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I'm somewhat new to philosophy should I just jump into the republic or no?
The Great Courses have a ton of great courses in Philosophy, I would recommend Michael Sugrue's lectures on Plato's Dialogues. People have already mentioned Greg Sadler on Youtube, but he's another highly recommended lecturer (particularly if you're just starting out). Edit: David Roochnik has a course specifically on The Republic, if you're interested.
Unironically the crash course philosophy playlist on youtube and when you get to an episode that has a specific branch of philosophy you like just jump in from there and backtrack as need be
Hi, I have a philosophy degree. Don't. Try Thomas Nagel's "What does it all mean?" instead.
"philosophy degree" shouldn't you be putting in McDonalds job applications instead of posting on here? (joke)
That "joke" clarification betrays your weak spirit.
I liked 'Politics' from Aristotle. Plato may be more upstream from that, but I found the ideas in 'Politics' to be conceivable, easy to digest, and sensible.
The Republic is a good starting point! Really, the main thing with beginning Philosophy is learning the soft skills it requires and the demands it puts on reading its texts. (I read the Republic casually before university, and then read it again with a talented lecturer who made me realise that I had practically missed a lot of the central themes and arguments running through the text.) So some recommended resources: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-ethics-politics/ The YouTube lectures on Plato (and The Republic) from Gregory B Sadler and Michael Sugrue should be more accessible but also still reliable. Peruse the above at your fancy... Another alternative would be to read some of the less demanding dialogues - "Plato: Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo" from Hackett is a good collection. But I think the Republic should be fine to start with.
thank you
THANK YOU DOCTOR SADLER
Sadler rules, Sugrue was losing his marbles towards the end of his life. There are comment chains on YouTube in his old lectures where Sadler claims to be a "true Foucaultian/Nietzschean" lol
Bertrand Russel’s The Conquest of Happiness.
Probably best to start with The Meno or Ion. They are gentler introductions to what Plato is doing; with Meno as a basis The Republic is somewhat more intelligible. Really tho when you read Plato carefully you learn to discover intelligibility is not the main virtue there. And /that's/ philosophy.