Starting !

[Amir y]

How to start studying philosophy ?

How to start studying Psychology ?

[Babelfish]

As with anything, the secret is simply to begin.

[Clockdeth]

Start with your first option listed there, and just skip the second. You're just going to learn it on your own anyway.

[arrytus]

1]This is a difficult question to answer. It's like asking how to be an artist. well, perhaps the facetious answer is: 'by doing artistic things'; or others will say: 'either you are or you aren't/it is what it is'.

2]Next it might depend on your goal. If your goal is knowledge then likely you've already found in yourself a passion to explore the world in whatever facet or genre is before you. You find yourself reading up or becoming fastidious in some area, howsoever brief it may be.

3]If you simply want to read about philosophy I would suggest several approaches:

-You can simply begin historically and thus you would begin with theology and poetry; the Avesta is the oldest text I believe; then Upanishads and the Old Testament, etc.

-Or at about 600 BC you can turn to Hesiod and Homer for Greek myths in the form of poetry or to other Hindu texts.

-You can start with philosophy 'proper' with Confucius and Plato, and most people begin with the 'historical' dialogues of Plato about the trial of Socrates [euthyphro, phaedo, crito, apologia].

-Or you can start- where it might be best- with a collected selection of texts. there are plenty of cheap 'textbooks' which have eclectic and broad essays from Western philosophy; something like this: Philosophic Classics, Volume III: Modern Philosophy / Edition 4 by Forrest E. Baird or Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings Louis P. Pojman [available for 50 and 19 cents, respectively, on amazon]. Or you can have slightly more biased approaches, say the 4 part "Age" series edited by Isaiah Berlin, or "History of Western Philosophy' By Bertrand Russell.

4]If you are concerned with a certain aspect, say Ethics, or Language, then you can ask more direct questions. In time if you stick with philosophy you will probably enjoy on branch a bit more than another, even if you don't limit yourself.

My personal approach is much like a haphazard sleuthing, where I find clues towards what I prefer. If I read a book and find a notation on something which looks interesting or it mentions a conception on which it bases its conclusions I often tend to look for that work.