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r/askphilosophy•
RickDeveloper

Undergraduate level resources for high school student

Hi,

I'm a high school student and a few weeks ago I won the national philosophy olympiad, which means I'll get to participate in the international philosophy olympiad in May. This is super exciting and I'm grateful for that opportunity :) For those not familiar with the competition, both the national olympiad and the international olympiad require students to write a text in English discussing one of four quotes.

Now, English is my second language and all of my philosophy education thus far, except for some individual reading, has all been in Dutch. I think I'm a fairly competent writer overall, but translating the philosophies to English is a bit hard for me because of the amount of jargon that's used. I guess I mostly think about this stuff in Dutch so my English representation of some ideas is lacking/not really good. That's why I'd like to explore some of the ideas as they are described in English to get used the "peculiar" (in a positive way) writing style used in philosophy as well as expand my knowledge about philosophy with some more in-depth material than we usually discuss in my high school class. So basically I think I'm looking for an undergraduate level textbook that covers some of the most influential philosophers. I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion for a good book or maybe some resources that could be helpful.

Thanks!

Posted Feb 16, 2021, 4:55 PM UTC · edited

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usernamesarefascist•

Cheers on the olympiad stuff!

Stanford encyclopedia of philosopy is probably the best online resource out there.

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SanJJ_1•

yeah ong it's the bible

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DragonLord1729•

Are there more of a textbook-like undergraduate philosophy resources? I'd like to start foraging into the field. Say, a textbook for Philosophy 101?

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platosforehead•

For my intro class we’re using The Norton Introduction to Philosophy

It’s a compilation of relevant readings in major philosophical problems. You can really see the back and forth the authors did.

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RickDeveloperOP•

Looks great! Thanks for sharing.

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Subjectobserver•

Libretexts>>Humanities>>Philosophy

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RickDeveloperOP•

Thank you!

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provangoestoschool•

To piggyback the top comment, the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is also good. I've been assigned a few articles from IEP in my undergraduate but it is not as reputable or as respected as the Stanford Encyclopedia (SEP)

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Buzzer458•

I was going to suggest the IEP, too, so I'm glad to see your recommendation. The SEP is generally better in part because the IEP's entries are written more for undergrads and laypeople. So, the SEP can assume greater background knowledge and therefore provide a more in-depth, complicated presentation. But, in this case, undergrad-level material is exactly what is being requested. So, I think that the IEP would be good here, too.

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RickDeveloperOP•

Thanks!

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naantics•

Congrats!! Not a textbook per se, but would highly recommend AC Grayling’s ‘The History of Philosophy’. It’s superbly written and eloquently summarises the main ideas of most of the big-name philosophers throughout history. Good luck in the competition :)

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RickDeveloperOP•

Thanks! I'll check it out.

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peterw16•

I would write to a member of the philosophy department at your top choice university and ask for access to their library resources. This would be a great foot-in-the door when you apply and they would probably say yes (worst they can do is say no).

Or just look at a syllabus in a college philosophy course you think sounds interesting/relevant and do the readings yourself.

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as-wellphil. of science•

I would write to a member of the philosophy department at your top choice university and ask for access to their library resources. This would be a great foot-in-the door when you apply and they would probably say yes (worst they can do is say no).

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this, but if you mean that the university would give OP access to all the journals they subscribe to, I don't think that is going to happen...

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RickDeveloperOP•

I actually applied to some colleges already, but I’ll see if I can email a professor. The other commenter suggested they’ll probably say no, so I’m curious what you think about that.

Which online college course would you recommend?

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peterw16•

I would still try. If they say no, then that is too bad. But that is the worst they can do.

Also since you want some broad survey information, just look at Philosophy 101 courses etc. If something more specific piques your interest, then just look to courses on that topic.

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Bas_TonissenKant, History of Philosophy•

I can't resist pointing out, in a friendly way, that your posts kind of seem to assume that the university system everywhere is like the American system. If OP is looking to do their undergrad at a Dutch university, which seems reasonably likely, their philosophy programs probably don't have selective admission (i.e. worrying about 'getting in' isn't really a factor.) I also don't believe these programs tend to have syllabi available to the public, though I could be wrong there. And they wouldn't really offer anything like a 'philosopy 101' course, in name or in content! I do think looking at syllabi from universities abroad (the US or UK) is good advice, however.

