Scholasticism: Should I go for it?

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Xenon777

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As title says. I would like to study philosophy on my own. But I have NO EXPERIENCE with it. I was thinking Scholasticism would be interesting. But are there others I could choose? And what are some basic reading I could use? what are the basics of Philosophy and how does one go about it? I want to learn, but you…see, I am behind academically in this kind of stuff. I barely passed High school. I was in a special program that did not …really give me much of an education, not that it mattered, since I hated school. And I am trying to play catch-up. SO…I would like some very entry level basics.
 
Also, I am not good at audiobook, so I would prefer paperback copy.
 
What are the ABSOLUTE BASICS on Philosophy? Are all philosophies right? or are some closer than other? I am a brainlet with this stuff, and have no one to guide me.
 
Mod…how do I use the site you gave us. This is no good to me unfortunately. I can’t even do multiplication or addition.
 
Philosophy is a way of perceiving the world around us and the metaphysical world.
The most fundamental understanding to this, perhaps, would be the law of non-contradiction: in a layman’s way to state it, two statements that, in the same sense, describe the same thing in opposing ways cannot both be correct. One can be correct, or neither can be correct, but they cannot both be correct.
For instance, if I have only one name, then if I were to say that my one and only name is Bill, and say that my one and only name is Bob, both these statements cannot be right. My name can he Bob, or my name could be Bill, my name could be something completely different, but it cannot be both Bob and Bill at the same time.
This is a most basic expression of logic.
Philosophers disagree with each other, especially when they are in different traditions.
Scholasticism believes in faith and reason, and takes a lot of influence from Aristotle. It can be difficult to understand for many people. If you honestly cannot understand certain philosophical concepts, then admit it to yourself. Trust in God’s providence. When things are above us, they are above us. Let us work with what God gives us and do what He wills for us.
 
philosophy is a tradition of it’s own,that the believers of god and the church have used to prove their statements(that god exists,that god is good etc etc).Do not go in expecting every philosopher to be supportive of the christian idea of god,of the church dogmas.for that is not the case for a good lot of them.You should read something like Bryan Magee’s The Story of Philosophy before heading in to plato,aristotle,the scholastics…Read it and if you enjoyed it,then ask on the forum where to go next.
 
Will I be able to still enter religious life? I can’t imagine a life outside of Christ. I can’t imagine working so much that I can’t go to Church. My mom and dad work and can’t make Sunday’s. I do not want that for my life. if something risks taking me away, I can’t bear the thought. I would be fine making little and giving it to my monastery. I want to serve Him. but what if they can’t take me? I understand the law of Non Contradiction at least. Any light reading I can look at. I wish to contemplate Him. I love Him
 
go get Frederick Copleston’s History of Philosophy. Don’t buy the whole set; get one volume at a time. The whole set is $187 on amazon, and as you don’t know if you really want to go the whole route, start with volume 1 and work your way through it. it was my textbook series for a historical overview when I got my BA in philosophy. From there, you can branch out.

Getting into a specific branch of Philosophy, such as Scholasticism is to enter in the middle with no background of those who came before; and likely to immerse you too deeply in too narrow an area and get you in way over your head.
 
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copleston’s series should be very good for op,but xenon should also read the works that copleston talks about.So he should go through the series and also through the works copleston talks about.

Xenon various monks and friars studied philosophy extensively.Monasteries should be able to take you in unless you prove to be very disruptive and mean spirited.Keep in mind that philosophy is not the only way to reach god and should be considered an auxiliary at best.Very few people reach god through philosophy.If you are looking to join a monastery,you could do a weekend stay with them.A lot of monasteries offer that option,so you should take it if you are thinking about joining them.Search for monasteries and what rules they have and their ways of life are,before going to them
 
Not necessarily, there are probably many monasteries that will accept you. God bless.
 
I suggest first getting to know Jesus’ Teachings = aka Jesus - to the best of your ability…

Read the NT .
 
It sounds to me, @Xenon777, that the first thing you need to do is read through the entire Catechism. Since you are Catholic, you need to be firmly grounded in our faith, first, because each brand/flavor of philosophy has been able to garner followers. If you’re not firmly grounded in your faith, and you should happen to read all of them, at one time or another, you’ll be suckered into believing one, then another of them. Know your faith before attempting these possible occasions of sin, lest you embark upon one of them and leave your Catholic faith—Christ, Himself—behind.
 
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Minks said:
It sounds to me, @Xenon777, that the first thing you need to do is read through the entire Catechism.
Click to expand...
That’s a big task… .

Gospel’s First -

Then?

Portions of Vat II and/or Portions of the CCC - for the sake of knowing some of Catholic Teaching
 
To properly dig into Scholasticism (in my opinion as someone who took an education in philosophy) you should start with the fundamentals taught in any Phil101 class. There are certain outlines about how to do philosophy, what famous philosophers thought, what are some of the major threads of philosophical thought, etc that give you the breadth of understanding about the field so you can then approach a more narrow part, such as Scholasticism.

Above all remember what Plato claims Socrates said: The unexamined life is not worth living. Philosophy is about critically examining beliefs, especially your own. It is not about building a rhetorical arsenal to blindly defend your preconceptions.
 
I think the OP is asking just as a lay catholic person interested in philosophy. I don’t think there needs to be a disclaimer about changing his worldview.

Sometimes you study things to apply it better. To “polish truth” I would say. In the case of platonism-aristotelism and scholasticism, I would say “to polish Faith”
 
What I would recommend is reading Plato’s Republic. Plato is not only the start of philosophy but the best example of it. Why? Because it is not written in essay format, instead it is written as a drama. The reason? Because Plato is recreating conversations and assuming the reader will be pondering the same questions to which Socrates has a logical way of guiding through them.

The point of reading philosophy is not to passively accept everything a philosopher writes but to consistently argue with and question them. So anything you read after Plato you would argue with the Philosopher.

Stay away from Nietzche because the Nietzche trap is that he is easy to read. Nietzche is evil. Got to go phone call.
 
I think anyone who is interested in philosophy should understand the basics. It’s about setting up a framework to understand the arguments. To understand what epistemology, and logic, and metaphysics, the history of philosophy (Plato, Aristotle, etc) and the main thrusts of them lay the foundation to understanding any philosophical tradition. And then dive into Scholasticism.
 
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