Philosophy for Beginners

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This is a brief introduction to philosophy, designed to be beginner-friendly. I talk about logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy. There are many details I was unable to discuss, but this video should help a beginner get their bearings as they explore philosophy.

Philosophers discussed include: Plato, Aristotle, Frege, Anscombe, Nietzsche, MacIntyre, Rawls, Nozick, Descartes, Hume, Confucius.

Thanks to Jimmy Nutts for comments on the script.
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Davidson M. Vaccination as a cause of autism-myths and controversies. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2017 Dec;19(4):403-407. doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.4/mdavidson. PMID: 29398935; PMCID: PMC5789217.

Schimmack U. Invalid Claims About the Validity of Implicit Association Tests by Prisoners of the Implicit Social-Cognition Paradigm. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2021 Mar;16(2):435-442. doi: 10.1177/1745691621991860. PMID: 33709849; PMCID: PMC8167921.

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00:00 - How I Started with Philosophy
01:02 - Brilliant
02:02 - Logic and the Art of Thinking
05:37 - Formal Logic
07:37 - Paradoxes
09:11 - Metaphysics
09:36 - Theories of Truth
13:18 - Universals (and Cats)
15:23 - Nominalism
16:57 - Epistemology
18:39 - Philosophical Skepticism
20:03 - Cartesian & Humean Skepticism
22:28 - Ethical Theories
25:32 - Nihilism & Metaethics
28:08 - Political Philosophy & The Problem of Justice
30:41 - Philosophers Against Democracy

[_jared]

What area of philosophy interests you the most?

[MrFredstt]

One thing I like philosophy but also what makes it difficult or sometimes even scary is that makes you really take a deep dive into your own mind. Many people may think they know themselves and their own mind intimately until they start getting into philosophy. Then you really start getting a look at the landscape of your mind and realize that you didn't know yourself as well as you thought and some things about yourself may be hard to look at or realize. Philosophy also leads you to, imo, one of the hardest things in life which is to change yourself and how you think. Philosophy also has its outside and world view aspects of it but it's the personal that's always spoken to me

[stay]

I'm sixteen watching this video and I honestly didn't understand much, but I did understand the general ideas presented in this video and it's so enlightening and heavy at the same time, so thank you for boggling my mind. Truly enjoyable.

[shawnbrewer]

This is a FANTASTIC video! Thank you, Dr. Henderson!

[chrise]

Hi Jared! I first encountered your channel while looking for books similar to Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. But I've come to love all your content! I haven't seen much but this year my new years resolution has been to read 6 books (1 every 2 months), in the spirit of some advice I heard you give about becoming a better reader, which was to not expect too much of yourself all at once. Reading deeply is a skill which takes practice and develops over time.

I studied theology in undergrad and did a lot of reading, but honestly felt a lot of shame about how I would often fall behind or feel lost. As a result I've really wanted to keep up my reading yet have felt often discouraged when it gets hard. Your advice was really encouraging and as I said played a key role in my resolution to commit to six books even though I thought with my background I "should" do more.

So thank you for your awesome content! It is a perfect fit for a lot of what I am doing right now in walking towards more wholeness as a man. I'm doing a lot of personal work and even considering becoming a classical teacher one day. I've even thought about making a channel in the same spirit as yours blended with others like Horses, Struthless, Dry Creek Wrangler School, and Called to More to name a few. Thanks again and I am excited for more content!

[VeraGolosovaArt]

I will definitely need to re-watch it a few times <3 amazing video, thank you so much!

[ZackarySmigel]

Congrats on 200k subs! Also this is super neat and very in depth. Great job man!

[nualafaolin]

Great video! I’m mostly interested in ethics, but fascinating to hear about other branches. Would love an overview of each one you mentioned in separate videos with some resources to delve deeper!

[christvpherx]

my comment doesn’t really have anything to do with the video; i simply want to share with the creator - and all the community of course - that in september i’ ll go to university and i have decided to enroll in philosophy. i have only studied it briefly in high school and i know i lack some basic skills such as a good text comprehension, excellent writing skill and logical thinking which is why i am scared as have never been before; i feel like i won’ t be good or smart enough for this faculty and i’ ll fail pretty soon still i know this is want to do and i’ ll try my best.
thank you to the creator for making such good videos that inspire me and reassure me whenever i doubt myself or my decision.

[Flappaee]

I’m 18, dropped out of high school at 15 due to paralyzing anxiety and for the past couple months have been having constant existential dread. Heard learning about philosophy might help me, really hoping they where right now

[jessicaz]

Thank you for your work, Dr. Henderson, as always! This is a fascinating video and hugely helpful!

[misterkefir]

As a philosophy non-beginner I must say that I still really enjoyed this video nonetheless. Thank You :)

[_emh]

Fantastic video, Jared, like the others from you that I've enjoyed! I was hoping for a couple more minutes at the end when you mentioned anarchism, if only to mention Michael Huemer's work, "The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey." If ever you decide to delve into anarchist thought (or ethical intuitionism, one of Huemer's other areas of work) on this channel, an interview or conversation between you and Professor Huemer would be very interesting! Thank you!

[lantan]

I think that good way to start philosophy is to question your most basic beliefs, for example: why killing people is bad, why do I feel special as a human in universe, itd.

[Johanna_reads]

Excellent video! Now that I've finished The Dispossessed, I'd like to learn more about anarchist theory. I can see how that book played with political philosophy and why it impacted you!

[typoholic]

This is a topic that I’ve been waiting for. Thank you!

[dorianphilotheates]

Excellent introduction— just subscribed to your channel. Greetings from Delphi, Greece! 🏛🌿🇬🇷

[ved.shankar]

This video blew my mind. I think it will need a rewatch. Thank you Jared :)

[ChrisHolly]

Glad to see a new video! Having a new baby is such a lot of work, so I hope the baby will let you record more frequently in the future! :)

[TeaGamingYT]

hey man! I'm currently a philosophy major, planning on pursuing firefighting after getting my degree (pretty unrelated fields I know). Was wondering how you went from a philosophy PHD to working for tech companies? Not sure if you've talked about your career path before but I'd be interested in hearing about the options I might have available.