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I'm a software engineer, have a passion for philosophy. But I have no background in human science, but I guess I'm good at logic. Can you provide a profound study path to philosophy? What are the best authentic, accurate and comprehensive resources?
I need resources that are written in a not convoluted but interesting style to keep me moving.
Depends on your interests, on what you are already familiar with, and what style you like to read.
I would say that unless you have a specific interest or know basics then starting with a general introduction is just fine. There are multiple. Some examples are:
The latter two (Russell & Nagel) only give an overview of what the authors are interested in. However, Blackburn tries a bit more to look at many fields. Williamson fairly recently also tried his hand at an introduction, in dialogue form, with Tetralogue.
You could also start with an extensive history of philosophy. If so, then do not take Russell's because it has bad interpretations of philosophers he doesn't like. Instead, take something like Kenny's A New History of Western Philosophy (beware: this one is like 1000 pages. But you could skim it and get the primary text when something is interesting).
Starting with primary texts can also be fine. Some require massive background. But other texts can be read without any background. Some examples that pretty much all philosophy students read are the start of Descartes' Meditations and Gettier's short paper. You could also start with one of the easier dialogues of Plato (Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo). Something not that useful but short and nice to read would be Nagel's The Absurd.
As for resources on the internet, do not use wikipedia. Some articles are fine, but for philosophy in general it's sketchy. There are two encyclopaediae you can use instead: IEP and SEP. The latter is something that philosophers quote. It can get quite dense and hard to read at times (compared to, say, an introduction). The former is usually easier to read but not as good.
Will Durant's "The Story of Philosophy" paves a great historical path through philosophy and does a very nice job of entertaining various concepts and then criticizing those same concepts in the later part of each chapter.
One thing I loved about the book is that once I had a nice understanding of the course of philosophical history, I could then "zoom in" further towards each person of interest. The book is nearly a century old now, but very engaging, witty, and—in the footnotes—it even recommends further reading for each philosopher that allow you to get to know their ideas without diving head first into an abyss of, say, Kant's work.
Durant has quite a large vocabulary, so I would read carefully and take the time to look up terms and concepts you don't understand, assuming he hasn't put the term in his included glossary (another plus.)
I am also a software engineer and I consider philosophy very similar to writing code in that it helps you think about thinking in a constructive way. Good luck!
Philosophize This! podcast is a great introduction to the subject. Plus, you can listen to it while you are driving, working out, or doing any other monotonous task. Find a friend to listen to it with you and you could discuss the episodes! He has over 100 half n hour episodes, geared toward a beginner(without all the jargon and nuance) but definitively leaves a lot to ponder.
Perhaps start with context you can relate to? If you've not read Cosmos by Carl Sagan I'd read that... then Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
That should give you a really direct contextual point of origin vis à vis what we can know and what we think we can know and the scope for grey area those notions entail.
From there I'd just move chronologically through the movements that conceptually take your fancy and be sure to read them in the context of their time. Take a look at the social, spiritual, and political climate in which many of the great works were published and be critical.
Treating any one concept, theory, or philosopher as the 'single source of truth' is the anathema of philosophical query. Build context and from there ask yourself questions... if someone else has an answer already it doesn't make yours wrong.
As a fellow software engineer with a passion for philosophy, my favourites personally are:
Early Plato (anything with Socrates). My personal favourite is the Apology, but if you're going to read Apology you should probably start with Euthyphro, as Euthyphro is the first of a 4-part series including Apology (I believe Apology was the 3rd installment, the other 2 being Crito (2nd) and Phaedo (4th)). I would suggest reading a couple other Socratic Dialogues before Euthyphro, as there is some backstory you need to know that you can get from reading some of the other dialogues first.
Allegory of the Cave (also Plato, but it's mid-Plato, technically part of the Republic, although most of the Republic is incredibly hard to digest and I wouldn't recommend any of it except for the Allegory)
St. Augustine's Confessions. I haven't read the whole Confessions, but the bits I did read were very entertaining and thought-provoking.
