Philosophy / cultural theory / psychoanalysis etc

Agent

dgaf ngaf cgaf
I cut my theory teeth on C-Theory. This was around 1999, they are probably seen as less relevant now but honestly, they still seem cutting-edge to me. There are worse places to start.

And I don't want to contradict what everyone else is advising (I'm new here, not looking to cause trouble!), but I think it's easier to start with secondary sources, get a general survey of the landscape, a thumbnail concept of what Hegel's about, what Lacan's about, etc. before diving headfirst into the source material. I would even recommend Zizek, because I see him as a secondary source, and he covers practically everyone (especially Hegel, Lacan, and Kant). If you're interested in postmodern theory specifically, then Panic Encyclopedia might be the best introduction. Those essays give you a great 'feel' for the postmodern perspective: it's essentially an inventory of all the postmodern rhetorical/aesthetic/thematic motifs.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

EDIT: and yeah I'm the lone remaining Arthur Kroker fan/protege. I see nothing wrong with theorists advertising themselves as rock stars, I have no problem with that.
 
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Sick Boy

All about pride and egos

lol I assume this is a joke

Anyway, it's a little hard to make suggestions given how broad your criteria is. It's easier to answer your second question. Basically the worst thing you can do in beginning to read philosophy is treat it like you're going through the discography of a recording artist. For your early purposes, there is little value in systematically going through philosophers' works chronologically. I'm going to echo other people's advice on here and say if you're interested in Baudrillard, read Baudrillard, but never read exhaustively for the sake of exhaustion - follow ideas around.

Reference books save you a lot of time and give you direction. Encyclopedias of Philosophy (e.g. Cambridge or the Stanford one online) provide decent summaries of a lot of ideas and works so you'll know where to find what material.
 

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
Also, personally, I wouldn't recommend jumping straight into Hegel as a starting point. Hegel makes a lot more sense reading in depth when you've got a bit of a feel for the history of philosophy, and the evolution of ideas across it.

Since you're interested in cultural theory and psychoanalysis, I'm just gonna go right ahead and recommend the typical triumvirate of the undergrad contemporary continental course of Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. There are a lot of clear directions you can go in from reading their works, and once you have, typically it'll be pretty clear to you which direction you'll want.
 
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