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Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

• jrp 16y ago
  I don't know if it counts as a serious philosophy book, but I really enjoyed Godel, Escher, Bach. Math, computers, consciousness, etc. I'm currently reading Reasons and Persons. Thought experiments and discussion about how personal identity works under, eg, transporter copies.
  • rms 16y ago
    Godel, Escher, Bach won a Pulitzer Prize; I think that counts as serious. :)
    • darushimo 16y ago
      it may be serious, but it is not 'philosophy' as the topic is generally understood. (not to discount it as a worthwhile read.)
      • wanderingmango 16y ago
        Actually, at its core it is philosophical and mathematical logic. So yes, it is philosophy.
  • baddox 16y ago
    I think many readers will be surprised at how accessible "Gödel, Escher, Bach" actually is. I'm not an expert at anything: I have no work experience and maybe two serious computer science courses under my belt, but GEB really satisfies an intellectual curiosity I've had for years. I'm 550 pages in (out of about 750 pages) and with the exception of the two chapters discussing the anatomy of the human brain (a subject I'm just not that interested in), I've torn through this book—I only started reading about three months ago, which means I've been reading GEB much faster than any other book I've ever opened. I highly recommend "Gödel, Escher, Bach" even to those who have seen other people recommend it yet have been reluctant to try it out.
    • spacemanaki 16y ago
      Plus one to this, it really is quite readable, I think it's overly characterized as very dense and difficult.
    • kleevr 16y ago
      > (out of about 750 pages) Come on, it's 777 pages for a reason! :) When I realized the page count (purposefully) included the index I was quite tickled. So many gems, little and large...
  • steveplace 16y ago
    It's taken me 6 months to get through part 1. GEB is a tough read.
  • kpich 16y ago
    +1 Reasons and Persons. The Personal Identity section in that in particular is wonderful! It's a really good book because it kind of stands alone -- you don't need to be very well-versed in philosophy to get the arguments if you read carefully.
  • MWinther 16y ago
    I bought GEB when I was 13, mostly because I liked the Escher paintings. I was hooked after reading the first Achilles/Turtle episode, though, and even though many concepts went over my head at the time. I still haven't read it cover to cover, though, but I still have a hard time not agreeing with this particular recommendation.
• SHOwnsYou 16y ago
  If you enjoy debating philosophy (especially value based/govt philosophy), Liberalism and the Limits of Justice by Michael Sandel builds up and absolutely destroys around 10 of the most common premises for these types of debates. A hundred other issues are dealt with along the way and this will change the way you think about this type of philosophy.
  • randxx 16y ago
    since reading "buddhism without beliefs", i've kind of lost interest in these things. which is, indeed, a recommendation.
    • SHOwnsYou 16y ago
      I couldn't agree more about the frivolity of these debates, but judging from what he listed I figured govt/value debates might be somewhat frequent (especially since he is reading Common Sense for school). On the other hand, not taking part in the debates can be bad for you also. The debating process allows you to expose your ideas to the light of free discussion and allows you to exchange error for truth (JSM). Even if you aren't debating people with a clue on the topic, the debate and your subsequent internal dialog will be beneficial.
  • deleted 16y ago
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• HSO 16y ago
  Bertrand Russell: A history of western philosophy. I haven't read it all but what I've read was both informative and witty. Note that Russell, kind of similar to The Economist, is "opinionated". Must be that British style...
  • aerique 16y ago
    While I like the book (and Russel in general) it really is a history rather than a philosophical book.
    • mahmud 16y ago
      But someone like OP would benefit from a broad introduction to the corpus of thought out there. They can then choose which lines to follow.
  • mahmud 16y ago
    I read it cover to cover and loved it. But Russel, although a humanist, is firmly an occidental man. He rushes through Oriental philosophy like it's a bad neighborhood (he really didn't hide his distaste for mysticism and metaphysics at all.) A better read might be Will Durant's "The Story of Philosophy". And Durant's masterpiece, The Story of Civilization is unparalleled in its scope and lucidity, though not philosophy. I have such a huge attachment to the Durants, they kept me company on many a long night. I read about seven or eight of their dozen volumes.
    • wheels 16y ago
      Well, it is a history of western philosophy. Also, I wouldn't say that Russell has a distaste for mysticism; my read of many of his writings on religion (A Free Man's Worship, Mysticism and Logic, etc.) would be that he genuinely sees the value of mysticism and transcendental experience – though I'm going on memory from reading about a decade ago. Durant's writing is great too, but The Story of Philsophy doesn't have the depth of The History of Western Philosophy, and, I actually enjoy Russell's snark along the way.
