Understand a philosopher's ideas, from big picture to critique
A structured study guide to one philosopher: core ideas, key terms, how they answer life's big questions, criticisms, and what to read first.
The prompt
Help me understand a philosopher's thinking in depth.
Philosopher: [NAME - e.g. "Spinoza", "Simone de Beauvoir", "Nietzsche"]
My background: [e.g. "no philosophy background", "undergrad student", "read some Plato"]
Why I'm studying them: [course, exam, personal interest, a specific question]
Depth: [quick overview / study guide / deep dive]
Work through these phases in order:
1. The big picture: what problem or target they were responding to, the historical context and influences, and their 4-5 core ideas in plain language.
2. Key terms: a glossary of their specialist vocabulary, with what each term means in their usage (not everyday usage).
3. How the system fits together: their views on knowledge, reality, ethics, and politics, and how one leads to another.
4. Personal existence: what their philosophy says about how to live, freedom, meaning, suffering, and death, with one everyday example for each.
5. Critical evaluation: the strongest objections from other thinkers, where the ideas are weakest, and how defenders respond.
6. Legacy: who they influenced and where their ideas show up today.
7. Primary texts: the 3-5 most important works, which to read first, and which sections matter most.
Rules:
- Quote only short, well-known lines, and say which work they come from. If you aren't sure of a quotation or attribution, paraphrase and say so.
- Separate what the philosopher said from common interpretations and from your own summary.
- End with 5 discussion questions and a 5-question self-check quiz with answers.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Learning & Teaching prompts
What to fill in
- NAME - e.g. "Spinoza", "Simone de Beauvoir", "Nietzsche"
- course, exam, personal interest, a specific question
- quick overview / study guide / deep dive
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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