Looking for books to read
- Ozymandias
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Looking for books to read
- Mosesquine
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Re: Looking for books to read
- Ozymandias
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Re: Looking for books to read
Great, thank you!Mosesquine wrote:I recommend you to read Core Questions in Philosophy: A Text with Readings by Elliott Sober. If you are more interested in analytic philosophy, read Analysis and Metaphysics by P. F. Strawson.
- Burning ghost
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Re: Looking for books to read
Critic of Pure Reason is widely regarded as one of the greats for a good reason.
It really depends if you are a jump in the deep end kinda person or someone who is happier to paddle in the shallows before moving further out.
If you go for Kant your reading ability and concentration will improve a great deal. You'll find yourself rereading pages several times over just to get a vague idea of what is going on.
Good luck
- Ozymandias
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Re: Looking for books to read
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Re: Looking for books to read
The advantage of reading about them is that you can move pretty quickly, covering a lot of ground. It may in some cases be an advantage but in others a disadvantage to read someone else’s interpretation. The other side of the coin is that reading primary texts on your own can be very difficult without someone to help.
Another option is youtube, which would be closer to sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture.
“Sophie’s World” by Gaarder is a decent introduction that covers the history of philosophy and is accessible. It is called a novel, but that aspect of the book seems to me to be contrived.
In my opinion, there is no substitute for primary texts supplemented with good commentaries, but not everyone has the time and energy for that. The truth of the matter is that many professional philosophers specialize and rely wholly on secondary materials when venturing outside of their narrow specialty.
- Ozymandias
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Re: Looking for books to read
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Re: Looking for books to read
I do not think that the great works of philosophy are outdated, but there are outdated translations. Philosophy is not simply a body of knowledge but a way of thinking. The greatest thinkers give nothing away. In order to understand them we must think along with them, and this is something that can only be done through primary texts.I suppose primary sources can be hard to read and many are outdated, but somehow the idea of primaries seems more pure.
I just noticed that you have listed Nietzsche as your favorite philosopher:
Here is the problem of the trade-off. You can spend years reading Nietzsche and there is much to be gained from this, but this may not leave time to become well read on the subject of philosophy in general. On the other hand, if you take the survey approach you may find that when it comes to someone like Nietzsche you are still not well read. You will know only what one or a few scholars have said about their understanding of Nietzsche. But if you had spent years reading Nietzsche instead you might conclude that these scholars had not understood him at all.Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with his blood. Write with blood, and thou wilt find that blood is spirit. It is no easy task to understand unfamiliar blood; I hate the reading idlers. He who knoweth the reader, doeth nothing more for the reader. Another century of readers—and spirit itself will stink. Every one being allowed to learn to read, ruineth in the long run not only writing but also thinking. Once spirit was God, then it became man, and now it even becometh populace. He that writeth in blood and proverbs doth not want to be read, but learnt by heart. (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, "Reading and Writing")
None of this is meant to discourage you but to emphasize that interpretation is a if not the central activity of philosophy.
- Ozymandias
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Re: Looking for books to read
Good point.Fooloso4 wrote: I do not think that the great works of philosophy are outdated, but there are outdated translations. Philosophy is not simply a body of knowledge but a way of thinking. The greatest thinkers give nothing away. In order to understand them we must think along with them, and this is something that can only be done through primary texts.
Neitzche is listed as my favorite philosopher more because of nihilism than anything else. I'm not much of a nihilist, but I was, and until I rejected every moral and philosophical principle I had been raised with, I didn't have any understanding of philosophy, so in a way nihilism was a fundamental ideology for me, everything I believe is based on building up from nihilism. I'm not sure if that makes sense.
Thanks for the input!
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Re: Looking for books to read
- Ozymandias
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Re: Looking for books to read
-- Updated January 18th, 2017, 8:49 pm to add the following --
Thinking* sorry for the typo, "right" shouldn't be there.
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Re: Looking for books to read
His sister Elisabeth was a supporter of Nazism. She had a hand in editing his works that were unpublished at the time of his death and attempted to make them appear to promote the Nazi cause and ideology. He held tight control, however, over the works that were published while he was alive.Wasn't his work edited by his sister after his death to be more nihilist?
- CarolineVardigans
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Re: Looking for books to read
i) Have you taken any courses in philosophy?
ii) Are there any areas of philosophy that are of particular interest to you?
We were assigned a lot of readings in first year from Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings , which you can find on Amazon.
Also, welcome to your new favourite website: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Gabrielbtst
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Re: Looking for books to read
- Hereandnow
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Re: Looking for books to read
Why Kant? Because he is simply basic to all serious philosophy. Understanding what a Copernican Revolution is can actually turn your world inside out. But he's hard. All good things, profound things especially, are hard. Depends on if you really want to understand.
-- Updated August 10th, 2017, 11:25 pm to add the following --
I mean, how can you really understand Nietzsche if you don't read Kant?
2023/2024 Philosophy Books of the Month
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by Mitzi Perdue
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Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
by Chet Shupe
March 2023