How about Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. In it, you follow the main character Sophie, an adolescent who discovers philosophy through (paper) mails from a mysterious stranger.
It is readable as an adult (i.e., not adolescency-cringey) and gives a good feeling for what the different ages were thinking. Also, entertaining enough to read.
Afterwards, you can still look at the more dry, scientific, analytical books, or hone in to a specific philosopher.
One hint from myself, as a fellow IT guy and dabbler in philosophy: a lot of it is primarily opinion-based (hinted at by the fact that for many well-known philosophers, there are anti-philosophers who said the opposite, or sometimes where bitter foes), and there are very little hard facts. Philosophies that seem sensible/logical to one person may seem utterly ridiculous to others. Almost all of the philosophical streams seem interesting to me, but one can take none as gospel or at face value. Having a broad overview first is hence invaluable, before entering the details.
The best way to start learning philosophy is to actively participate in this Philosophy Stack Exchange (PSE)
The following list contains some ways to actively participate at PSE:
A complementary way to using PSE is to go to your library or bookstore and browse. Pick up a title that appeals to you. Read some of it. Come up with a question. See if the question has been asked on PSE. If not formulate a specific question that can give you a quick answer to your question and continue reading.
As others have said, it depends what you're interested in, and bear in mind that, unlike science, most major works of philosophy don't build on what has gone before but instead aim to replace it all with a grand new theory of everything.
This means there's a lot of choice of "study path", and most primary sources at least pretend they're starting from scratch so you can do worse than just pick one up and see what you make of it.
Besides the other good suggestions here I would give the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Wittgenstein a go as I think it's an extremely precise and concise statement of a lot of central ideas you will find much more obscurely and verbosely expressed elsewhere.
Everyone has their own list of foundational works of philosophy, because philosophy is an ongoing debate, and philosophers, almost by definition, don't agree with each other. Therefore there's no neutral nor uncontroversial syllabus. With that said, this is what I would argue for, and why:
Plato - The Republic and The Symposium. It has been said that all Western philosophy is a history of different disagreements with Plato. Even if you can't stand Plato, his influence and ubiquity is undeniable. These are two of his most comprehensive, most readable, most entertaining, most relevant, and most famous works.
Descartes - Meditations. Like Plato, Descartes influenced everyone after him --all Western philosophy post-Descartes responds to him in some way. Also, the Meditations are some of the most readable and accessible of all philosophical works.
Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching. As seminal in the East, as Plato was in the West, this is another relatively brief and readable work that offers an entry into an entire world of philosophical inquiry.
Ecclesiastes - This proto-existentialist work hidden in the center of the Bible is another quick and entertaining read that nevertheless offers a lifetime's worth of concepts to wrestle with.
I've focused on things that are both seminal AND readable. You could cover all of these within a month AND have a basic understanding of them, even without deeper study. At that point, you would have an entry point into designing your own curriculum, and engaging with nearly any philosopher, of any culture, from any era.
First you should know what the purpose of studying philosophy is:
Cicero [Roman politician] says "That to study philosophy is nothing but to prepare one's self to die". (Michel de Montaigne, Essays)
Then you should know what philosophical problem comes first in priority:
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest —whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories—comes afterwards. (Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus)
Then you need to prove your existence to yourself:
I think, therefore I am. (Descrates, Discourse on the Method)
But since:
Existence precedes essence (Sartre, "Existentialism is a Humanism")
This means that nothing is for sure other than your existence.
This leaves you with Existentialism (the philosophy concerned with human existence) as the only authentic philosophy.
But of course if you want to study philosophy for academic, entertaining, or showing-off reasons, you are free to study any unauthentic philosophy.
I would suggest to start watching TED.com and all the presentations there. There are plenty of very interesting topics from tech topics to life that could lighten your spirit and maybe you will got the spark.