OP: van harte gefeliciteerd met je Olympiadewinst, en succes bij de internationale olympiade. Ik heb niet per se beter advies dan anderen in deze thread, maar als ik je op een andere manier kan helpen (als Nederlander die in de VS promoveert), stuur gerust een bericht.

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RickDeveloperOP•

Bedankt! I'll send you a PM.

I'm actually applying to some competitive US colleges so u/peterw16 's advice may help because "worrying about 'getting in' is not really a factor." :)

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provangoestoschool•

If you don't have an archive.org account you should sign up. It's free and the library section has a giant amount of digitized books. It would be a place to check for primary source philosophy writings for free.

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RickDeveloperOP•

This is awesome!

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CountOfMonteCrippled•

that’s amazing and congrats!! I don’t have any sources to offer that haven’t already been stated, but what kind of high school do you go to that they offer philosophy courses? That’s amazing and i’m very jealous. Is the school a liberal arts based curriculum or is it religious and thus religious philosophy courses?

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RickDeveloperOP•

Thank you! I'd say my high school is a pretty regular high school here in the Netherlands, though philosophy is not a common subject afaik. It's not liberal arts based (my 'official focus' is actually science & engineering oriented), but you can choose subjects like sociology, history and philosophy. It's really great. I can see why someone would be jealous!

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cosmicomedown•

this is what I’ve used in my university.

They ancient and medieval editions are great too. You really get to see the interactions philosophers had with one another throughout history.

Congrats on the Olympiad!

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RickDeveloperOP•

Thanks!

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knobs0513•

A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton ( Yale Press). Great book and takes you through every major philosopher and idea in western Philosophy. Any ideas that you like in the book, you can explore further on your own.

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RickDeveloperOP•

Wow! This seems like an awesome series. They also have books about science and economics etc. Is it well known in the US? It should be!

I guess it's a little too easy compared to what we've been talking about in class, but definitely helpful as an overview.

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knobs0513•

It's a lot easier, but definitely worth it. I used it as a main source when I taught intro to philosophy. Warburton proves philosophy doesn't need to be dense and wordy in order to be powerful and deep.

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idoclevernamesPhil of Mind, Social Epistemology•

I teach philosophy to undergrads. What kind of resources do you need? Historical or topic based? Western or non western? The Stanford Encyclopedia is an outstanding resource. Pitched more for undergrads and not grad students is the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

On the history of western phil, the hold standard is Frederick Copleston's history of philosophy, but it's 9 volumes. Maybe pick one or two you want to brush up on? Oxford UP, Cambridge UP, and Routledge have great intro series if you're looking for topics. If you can narrow down your subjects I can give more specific resources.

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RickDeveloperOP•

I teach philosophy to undergrads. What kind of resources do you need? Historical or topic based? Western or non western?

I'm not sure if I need any particular resource, because I don't know what the quotes will be on the olympiad. Personally, I'm very attracted to the ideas of Plato and other ancient greek philosophers and Smith, Kant and Locke, but focusing on any particular movement would probably lead to a huge idea-bubble, so I'd like to read something more broad. Just something that explains fundamentals of important philosophies so I can get a broad sense of many things in the field. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely interested in going in-depth, but given the limited time until the olympiad and my other school stuff, I'm not sure if I can find enough time to really do it right at this point.

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Wow! This is great! It's kinda similar to the Stanford website everyone's mentioning. So many things I'd like to explore...

On the history of western phil, the hold standard is Frederick Copleston's history of philosophy, but it's 9 volumes.

Yes, I guess it's too long for now... One volume a week is a bit too aspirational ;) Perhaps we'll read it if I'm doing my undergrad next year.

Oxford UP, Cambridge UP, and Routledge have great intro series if you're looking for topics.

I found this book which looks very interesting. It has "primary texts" (not sure how they are called in English; basically texts written by the philosophers themselves), explanations, highlights, further readings and questions. What do you think about it?

If you can narrow down your subjects I can give more specific resources.

Thank you! As I've mentioned, I'm not sure if I should narrow down already, so maybe in the future. Appreciate the offer :)

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