• rms 16y ago
  http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sequences http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sequences
• sdave 16y ago
  "Siddhartha", "Steppenwolf" - by Herman Hesse. "Atlas Shrugged" - by Ayn Rand. "Mrityunjay" - by Sivaji savant (originally in marathi/hindi language.. based on the character of Karna from Mahabharata.Not very sure how good the english translation is though.The title means - he who has conquered Death.)
• dmfdmf 16y ago
  "The Virtue of Selfishness" "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" "Philosophy: Who Needs It" "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology" All by Ayn Rand. Whether you end up agreeing with her or not, she will definitely will make you think.
  • vegai 16y ago
    Good ones. Just make sure these aren't the only ones you study or you'll end up being a worse amateur philosopher than you were before.
  • AmaroqWolf 16y ago
    I'm currently pursuing Rand's philosophy. Her nonfictions are very valuable because they comprise the philosophy itself. But Peikoff's books and lectures about Objectivism are also extremely valuable. He had to overcome a lot of bad thinking habits to gain a genuine understanding of Objectivism and he is in a good position to help others get past those roadblocks. Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand is useful to help you integrate Rand's philosophy into a mental hierarchy, and his courses Understanding Objectivism and Objectivism Through Induction are useful to help you prove Objectivism to yourself, so you can see how Rand's philosophy really is connected to reality and pertains to your life.
• deleted 16y ago
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• deltapoint 16y ago
  The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathon Haidt is great. It intertwines philosophy and psychology while providing a lot of insight on how a life is well lived. http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Hypothesis-Finding-Modern-Ancient/dp/0465028020/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278744811&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Hypothesis-Finding-Modern-An...
• halojones 16y ago
  "The Bible", "Notes From Underground" (Dostoevsky)
  • joubert 16y ago
    The bible is a horrible suggestion for a philosophy book. Isn't this a work that prescribes genocide, builds myth, promote the irrational?
    • halojones 16y ago
      (Your reply brings to mind another book I should have mentioned - The Order of Things (Les Mots et Les Choses) by Michel Foucault.) If philosophy is the drive to understand the human condition, I don't think any philosopher can or should ignore the Bible. Athens, Rome and Jerusalem are where the Western mind was born it has been said. And there is nothing to stop you approaching the Bible as it were hermeneutically, ie. in the same way you might treat the Greek Myths. I find it fascinating myself - from the "ex nihilo" of Genesis, through the "de profundis" of the Psalms, to Job's "Why?!", not to mention the Christian New Testament - and I think it will be read (by philosophers) long after many books in "The Philosophy Section" have been forgotten.
      • joubert 16y ago
        But the bible itself isn't a good philosophy book. Meta-bible discussions, including those by Christian scholars, might form a good corpus of philosophy, however.
        • joshuacc 16y ago
          While the Bible as a whole isn't a philosophy book, it does contain a few. Books like the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Book of Job, etc. are what we could call "practical philosophy."
        • halojones 16y ago
          > But the bible itself isn't a good philosophy book Well I just interpret "philosophy" more broadly. Before we can act, and indeed before we can think, we must somehow plant our feet - we can't stand "nowhere" in a sense. And philosophy is just the search for a good place to stand, a "will to locate oneself" perhaps. And if we habitually stand in the same place, we're religious! We can no more be beyond (super) philosophy than we can be beyond (super) religion than we can be beyond (super) man. In this sense, the authors of the books of the bible are philosophers like the rest of us. If it's dissimilar in style to Plato, Aristotle and so on, there you go. So when you say it isn't a good philosophy book, to my mind you're just saying you don't like the philosophy it evinces, which of course is your prerogative.
• avdempsey 16y ago
  Check out Charles S. Peirce, American father of pragmaticism (not pragmatism). Two essays, 'The Fixation of Belief' and 'How to Make Our Ideas Clear' are particularly inspiring. Google 'peirce how to make our ideas clear', it's number one.
• vlorch 16y ago
  being and time - Martin Heidegger
• ulvund 16y ago
  I would not recommend any compilations of philosophy. The great thing about philosophy is reading the rationales and the results, not only the results. "Ricard+Revel - The Monk and the Philosopher" http://www.amazon.com/Monk-Philosopher-Father-Discuss-Meaning/dp/0805211039 http://www.amazon.com/Monk-Philosopher-Father-Discuss-Meanin... "Socrates(/Plato) - The Allegory of the Cave" http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html "Plato(/Socrates/others) - Symposium" http://www.amazon.com/Symposium-Plato/dp/0872200760 http://www.amazon.com/Symposium-Plato/dp/0872200760 "Bertrand Russell - The Conquest of Happiness" http://www.amazon.com/Conquest-Happiness-Bertrand-Russell/dp/0871401622 http://www.amazon.com/Conquest-Happiness-Bertrand-Russell/dp...
