would not stress the 'answers' philosophers have given, or even philosophers themselves, but the questions themselves. I want people to experience philosophy the way I do - as something that vitalizes everyday life, that makes one feel alive, excited, and powerfuly oriented towards deep living. Its the questions of philosophy that I'm interested in making real, making clear, making accessible, and in showing that these problems are not so easily dismissed or cast-aside.
So with that in mind where would I begin?
I've organized my study of philosophy into 3 'circles' - 1) Philosophical Questions (a subject-by-subject elucidation of the problems of philospohy, as well as some failed-answers to those problems and an analysis of the broad complexity of the problem). Here there will be a great stress on grasping the 'basics' of philosophy and philosophical analysis (which is important to grasp if you want to understand anything I do); 2) Philosophical Readings (once we have a good grasp of the philosohpical questions and the 'tools' of philosphy we can begin reading deeply great philospohical works. It here that we see philosophy in full swing, coming alive); 3) Synoptical philosophy - just a term for the circle wherein my own philosophica views are presented. There is no connection to anything else and there is no guarentee that this circle will be accessible. A lot of this consists of responses to other philosophers - i.e. David Kelly, Zizek, Caputo et cetera ... This third circle is very experimental.
The above constitutes my 'reading and writing' orientation to philosophy. I spend about 4 hours a day on it - with more hours of just reading added on here and there. That's not a lot for daily activity - but when you add it up over time it comes out to a lot ("Philosophy," said Nietzsche, "should be a cold bath: in and out.") My goal with this is both my own personal deeper grasp of philosophy, making ita part of my own life thereby increasing the meaning of my own life; but also the publication of great work.
This is a grand motive, but does not immediately tell me where to begin.
Right now I'm stuck on two things: (i) Trying to present an introduction to philosophy and to my way of doing philosophy; (ii) and introduction to epistemology.
Today, I'm reading from Joseph Margolis' Introduction to Phil Problems' - I"m not so sure I like the style: a kind of smug abstraction that fails to live up to the books seemingly 'easy' style that is implied by the books title (and book cover). This is certainly an American-analytical book, with tributes to Hegel and Historicism here and there (which I really like). He contextualizes problems at the end of a discussion, I think it would be in his interest to present them at the beginning. Whatever. I'm trying to better understand the problems of epistemology through this work ...
.. alright: after a long discussion with my good friend, I decided to reconsider the positioning of my approach to philosophy. Not epistemology, but metaphysics should take the center stage - as these are the real core issues anyone interested in philosophy will lunge towards. The pseudo-scholarly, it seems, become trapped in epistemology. The heart and gold of philosophy is in the most obvious questions - i.e. 'who am I' and 'what is real?'
TO me that makes sense. After this discussion, because my own going relationship with a girl, I ended up thinking about love ... No, not that I'm in love with her, but that she is in love with a man who confuses her with his actions .. I might make an essay out of this, which will be dedicated to her.
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