Book Suggestions?: Philosophy Forums

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Book Suggestions?
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Book Suggestions?

bert1
Graduate

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Location: Morecambe, UK

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Posted 10/16/09 - 11:53 PM:	#11
Do you actually enjoy reading philosophy? I know I don't, or at least not the fat books some people insist on writing. I just go with wikipedia or Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy. The trouble with most philosophy books is that they have one idea every ten pages, or, in some cases, half an idea per whole book. They're a rip-off. You want a better ratio than that. Let other suckers read the actual books, and just get them to tell you what it says. A decent encyclopaedia article has ten interesting ideas per page. Much better value. You can use the time saved to think and write about a philosophical subject - a much better way to develop your views. Also, a good etymological dictionary can be very helpful. I'd recommend H.C. Wyld's Universal English Dictionary, but it's out of print. Looking up the words related to a subject is a great (and economical) way into a topic, and occasionally even solves/clarifies an issue without the need for any further work. Edited by bert1 on 10/17/09 - 12:07 AM
"Like a ungroomed dog in which the desired look is it’s long hair but it has been so unattended to, that combing is impractical, and it might be better if the hair was cut and attended to as it grows back." d_martin

To Mega Therion
Grand Moff

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Posted 10/17/09 - 07:51 AM:	#12
I would second the recommendation to not read anything Arkady posted; and in fact should you ever come across such books I would warmly recommend you do as Hume says and consign them to the flames. Books such as those butcher physics, make a mystery out of something that is simply not mysterious, are weak in actual philosophical content and when they make statements they usually fail to justify them. They are far more useful as a substitute for firewood (think of the trees!). That said, I don't think following Plato's argument should be a difficulty. I would suggest you read Phaedo, Phaedrus, the Republic, the Sophist and the Statesman. Stay away from Parmenides (the dialogue) like the plague, though. Plato must have had a bad day when he wrote that. Speaking of bad writing, Metaphysics by Aristotle is a great work but I would suggest you don't try to read it in full just yet. Of later philosophers, I would highly recommend Spinoza. His geometrical method can be deceptively simple to follow, but his Ethics I would rate as the best book on ontology, period. Whitehead is interesting, though a bit hard to follow at some points. And if you can get your hands on anything by Peirce or Quine, go for it.

Arkady
Assistant Professor

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Posted 10/17/09 - 08:43 AM:	#13
To Mega Therion wrote: I would second the recommendation to not read anything Arkady posted; and in fact should you ever come across such books I would warmly recommend you do as Hume says and consign them to the flames. Books such as those butcher physics, make a mystery out of something that is simply not mysterious, are weak in actual philosophical content and when they make statements they usually fail to justify them. They are far more useful as a substitute for firewood (think of the trees!). I've been waiting for SOMEONE to figure out that I was JOKING! I mean, really: "The Secret"? Come on, people, I thought that was a dead giveaway. Yeesh!
"Sit down before fact like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing." -T.H. Huxley

To Mega Therion
Grand Moff

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Posted 10/17/09 - 08:50 AM:	#14
Well, once upon a time I did assume people were joking when they mentioned things like that. Then the realisation that most of them weren't hit me, something inside broke, and after an evening of staring at the wall in a catatonic state even the mention of books like 'The Secret' brings out my inner book-burning fascist.

Arkady
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Posted 10/17/09 - 09:21 AM:	#15
To Mega Therion wrote: Well, once upon a time I did assume people were joking when they mentioned things like that. Then the realisation that most of them weren't hit me, something inside broke, and after an evening of staring at the wall in a catatonic state even the mention of books like 'The Secret' brings out my inner book-burning fascist. Guess that explains your avatar!
"Sit down before fact like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing." -T.H. Huxley

Postmodern Beatnik
I Just Work Here

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Posted 10/17/09 - 09:47 AM:	#16
Arkady wrote: I've been waiting for SOMEONE to figure out that I was JOKING! I assumed you were joking as soon as I saw your response to my post. I also suspected you might be after seeing Deepak Chopra on your list. Unfortunately, plenty of people think Ken Wilber is the philosopher of the century.
"The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided." --Casey Stengel