  • hh 16y ago
    I absolutely agree that The Monk and the Philosopher is one of the best book. A frank discussion between a father and son who both have PhD. Every interesting book.
    • jsc 16y ago
      Actually Jean-Francois Revel did not have a PhD (he explains why in his autobiography "Le voleur dans la maison vide").
• rick_2047 16y ago
  Wow, I was fiddling with the idea of posting exactly that question (with Philosophy in the title) but was hesitant as to is this the right community (btw where can I find one?) I haven't read many books about philosophy but my main interest is Philosophy of mind and I just love the lectures here[1]. [1]http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details_new.php?seriesid=2010-B-67280&semesterid=2010-B http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details_new.php?seriesid=...
  • pavs 16y ago
    >but was hesitant as to is this the right community (btw where can I find one?) Try reddit.com/r/books Some HN-ers don't like reddit probably because their impression starts and ends with the reddit default front page. But the gems are the smaller sub-reddits with some very high quality communities. My personal favorite /r/askscience
    • rick_2047 16y ago
      I didn't mean about books, I meant about philosophy.
      • pavs 16y ago
        http://www.reddit.com/r/philosophy http://www.reddit.com/r/philosophy http://www.reddit.com/r/PhilosophyofScience/ http://www.reddit.com/r/PhilosophyofScience/ http://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicPhilosophy/ http://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicPhilosophy/
        • rick_2047 16y ago
          Seems like there is a subreddit for every bloody think.
• ganjianwei 16y ago
  I really enjoyed Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. It's not quite a philosophy book but I found his take on the concept of 'quality' very useful. To me it's a story of how a westerner discovers eastern philosophy, which is great to read coming from a western perspective.
  • pavs 16y ago
    I never leave a book unfinished, if I start a book I feel like have to finish the book (I finished Dan Brown's book with disgust, imagine that), but I just couldn't finish this book. I have absolutely no idea why people like this book and I have got recommendations from quite a few people.
    • pavelludiq 16y ago
      I had the opposite reaction. I almost never finish books, this book is the first one bigger than a 100 pages that i finished front to cover. I'm currently re-reading it. Here are a few reasons why i liked it: -It was the first book on philosophy i actually read. The closest book on philosophy i ever had contact with before was a high school textbook and it was more than horrible. -I read it with a deliberate reason, i was interested specifically in why some people are bad with tech, actually not just bad but horrible with it. Where does this gap come from? -I read it at a point in my life when i was trying to figure out a lot of stuff, and one of them was how to not be an arrogant asshole, i found that it was way too easy to be one towards people who i perceived as less intelligent than me. I approached this book searching for ways to enhance my reasons to be arrogant, but left it with a sort of humility and understanding towards others that i didn't know i was capable of. -Because of my obsessiveness and extreme rationalism, it was easy for me to connect with the character of Phaedrus. -It was a novel, not a philosophy book, it was light to read, and at the same time intellectually stimulating. Maybe you should ask yourself why is it that you don't like it? I'm curious for the reasons, it certainly has its flaws, and i still have difficulty with some of the ideas after the second re-read, but i never found it not entertaining.
      • pavs 16y ago
• anonman1 16y ago
  "History of Sexuality: Volume I" -Michel Foucault "Discipline and Punish" -Michel Foucault "Philosophy in the Flesh" -George Lakoff "Metaphors We Live By" -George Lakoff "Civilization and its Discontents" -Sigmund Freud These books allowed me to look at reality in a completely different manner.
• shachaf 16y ago
  _The Tao is Silent_, by Raymond Smullyan, comes to mind.
  • hh 16y ago
    I like this book also. Every well written by a Western logician.
• antoniogarrote 16y ago
  -Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations by Ludvig Wittgenstein -The Open Society and its Enemies by Karl Popper -On Liberty John Stuart Mill -Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and their Computation by Machine by John McCarthy
  • igravious 16y ago
    While it is eye-opening I could hardly recommend the Tractatus unless you get it with a commentary. How about The Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Wittgenstein and the Tractatus by Michael Morris? Good call with Karl Popper. On Liberty is archaic somewhat. To recommend just that book by John McCarthy is too narrow, and besides logic and the theory of computation are not a part of philosophy per se. Logic is a tool of philosophers. The theory of computation could possibly be folded into philosophy of mind but I've never seen it done so, there is a strong argument that it should be.
• SkyMarshal 16y ago
  Sophie's World is a fun novel and a map of the historical development of philosophy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophies_World http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophies_World The first book on philosophy that both blew my hair back and made me realize philosophy is alot more than just academic was You Can Trust the Communists (to be Communists). http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/schwarz-cover.html http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/schwarz-cover.htm... My best friend in college was a Russian Jew whose family immigrated to US during the Cold War, and he kept that book on his coffee table. It's the Yin to Howard Zinn's Yang - A People's History of the United States - which even though it's not philosophy is worth reading too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Peoples_History_of_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Peoples_History_of_the_United...
