4 ms·

FYI, this is often easier to read and better generally than wikipedia for a lot of articles. If you want to know more about a hairy or highly contested subject

FYI, this is often easier to read and better generally than wikipedia for a lot of articles. If you want to know more about a hairy or highly contested subject, this is a great starting point. Content, in philosophy, is usually best got from the source. Frame though... I think you need an outside frame. It's very hard to understand Marx, Rand, Popper, Kant or whatnot without a frame. First (eg Kant), a lot of philosophical work is overly complicated, so it's much easier approach once you have an approximate idea of where it's going. Second, a lot of modern philosophy is happens within an argument. Marx was writing in counter to Ricardo, political liberals and communists. Ayn Rand was writing a response to Trotsky, Kant and other rivals. It's hard to jump into the argument midway. That's where SEC shines. It gets you started. It gives you an understanding of how philosophies are structured, as well as the basic teams and rivalries dynamics that you need for context. Form there, it's much easier to approach philosophy.

machawinka 6y ago
Having been educated 'continentally', I am surprised that Rand is taken seriously as a filosopher.
- hilbert42 6y ago
  That's an understandable view. I think you'll find that Rand is taken much more seriously as a philosopher in the US than in other Anglophone countries such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand etc. (it seems to me that these countries have a more nuanced view about her that's not that dissimilar to the Continental one). It's understandable that Rand holds greater sway and influence in the US given her libertarian right views and support for free markets, etc. (which hold high rank there among the conservative right). Rand seems to have had two peaks of popularity, in the 1950s after Atlas Shrugged was published and again at the height of the Reagan-Thatcher years of the 1980s. That was also the time when the Austrian school—Hayek, Von Mises, and Chicago School—Friedman were in high favor with those politicians. It will be interesting to see how Rand's popularity holds up into the much longer future.
- rmbeard 6y ago
  She's not.
hilbert42 6y ago
"FYI, this is often easier to read and better generally than wikipedia for a lot of articles." I reckon you are correct, but as I mentioned some weeks back in a reply to a question about what books would I recommend for a beginner in philosophy, SEP was one of my references in that it is an excellent resource but my recommendation came with a caveat which was that there is a huge amount of detail that's likely to overwhelm all but the most hardened. I refer regularly to SEP and when it's just a quick reference I often find myself getting bogged down in detail. There's nothing wrong with that so long as the student knows how to extract just what's needed, the trouble is at times that can be difficult (as there's essentially no delineation between the key points and details). Ideally we'd also have a précised, much shortened students' version.

machawinka 6y ago

Having been educated 'continentally', I am surprised that Rand is taken seriously as a filosopher.

hilbert42 6y ago
That's an understandable view. I think you'll find that Rand is taken much more seriously as a philosopher in the US than in other Anglophone countries such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand etc. (it seems to me that these countries have a more nuanced view about her that's not that dissimilar to the Continental one). It's understandable that Rand holds greater sway and influence in the US given her libertarian right views and support for free markets, etc. (which hold high rank there among the conservative right). Rand seems to have had two peaks of popularity, in the 1950s after Atlas Shrugged was published and again at the height of the Reagan-Thatcher years of the 1980s. That was also the time when the Austrian school—Hayek, Von Mises, and Chicago School—Friedman were in high favor with those politicians. It will be interesting to see how Rand's popularity holds up into the much longer future.
rmbeard 6y ago
She's not.

hilbert42 6y ago

"FYI, this is often easier to read and better generally than wikipedia for a lot of articles." I reckon you are correct, but as I mentioned some weeks back in a reply to a question about what books would I recommend for a beginner in philosophy, SEP was one of my references in that it is an excellent resource but my recommendation came with a caveat which was that there is a huge amount of detail that's likely to overwhelm all but the most hardened. I refer regularly to SEP and when it's just a quick reference I often find myself getting bogged down in detail. There's nothing wrong with that so long as the student knows how to extract just what's needed, the trouble is at times that can be difficult (as there's essentially no delineation between the key points and details). Ideally we'd also have a précised, much shortened students' version.