system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
When starting to read philosophical works, it is better to read the work, think about it, and turn to secondary sources, or it is better to start with secondary sources first?

As in the topic, I think. I'm quite new to philosophy and I want to read Descartes works. While I know the basic things about his philosophy, I wonder what is better in order to understand it better. Should I first go into secondary sources - primers about him, or just read the works and then turn to them for further explanation?
gpt
In most cases, primary first. You get better at philosophy by first forcing yourself to think about and try to understand the text in your own terms. Then, when you do come to the secondary text, you can also actually lay it beside what you thought in your head and see how it matches up.