  • darushimo 16y ago
    not to sound like an ass, but if you want to seriously deal with philosophy, don't waste your time with sophies world. or 'zen and the art of...' for that matter.
    • danohuiginn 16y ago
      Why not? Do you consider it misleading, or just too simplistic? If the former, fair enough (though I'd love to hear details; I quite enjoyed Sophie). If the latter: I'm a big fan of light overviews. You can always go deeper into the areas you find interesting, whereas it's easy to get lost if you dive straight into the in-depth stuff.
    • SkyMarshal 16y ago
      Granted it doesn't delve deep and is just a broad overview couched in a fun story, but do you know of better books that gives a chronological history of the development of philosophy? Some things I find useful to understand how they developed, in what chronological order, philosophy especially. Much of philosophy is a response to preceding ideas, and it helps to understand it all if you start at the beginning and work your way forward to present day, rather than read disjointed segments of it out of context from how it developed. I'm sure there's something better than Sophie's World for that, I just don't know what it is.
• Bishizel 16y ago
  Asking for "Best Philosophical Books" is pretty much like asking for an opinion, everyone will have a very different view. That being said, here's my view! John Stuart Mill - "Utilitarianism" (Kant be damned.) Thomas Nagel - "Moral Luck" David Lewis - "On the Plurality of Worlds" Plato - "The Republic" Aristotle - "The Metaphysics"
• helwr 16y ago
  Hirshman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty Camus, the myth of Sisyphus Borges, the Aleph Chomsky, on Language Cicero, On Invention Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Wiener, Cybernetics James, Pragmatism Tzara, Dada manifesto
  • 10ren 16y ago
    Cicero, On Invention http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_invention http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_invention
  • cma 16y ago
    re: Cybernetics, a better start is probably Wiener's The Human Use Of Human Beings: Cybernetics And Society
• tfh 16y ago
  The ones I've read and find good: - Existentialism is a Humanism - Jean Paul Sartre : Very easy to read and is a very good introduction to existentialism. - Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Nietzsche - Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
  • jaxn 16y ago
    As I read the comments, I am surprised how little existentialism there is listed. Maybe not the best place to start, but I think it is the life changing stuff.
  • swombat 16y ago
    Also by Hesse: Narcissus & Goldmund Actually, most books by Hesse have a philosophical element.
• dtby 16y ago
  _Faith of a Heretic_ - Walter Kaufmann
• tmsh 16y ago
  My favorites from college are: early dialogues of Plato (the most Socratic / least Platonic -- The Apology is a good start), Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (on how deeply the very ideas about how we perceive things affect our understanding), and Aristotle's Nico. Ethics (the importance of habits, moderation, and the idea of the good).
• ashutoshm 16y ago
  Beyond Good and Evil - Nietzsche Ashtavakra Gita - Ashtavakra The Prophet - Gibran
• rmk 16y ago
  Sophie's world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophies_World http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophies_World It's a great book that takes you on a whirlwind tour of the most famous philosophers and their thoughts. What's more, it's woven into a suspense novel, so it keeps you reading!
  • escanda 16y ago
    Read it some years ago, definitively a good book to get some background in the history of philosophy.
• ivanzhao 16y ago
  surprised nobody mentioned "The Story of Philosophy" by Will Durant, which not only talks about philosophy, but the lives of the philosophers and the historical backgrounds. philosophy is gradually becoming more literature-like, which is hard to appreciate without the context. ps. it is also a 1930s best sellers.
• mindviews 16y ago
  Given that philosophy as practiced in academia is as much about creating arguments as about the ideas themselves, I suggest "The Philosopher's Toolkit" as a useful reference. For what I'll call "hard philosophy" I put my votes for books by Hilary Putnam and John Dewey. As a rationalist seeking a solid basis for ethics in the physical world, I've found both authors quite instructive. Perhaps "Objectivity" by Nicholas Rescher belongs here as well. There's a whole other class of what I call "idea books" and I've seen a few of them listed in the comments, too. Given the reading examples you mentioned, I'm assuming you're looking more at "hard philosophy" so I'll skip the other kind of suggestions unless you ask for them.
  • cma 16y ago
    What are your Dewey recommendations?
    • mindviews 16y ago
      I've read both "Experience and Nature" and "How We Think" and can recommend both. "How We Think" was published first and is shorter - would make for a good introduction to Dewey. "Experience and Nature" is longer and has more weight but is also more work to read. I haven't read more than excerpts from his other works so I can't add much. Otherwise, I intend to read "The Public and its Problems" which is supposed to be a good work on democracy.
