Started with the Greeks like Veeky Forums told me

>started with the Greeks like Veeky Forums told me
>struggling to understand even the presocratics

should i just give up

forgot to ask, what are some good books on the presocratics so I know everything before I go to Plato? I'm reading Robin Waterfield's book

What's there to understand about them? lol

Of course not. If you understand something completely the first time you read it then there probably wasn't much to gain from reading it. The fact that you're struggling is the biggest sign you should keep going.

Give up. Start spending your time learning something useful like another language instead of reading the words of dead men. I asked Veeky Forums a while ago if they noticed any changes in their lives from reading ancient greek 'philosophy'... in short its really only useful for better understanding refrences. When in reality when someone makes a refrence you dont understand you can just jewoogle it and get a tldr.

brainlet af

This.

What is this thoughtful advice doing here? I don't even know you anymore, Veeky Forums.

The presocratics have a pretty complex take on ontology, don't worry.

read whatever the flying fuck interests you and totally forget this board and all its retardation why do you feel so in the hands of stangers we are not powerful or important we are nothing, alone, anxious, like you, be yourself, abandon this charade, just enjoy what you enjoy, fuck it all, fuck this post, and all others within your thread.

Their thoughts and what they are thought to have believed so I can understand the work of later authors.

I'm trying to understand Heraclitus. I think I'm finding it difficult because there's only a few fragments instead of cohesive works.

>all these morons actually started with the greeks
You realize that started as a joke right? It's the Veeky Forums equivalent of /a/ telling anime recommendation threads to watch boku no pico. Because a stupid question deserves a stupid answer. And holy fuck some people actually took it seriously and now we have a board populated by pseuds who seriously believe to read anything you have to start with 2500 year old literature.

I want to read these guys though. I'm still reading other things too. I have an interest in history too.

Keep going, don't listen to this philistine. There's also the philosophy without gaps podcast. They have an extensive series on the presocrats.

Maybe what I saw some user write was true.
>you understand the presocratics more retrospectively as you read more philosophy

Start and end with Lycurgus

Usually you want to start from the beginning and work your way towards the end, or more modern pieces in this case, as you might miss a reference that alludes to an earlier work

It's Satan. Ignore him.

t. brainlet buttmad newbies are getting the real deal instead of his derivative shit

No, just keep moving on. You don't have to understand and internalize everything the first time you read something. You can go back to it later years down the line.

Greeks were always an important part of classical education, and that underpins most of the history of Western literature.