Arkady
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Posted 10/17/09 - 09:54 AM:	#17
Postmodern Beatnik wrote: I assumed you were joking as soon as I saw your response to my post. I also suspected you might be after seeing Deepak Chopra on your list. Unfortunately, plenty of people think Ken Wilber is the philosopher of the century. That's crazy! He's the philosopher of the millennium, of course! Incidentally, I believe both he & Cornel West (another "honoree" from my list) were philosophical consultants on 'The Matrix' movies, which would explain why the "philosophizing" in those movies was roughly the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard (not so much in the first, but taken to dizzying extremes in the second two).
"Sit down before fact like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing." -T.H. Huxley

Postmodern Beatnik
I Just Work Here

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Posted 10/17/09 - 10:16 AM:	#18
Arkady wrote: That's crazy! He's the philosopher of the millennium, of course! That was clearly what I meant. Arkady wrote: Incidentally, I believe both he & Cornel West (another "honoree" from my list) were philosophical consultants on 'The Matrix' movies, which would explain why the "philosophizing" in those movies was roughly the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard (not so much in the first, but taken to dizzying extremes in the second two). I knew West was a consultant, but I wasn't aware that Wilber was as well. The two did pair up for the commentaries, however, since the directors refuse to comment on what the films mean.
"The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided." --Casey Stengel

InfectedDaemon
Initiate

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Posted 10/22/09 - 12:51 PM:	#19
I have to thank all of you guys for the suggestions in books. I have been interested in doing some heavy reading in the subject, I also wanted a comprehensive guide to understanding the differences between Continental Philosophy and Western (aka Analytic) Philosophy. I'm an autodidact in the subject and I have already read up on most of the philosophers mentioned, so recently I have been interested on Contemporary Philosophical thought. I tried to pick up some Continental Philosophers (Derrida, Deleuze, Lacan) but their purple prose, their constant reference to other, obscure authors, their dependence on vaguely defined terms, the ambiguity... The horror... the horror. Then I started to watch some lectures of John Searle and Shelly Kagan, that where much more understandable. So for the moment I will say that I lean toward the Analytic school, if I have to pick a side (as most people I have seen in this forum thread). Still, I'm grateful for the list. Specially for the "Introduction to Continental Philosophy by Andrew Cutrofello." Going to try and check that one out of a library... bitch costs $34!! Oh, and thanks for slapping down the comments by Arkady! Please, dear sir, I just stumbled upon this forum, and I'm coming from another forum where I asked for a good read on a summary of Contemporary Continental or Western Philosophy and all I got was silence for a week. These people are left to roam free and discuss "philosophy" without know what the subject at hand really is. They probably all think that the list you proposed was completely valid, and probably cherish all those... I dear not call them books . Please, point out when your joking . In your favor... I should have known that an Assistant Professor could only be joking about that.
"Live as if you where to die tomorrow, learn as if you where to live forever!" -Mahatma Gandhi

baldmountain
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Posted 11/06/09 - 12:28 PM:	#20
InfectedDaemon wrote: Still, I'm grateful for the list. Specially for the "Introduction to Continental Philosophy by Andrew Cutrofello." Going to try and check that one out of a library... bitch costs $34!! If you are going to be concerned with cost you may not get very far. Many of the books you'll want to read are available at the library, but you won't get very far in them in the 2 weeks the library will let you keep them. You'll need to buy the book and invest some time in it. I'm going to point you in a couple different directions. First I suggest getting a copy of "The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy" which you can get from Amazon for about $20. Or maybe "The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy" from Amazon for about $40. Either will give you a taste of all of philosophy if you allow the ADD to take over and romp through the books. Once you get a feeling for the stuff you like you can go deeper without getting bogged down in stuff you aren't interested in. The second direction is to follow my path to philosophy. My first philosophy book, the one that got me hooked, was A.C Graylings "Philosophy 1: A Guide through the Subject". My second was Russell's "The History of Western Philosophy." (I renewed that one about 4 times before taking it back to the library finished.) These two showed me I had no idea what I was doing, or where to go next. So I floundered around, bought some books that I wasn't ready for, read some books and realized I wasn't interested in. At some point I realized I knew which books were good and which were not and which authors I liked and which I didn't. It took a good amount of time and effort to get to that point and to be honest I still feel like I'm floundering around a bit. The key is to dive in and read smart. Don't muscle through something you aren't getting. Put it away and come back to it later, or maybe never. Also keep in mind that this is a profession. In the same way you can't jump into a Quantum Physics text without the math and science background to understand it, you'll struggle with an advanced Philosophy text without the background to grasp it.

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