• carid 16y ago
  A couple by Stanley Cavell: Must We Mean What We Say? (1969) The Claim of Reason: Wittgenstein, Skepticism, Morality, and Tragedy (1979) New York: Oxford University Press. I would also second Russell's A Brief History of Western Philosophy. It's biased and weirdly shallow in some places, but written by a philosopher, so not a toothless compilation. Obscure but made an impression on me: Ways of Worldmaking by Nelson Goodman. If you can get through it: John Rawls's A Theory of Justice...an important book with a few very important ideas. Stuff by Amartya Sen. On philosophy of science, the historical narratives do the job I think, like The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler (a great read once you get through the Greeks). You could read Thomas Kuhn, Feyerabend's autobiography "Killing Time" which is great, and if you're really serious read Peter Galison's stuff. Finally, again, more history that pure philosophy but I really liked Wittgenstein's Vienna by Toulmin.
• mfukar 16y ago
  Naming and Necessity, by Saul A. Kripke It's a series of Kripke's lectures from 1970 if I'm not mistaken, republished, but without significant changes/corrections. Note Kripke's age of 29 at that point. In them, he develops his theory of direct reference in a highly interesting and controversial way. He didn't leave the philosophers of that time indifferent, and neither will you. Enjoy.
• jorangreef 16y ago
  Philosophy is not always wisdom. Of reading many books there is no end. But if it's wisdom, you can read it in an hour and spend a life-time understanding and applying it. Read Solomon's Proverbs (http://bit.ly/aJpmva http://bit.ly/aJpmva) and Ecclesiastes.
• yters 16y ago
  Some of the best philosophy books I've found for free online: Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica. Even though you may not agree with his conclusions, it is still a remarkable piece of work. http://www.ccel.org/a/aquinas/summa/FP.html http://www.ccel.org/a/aquinas/summa/FP.html David Stove does a good job debunking Hume's problem of induction, which underlies what I consider wrong in most modern philosophy http://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/davidstove.html http://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/davidstove.html Liberty or Equality outlines the potential for tyranny inherent in democracy http://blog.mises.org/6326/liberty-or-equality/ http://blog.mises.org/6326/liberty-or-equality/
• zephjc 16y ago
  Almost anything by Alan Watts. Tao: The Watercourse Way is good. He also has a bunch of lectures recorded in audio and available on bittorrent.
• billywayne 16y ago
  I would suggest "Man and His Symbols", which is an introduction to Jungian psychology. Jung took a unique view on the psyche, which I believe is helpful in forming an objective opinion about humankind 'in itself', a necessary vantage point if you desire anything "eye-opening".
• vsthesquares 16y ago
  Logical Investigations, Vols 1 & 2, by Edmund Husserl. Truly a great philosopher.
• kkshin 16y ago
  It really depends on what you're looking for, but Philosophy is a field where one philosopher's work is built on top of the other's going all the way back to the ancient Greek's. Its important (I think anyways) to read the raw texts before you read philosophical commentary so that you have a chance to form your own opinions. That being said, here's some recommendations of mine that cover a breadth of philosophical subjects and time periods. Its always good to see someone else want to learn more philsophy, especially if its of their own volition. Plato. Strangely enough, Plato is probably one of the best introductions to philosophy, not only because he was one of the first whose writings survive to modern time, but also because its relatively simple to read and understand. Some of my personal favorite are 'The Apology', 'The Symposium', and 'The Phaedrus', and of course 'The Republic'. The weird thing with Plato is you'll never know how much of his writings are his thinking as opposed to Socrates teaching. I still reread Plato because the stories (most of his writing is in narrative form) are so damn entertaining. Aristotle. This is a natural progression from reading Plato. The 'Nichomachean Ethics' is a cornerstone of ancient philosophy and is a relative simple read. John Locke/Gottfried Leibniz. I'll admit, I struggled through 'An Essay of Human Understanding' but this title and Leibniz's rebuttal 'New Essays on Human Understanding' illustrate a historically important philosophical debate between empiricists and rationalists. Since you're reading 'Common Sense' you might also want to give Locke's 'Second Treatise on Civil Government' a gander. Immaneul Kant. Since you're reading Schopenhauer you should read Kant as he was heavily influenced by him. You'll hear him referenced a lot if you continue to read philosophy so you should familiarize yourself with his thinking, especially on his thoughts in epistemology. Bertrand Russell. People have already recommended him and he's one of the most popular philosopher's of modern times, mostly because he's so easy to read and was somewhat of a cultural icon during his time. I have a particular fondness for his work because when I had doubts about my faith, "Why I Am not A Christian" helped me find words to communicate my break with Catholocism. His "History of Western Philosophy" is considered a cornerstone history of philosophy book (although it is somewhat dated now). His writings are usually rather short and concise. Jacques Derrida/Gilles Deleuze. Now we're getting into some wacky shit. To be fair, I shouldn't even be commenting on it because I have no idea what these guys are talking about half the time. These are the philosophers that people read and pretend to understand because they want to sound smart. You know the stereotypical "philosophy" students that you see in movies. Maybe you'll find something of substance in their work although many philsopher's believe these guys are/were hacks and purposefully obfuscate their writing to hide the fact that there's no substance in it. One of the best ways to read philosophy is to start with a philosopher who truly changed the game with their work (such as Kant) and work your way out reading the work of his supporters as well as the work of those that disagree with him. This way you'll get a worldy view on 'important' philosophical issues while starting to formulate your own opinions on th ematter.
