Philosophy

I majored in philosophy in college and did pretty well. For a long time I felt I had pretty much left that world behind. But sometimes I do get the urge to study it again.

Platonism is probably the philosophical system I feel most at home with. Of course I like Plato's writings but I am also interested in Plotinus' take on it. Lately I have started a project to read all of Plato's dialogues. I read a number of them in college (some more than once) but of course there were a bunch that I haven't read. I quickly read the Euthyphro and am reading the Apology now. Plato has the massive advantage that he is a great writer whereas the Enneads by Plotinus are a pretty big mess. I did really enjoy the book about Plotinus by Lloyd Gerson just called "Plotinus". It is a basic breakdown of the philosophy. It focuses on the elements that would be more acceptable to modern analytic philosophers such as metaphysics and epistemology and ignores the more esoteric type stuff. I have tried to read the Enneads but they are tough going just because there is no systematic structure to the writings so it is very difficult to keep any kind of coherent picture. Plato is not systematic like Aristotle but his dialogues are much more engaging and easier to read so it feels easier to develop a picture of what he means.

I have also had a lifelong interest in Hegel and have tried to read the Phenomenology as well as his other works, but his style is impenetrable and I have all but given up hope of ever actually understanding his writings (as opposed to other people explaining his thoughts).

I have also had a long term interest in the work of Ernst Cassirer and Susan Langer. Part of me really deeply believes that since the rise of science, the work of philosophy is more like cultural interpretation. I really dislike the modern French and German schools that attempt this as well as thinkers like Zizek. But I really like the approach of Cassirer and Langer. I have read Cassirer's "An Essay on Man" and would like to read the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. I have only browsed in Langer's work but would like to study and compare with Cassirer's. I also have a copy of Michael Freidman's "The Parting of the Ways." That tries to understand the the division of analytic and continental philosophy and offers Cassirer's philosophy as a possible way of bridging the gap. I also have an interest in extending Cassirer's analysis of different aspects of culture in symbolic terms to the realm of games.