I am tired of being an ignorant fool

I am tired of being an ignorant fool.
I am tired of being told what to think by all "sides", and it's only getting worse with the amount of information we have to take in every day.
Where can I start my critical thinking journey? I stumbled across "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" and it looks like an interesting read, but I feel like I would need more solid foundations.
Help a brainlet out, Veeky Forums

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Start with the Greeks and and always question what you read.

Wich books would you say?

>and always question what you read.

This is such a trite statement

It's trite cuz it's true.

All of the works by Plato, Aristotle, Pyrrho, Diogenes, and Epicurus should give you a good start.

>OP asks how he can think more critically
>is told to question what he reads
>"durr that's so trite"
But that's the answer, you fucking troglodyte.

Its not an answer you fucking dumb dumb. He's asking how to think critically and you're basically just saying "think critically!"
What should we "question" in particular? To what extent? In what aspect? You're saying absolutely nothing as is

Question EVERYTHING. If it's an expository work or otherwise nonfiction (which I'm guessing is what OP is referring to) then first classify and understand the subject matter so that you are better able to state the work in your own terms, then grasp the author's leading points and arguments, what they are trying to convince us, and their reasoning why.

It's important to not just be skeptical of everything of a certain ideology, but EVERYTHING of EVERY ideology. You're just as much of an imbecile as you were when you started if you question only one side but take everything another side says as true fact. Nothing is true fact, everything is a generalization. Understand the arguments, find their reasoning and proof, and you determine if they are sound or not. Look more into Aristotle's Rhetoric for more information on what methods of argument are used and what the most common logical fallacies are to determine what arguments are sound and what are garbage.

More words and still so little said.

I literally gave you a spoonfeeding outline on what it means to question something you read. If you can't handle that, I guess you just can't comprehend reading beyond an elementary level.

What I meant was "never take philosophy as an unquestionable dogma".

>Dude think critically!
>Thats rather trite
>NO THINK CRITICALLY LIKE ARISTOTLE

You're such a hack

Also don't take "philosophy" as a discipline itself to be an unquestionable dogma. I said that because many people who read philosophy end up with their head so far up their asses that they become unable to be reasoned with. As for a starting point, go with Plato's five dialogues.

1. read the wordies that the big man wrote on the paper (even the big ones that you need a big scary dictionary for)
2. using your own big boy brain, shrink down the big wordy blocks (paragraphs) into little wordy lines (sentences)
3. read the itty bitty wordy lines you wrote and see if they are smart and good or if they are dumb and bad

wow! critical thinking is nifto!!!!! that's a big boy! go ahead, try it on your big boy books, like Hop on Pop by Immanuel Kant

When it comes to thinking "critically", it's kind of like using the scientific method. Read up on Carl Sagan's "Baloney Detection Kit". It's essentially like a bullshit radar if you use it properly. Apply it to whatever you read that is applicable. Obviously this won't work for fiction, since fiction is ... fiction. But I think it will give you a good idea on how to apply it in general.

The second piece of advice is simply read what you like to read, but be open to possibilities that your viewpoint may not be always correct.

A humble man who is willing to admit his mistakes is far more impressive than a man trying to argue his way out of an argument that he has lost.

>Read up on Carl Sagan's
>reddit spacing
>humility cuck

I don't use reddit, but okay.

Harry Frankfurt's "On Bullshit" is only 16 pages and the distinction between lies and bullshit is essential

>a truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent

fpbp

Euclid's Elements

That guy was baiting you and I am sad you fell for it, because you seem like you wanted to be helpful. I like you, user. Fuck that guy.

You might not use reddit but you ARE reddit, seriously fuck off there because its clearly the place for you

The present day is so saturated with date and information that truth is no longer discernable. In fact for any given statement that you can think of there already exists a valid counter-argument backed with solid reasoning and/or hard data. This has effectively turned intellectual inquiry into a fashion show, where just like one might pick his favorite clothing articles to convey something about himself, so intellectuals pick their favorite ideologies to convey something about themselves. To truly make any legitimate inquiry in 21st century one has to start at The First Question - God.

Didn't know someone could get so pissy over nothing. Haha.

Thats better, post like that in future

>Diogenes
Are you telling him to read ashes?

...

Diogenes' only written works burned at Alexandria

Literally all you need to think critically is to always question. That's all it is, with some skills that can help. It's not trite when you see communists, marxists, NEET-chAH fanboys, and pretty much everyone to some degree, treating their corresponding works as unassailable dogma.

Yeah but all of those idiots THINK they're questioning everything. A Marxist will say you're not questioning Capitalist ideology everywhere, a Nietzsche fan with say you're falling for Slave Morality.

Its trite because questioning isn't a clear cut ideologically free act. The very way in which we question is itself a major source of dogma. It becomes a case of who watches the watchmen

abandon the "start with the greeks meme". It's just a tired sophomoric rut. Getting lost in dozens of esoteric, ancient, greek texts will just get you side tracked from the goal of developing critical thinking skills. I suggest this as a start, before you get involved in anything else. criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766

nothing was lost
antisocial behavior can be learned without reading

>questioning isn't a clear cut ideologically free act. The very way in which we question is itself a major source of dogma
A very postmodern observation user.

Holyshit. This is a stupid dumb dumb cunt if I ever saw one.
Yeah make light of the Greeks before sharing some hack webphilosopher.

Not exactly. As I state no disbelief that there is a correct and honest means of investigation which Post-Modernists would deny
My issue is simply that if such a methodology exists it is by no means clearly present to me and must be established. In the meantime we are very much choosing our poison

>Don't question my bullshit! My bullshit is the only question!!

Hesiod -> Homer -> Sappho -> Aeschylus -> Sophocles -> Euripides -> Herodotus -> Xenophon -> Plato -> Aristotle

In that order

>which Post-Modernists would deny
Source?

Check my asshole you fucking bitch

l-lewd

As in the phrase “trite and true,” cf. Frasier

How about go hang yourself faggot, this isnt 2008 anymore, you arnt cool for wacking off to chan culture.

This is a good Veeky Forums post. You don't see talk like this on reddit