• ionfish 16y ago
  Most of the "eye-opening or incredibly interesting" philosophical material that I've read has been in individual articles rather than books. That said, here are a few favourites from various areas. It's a bit heavily weighted towards recent material; Kant and Plato ought to be on there, but I can't stand Kant as a writer, even if his ideas are profound, and Plato's style has always irritated me for some reason I can't quite put my finger on. I could probably keep tying titles all day, so I'll stop with those that first popped into my head. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics David Chalmers, The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory Gottlob Frege, Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding J.S. Mill, On Liberty John Rawls, A Theory of Justice Stewart Shapiro, Philosophy of Mathematics: Structure and Ontology
• jaxn 16y ago
  A Brief History of Everything - Ken Wilber I think Wilber's inclusion of physics would resonate with HNers.
  • jaxn 16y ago
    Downvoted a recommendation of a philosophy book? WTF
• DanielBMarkham 16y ago
  Some great recommendations here! All I can add is the quote "All of Science is footnotes to Plato" -- no matter how far we come, the ancient Greeks still have relevance. So I'd get a good introductory good to at least the top 3: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. (I could list a few more)
  • cromulent 16y ago
    > "All of Science is footnotes to Plato" Science? Wasn't Whitehead talking about Western philosophy?
    • DanielBMarkham 16y ago
      Isn't philosophy the mother of science?
      • danielford 16y ago
        Yes, but you still dicked up the quote. Footnotes and mothers are not synonymous, much to the relief of both.
        • DanielBMarkham 16y ago
          For the anal-retentive among you. It would be footnotes and children are not synonymous. Not footnotes and mothers. Philosophy generates science. Western philosophy is a footnote. Your transitives are mixed up. You can generalize and say "philosophy and science are derived from Greek works, which are still relevant" and help this guy out, or we can play word games. I could give a shit what the actual quote was. My goal wasn't to impress the guy with my knowledge of quotes, it was to offer a recommendation.
          • danielford 16y ago
            Sorry, I really didn't need to be so rude. That said, I think getting quotes right is important if you're going to use them. Otherwise you're contributing to sum total of misinformation in the world.
• michael_dorfman 16y ago
  I think the quality of advice you're getting on this thread is very mixed. Some of the books mentioned are absolutely great-- like "Being and Time", or Husserl's "Logical Investigations"-- but incredibly difficult to read unprepared. If you were ready to be reading them, you wouldn't be asking the question here. The two books you mention in the question (Common Sense and "On the Fourfold Root") are both quite readable, as are a few of the primary texts mentioned in the responses ("Existentialism is a Humanism", "Thus Spoke Zarathustra") but in general, I'd have to suggest you stay away from primary texts at first. In other words, begin by reading works about philosophy, rather than works of philosophy. A single-volume work on the history of philosophy will give you the broad scope (for example, Durant, or Russell, or "Sophie's World" if you prefer fiction), but will tend to turn the philosophers discussed into caricatures of themselves. You mention that you are in school; I'd suggest you take a philosophy course or two, if you are interested in the field. Having an experienced guide will definitely help.
  • afroisalreadyin 16y ago
    This is also my experience with reading philosophy; just like significant works in any other fields, you can't approach many important books of philosophy head-on. You have to first get an understanding of the bckground, which also allows you to understand the fundamental dichotomies, and why different philosophers treat different questions as the primary ones. In this respect, the best history of philosophy I know of is Skirbekk's "A History of Western Thought: From Ancient Greece to the Twentieth Century", a highly recommended read.
  • humblepatience 16y ago
    I agree, Being and Time is an impossible read - Betrand Russell is a good start
  • yters 16y ago
    Problem with reading secondary material is it'll be colored by the worldview of said author, and generally people will stick philosophers in easy categories without trying to actually understand them. For example, often you'll read modern synopses of Plato saying he thought the physical world is bad, even though he says no such thing.
