> Without having already done the classes you did, it would be very difficult to motivate category theory
The usual approach of teaching category theory is motivated where examples motivate the categorical gadgets, I think the unmotivated alternative (to create intuition for category theory as a formalist game) has not been explored
Don't hold me to it since my math education is basically me fumbling through the internet for the past several years trying to piece things together, but I think this is the unmotivated approach you're talking about.
As others have stated trying to learn this abstractly first, before developing a concrete mathematical foundation, simply didn't work. I understood what the subject purported to do. I understood why I wanted to have a birds-eye view of subjects to come. The trouble is that the concepts didn't have enough to latch onto in my brain. I found myself frantically looking for examples in various subjects. In the end I realized my time was better spent in the weeds.
The usual approach of teaching category theory is motivated where examples motivate the categorical gadgets, I think the unmotivated alternative (to create intuition for category theory as a formalist game) has not been explored