Tools for thinking

I have lately been interested in the question of what constitute the philosophical method. Of course, the first question is if there is anything like that at all. Is philosophy done in some methodological way? How much is it cleaver thinking, or detailed reading of existing work? Can anyone learn to think as a philosopher or do you have to be formally trained? Anyway, as part of my interest I am as usual getting some books.

At the moment I am reading these books.

Chris Daly "An introduction to Philosophical Methods"

Peter Sloterdijk "The art of philosophy"

Baggini, J. & Fosl, P. "The philosopher's toolkit. A compendium of philosophical concepts and methods"

Daniel Dennett "Intuition pumps and other tools for thinking"



I have looked through these book and am reading some parts more detailed. Overall I find it most interesting to see how these books have been structured and developed. Some have the appearance of a textbooks or handbook, for instance, Baggini & Fosl but also Dennett.

Some take on philosophical thinking as a way of critiquing existing thinking and philosophy, for instance Sloterdijk.

At the moment I would recommend them all. Especially taken together they create an interesting overview and give anyone interested in knowing what philosophical thinking and method is all about a good starting point.