• darushimo 16y ago
  There seem to be two questions here. First: 'what are some eye-opening reads'? Second: 'what are some good philosophy books?' The fact is, "eye-opening reads" really depends on the eye, and without much context, it's very difficult to give recommendations. So I'll name two books that were 'eye-opening' for me AND are good philosophy and another that is just 'good philosophy.' J. S. Mill's On Liberty. Read it. It's short. It's poignant. Don't not read this book. Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche is required reading. if you like it, check out the viking collection of works by him and read his wikipedia page. You'll get a sense of what else you'd like to read from these two sources. The groundwork for a metaphysics of morals by Kant is a great introduction to his way of thinking/reasoning and deals with an important matter--the possibility of a moral system. This book is a good introduction to a way of philosophizing very different from the others--Kant aims to be deeply systematic and specific. While not eye-opening, 'sexy philosophy' or quite 'enjoyable,' GMM is a relatively short read and a worthwhile thought-journey.
  • jemfinch 16y ago
    > While not eye-opening, 'sexy philosophy' or quite 'enjoyable,' GMM is a relatively short read and a worthwhile thought-journey. For the majority of extremely utilitarian American readers, GMM will most definitely be eye-opening.
    • darushimo 16y ago
      Right. Sorry for the conflation of editorial and description in that sentence.
  • JeffL 16y ago
    You make a good point. I took 5 different philosophy classes in college because I was interested, but never was really that satisfied. For me, the authors that were really eye-opening were Ayn Rand and Thoreau, though I feel many here would scoff at them.
• hh 16y ago
  These two books change my life: Tao Te Ching - http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Skylight-Illuminations/dp/1594732043/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278761330&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Skylight-Illuminations/dp... The Dhammapada - http://www.amazon.com/Dhammapada-Translation-Buddhist-Classic-Annotations/dp/1590303806/ref=pd_sim_b_18 http://www.amazon.com/Dhammapada-Translation-Buddhist-Classi...
• agconway 16y ago
  Read "Simulacrum and Simulation" by Jean Baudrillard, then question everything that technology provides.
• Entlin 16y ago
  I wholeheartedly recommend "Action Philosophers". http://www.eviltwincomics.com/ap.html http://www.eviltwincomics.com/ap.html Especially the Ain Rand section, which made it clear to me that you need to know how a person grew up to understand how they formed their philosophy. Yes, it's a comic, but that makes it all the more accessible. Fantastic for philosophy beginners.
• igravious 16y ago
  It is with joy that I answer your question. And if I may be allowed to answer it philosophically. The books you find incredibly interesting may be the books the validate your worldview. There are many of these. The book you find eye-opening may be the books that open the door into the world of philosophy proper for you. There are not many of these because you only need to go through that door once I feel. Also, I would observe that besides Ayn Rand (who for many is not a philosopher) not a single female philosopher has been mentioned here which I find is a damning indictment on the state of affairs of the world of ideas. To remedy that I would recommend to you read A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft or anything by De Beauvoir (and do ignore her contemporary Sartre for he was nothing but a windbag). I am delighted that you singled out Thomas Paine (who again is not a philosopher as such; must be something in the air in the States) and Arthur Schopenhauer. They are both tremendous stylists. I've said this many times before - I don't care how great a philosopher's ideas are, if they can't write well I don't want to know. Thus we have people here recommending Kripke or Frege or heck knows who like that who bludgeon you to death with their tedious logic. Avoid them I say. Finally I would like to be clichéd and recommend anything by Nietzsche except for Thus Spake Zarathustra even though he himself considered it his best work and I would especially recommend Ecce Homo by him because it is a summation of his previous works by his own hand. Nietzsche was the supreme stylist and ruthlessly honest and fearless. Also I'd recommend A Short Treatise on the Great Virtues by a contemporary philosopher André Comte-Sponville. This is a remarkable book on virtue theory that takes in Aristotle, Spinoza, Nietzsche and Woody Allen among others and is divided up by virtue which is extremely novel. It is fantastically written. Anything by Cioran as well such as The Trouble with Being Born. I'm trying not to typecast myself here! :) And finally finally Sophie's World and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance while nice cute books are not true philosophy books. This is also why I wouldn't recommend Camus' The Outsider though someone did mention The Myth of Sisyphus. Borges falls into this category. Sophie's world is really a kid's book as well and one that I would perhaps recommend to children though I'd recommend Borges or Camus or Kafka first. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vindication-Rights-Woman-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141441259 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vindication-Rights-Woman-Penguin-Cla... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-Sex-Vintage-classics/dp/009974421X http://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-Sex-Vintage-classics/dp/00997... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Great-Ideas-Suffering-World/dp/0141018941 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Great-Ideas-Suffering-World/... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ecce-Homo-Becomes-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140445153 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ecce-Homo-Becomes-Penguin-Classics/d... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-Treatise-Great-Virtues-Philosophy/dp/0099437988 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-Treatise-Great-Virtues-Philoso... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trouble-Being-Born-E-M-Cioran/dp/1559704624 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trouble-Being-Born-E-M-Cioran/dp/155...
