This website is meant to teach a good foundation of Philosophy through Greek Philosophy, specifically the work of Socrates and Plato. While it’s gonna be a lot easier than it sounds, there are a few things that you’re gonna have to be aware of before you dive right into it.
Bit of Context:
Socrates and Plato were from around 400 BC, and some of what they discuss is surprisingly relevant today, while other parts are completely despicable or make no sense. What’s important when learning through their work and this website, is that to understand the point they’re making, you need to follow the common thread of the inherently human instead of falling into the foot-falls of our modern perspective. The relationship of pederasty between a teenage boy and an adult man much older than him may be rightfully illegal today, but in Socrates’ time it was widely accepted.
By ignoring the parts specific to paedophilia, you can come to understand the common thread of love that Socrates teaches through the story and how it is still equally relevant today. Similar to this are the topics of slavery and feminism, which are mostly brushed over in the stories, but are opposite views to what is accepted these days (although Socrates believed women to be just as capable as men).
What is also important to remember is that Socrates never wrote anything down. What we know of Socrates is almost entirely based upon the dialogues of Plato, scripts that he made detailing Socrates arguing with other people. No one knows how much of the dialogues were made up for Plato to teach a point, but each one does seem pretty set up. We do know that Socrates did exist, had many devout students (Plato being one of them), and chose to be executed rather than renounce his teachings after becoming the scapegoat for the Spartans conquering Athens. Socrates was a real Great Philosopher, but in Plato’s dialogues it is unclear how much is Socrates and how much is Plato.
Critical Thinking/Socratic Method
Critical thinking is a tool that many people in the world either don’t use, or don’t have the empathy to use effectively. It’s the process of discerning the truth/best option from looking at a problem from as many angles as possible. It is the single most crucial part of Philosophy, as the closest Philosophers can ever get to the truth is making a theory that they can defend against any perspective. It’s definitely something that everyone can do, it just comes to some more naturally than others, and some people just can’t be bothered to constantly think in opposition to their own ideas.
In the Platonic Dialogues, Socrates uses a similar, tedious method to lead both his opponent and the reader to his idea of the truth, a method of discussion similar to dialectic called the Socratic Method. Unlike rhetoric, where opponents make grand speeches, this method has one person explain their point briefly in about one or two sentences, and then the other person will give some kind of response which disproves that definition. This then devolves into a cycle of definition and disproving, until the one disproving the definitions is satisfied. In the case of the dialogues, the end result is always far removed from the original definition, as Socrates picks people apart in a frustrating manner.
What he is doing is constantly forcing his opponent to think critically, by sharing a perspective that proves their point wrong. While it is an annoying and tedious way to go about a nice Philosophical discussion, it’s very useful for people trying to develop their own critical thinking, as it takes them through the process they need to develop and discuss their own ideas.
How this Website Works
Plato was the student of Socrates, who never recorded any of his philosophy. The vast majority of what we know about him as a philosopher and as a person was recorded by Plato in his Platonic Dialogues, a series of scripts that had Socrates debating people that existed at the time. They are dramatic creations, and were meant to teach readers, but are a bit dated and can be convoluted at times, so this website breaks down and analyses a collection of them so that they’re easy to understand.
Final Note
Everyone has a different perspective on life.
This is the most important part of Philosophy. A good Philosopher will go through the extra effort to understand as many perspectives as they can, as a truth that is only true for a few people isn’t truth at all, it will just lead to more exclusion and more warped Philosophies.
The purpose of this website is to teach you to think critically more often, and give you a good idea of what questions you want to answer and how you want to answer them.
Philosophy Made Easy 