• gjm11 16y ago
  Obviously anyone's recommendations are going to tell you as much about that person's philosophical preferences as about the actual books. We might be able to do better if you told us more about your own interests and prejudices. Anyway, here are a few recommendations: Ethics and (technical questions about) personal identity: "Reasons and persons", by Derek Parfit. Quite heavy going, but Parfit's an outstandingly clear thinker and there are some very good ideas here. Applied ethics: "Living high and letting die", by Peter Unger. Argues for the counterintuitive conclusion that basically all of us in the affluent West have an obligation to do (not just somewhat more but) vastly more for the least well-off. Philosophy of religion (from a definitely atheist perspective): "The miracle of theism", by John Mackie. Quite dense, but well written, clear and mostly fair. Much much more seriously intellectually than any of the recent "New Atheist" books. Philosophy of mind, epistemology, ethics, decision theory, philosophy of physics, many other things: "Good and Real", by Gary Drescher. "A breathtakingly original assault on all the Big Issues!", says Daniel Dennett, and he's right. Recommended on just about any topic: the "Oxford Readings in Philosophy" series of anthologies. Each volume consists of a lengthy introduction followed by somewhere on the order of 10 important articles from the primary literature. Generally very approachable and well selected.
• grendel 16y ago
  + Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility James P. Carse + Thus Spoke Zarathrusta Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
• iterationx 16y ago
  I like Jean Baudrillard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation
• mbateman 16y ago
  Hi, I'm an ABD philosopher. The deepest and most interesting philosophical books are generally difficult and best accompanied by some form of instruction. This is true regardless of how clearly (e.g. Plato) or esoterically (e.g. Kant) written they are. There are some good secondary sources that can help but it's far preferable to be able to talk to an expert in a one-on-one or smallish setting. It would take a long time to explain why this is the case, so I'll just leave it as an assertion here. Okay, that being said, I wouldn't want to dissuade anyone from reading philosophy on their own. Here are some recommendations for books and articles that can be (more) fruitfully read on one's own. Anything marked with a + is a secondary source. Ideally I'd be giving you excerpts from each of these in a reader for a course. I'm going to skip some people like Aristotle who should be approached in carefully selected excerpts or with a guide, and also some more obvious things that almost everyone with a college education has read, like Descartes' Meditations or Plato's Republic. On Fate, Alexander of Aphrodisias + Problems from Locke, Mackie Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, Spinoza + The Courtier and the Heretic, Stewart (on Spinoza and Leibniz) Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Hume Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, Kant On Liberty, Mill "Modern Moral Philosophy", Anscombe "What is Capitalism?", Rand The Bounds of Sense, Strawson + "Rawls on Justice", Nagel "The Naturalists Return", Kitcher Sources of Normativity, Korsgaard This crowd in particular might be interested in some of Frege's work as well, e.g. "What is a Function?" and "Sense and Reference."
  • samd 16y ago
    The above books are great, but unless you are really into philosophy I don't think you'd gain much from reading primary sources. (With the exception of Hume, he's brief and brilliant.) I think someone casually interested in philosophy would be better off reading articles from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (plato.stanford.edu); and if a subject is particularly interesting then they can always go read some related primary sources. If you do start reading primary sources, particularly the early modern philosophers, I recommend visiting www.earlymoderntexts.com. Jonathan Bennett has done a great job "translating" the works of Hume, Kant, Locke, Berkley, etc. from old-English (or German, French...) into modern-English so that their philosophical arguments can be understood without being obfuscated by language quirks.
• zppx 16y ago
  My list: - Pirkei Avot, it's a section of the Mishnah (a part of the Talmud), it summarizes the jewish moral thought (well, not for the Karaites Jews, they did not believe in the Talmud), I was born in a Orthodox Jewish family so it was important on my beliefs, even though I am an Atheist now. - Organon, it's a compilation of Aristotle's logic works, they are the basis for the logical thought of the Western civilization, I think it's easier to read the originals than compendiums. - Philosophical Investigations, the second book of Wittgenstein, it's dense, and obscure to some extent, but it's really eye-opener, some ideas that influenced the last century are introduced there. - Proofs and Refutations, a posthumous work by Imre Lakatos, it defied much of my established view on how Mathematics works. - Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a powerful book, it's dense and you can only drag many conclusions from it when you read other works from Nietzsche, which lead to my next book. - On the Genealogy of Morality, this is for me the most important of the 5 books that I have read from Nietzsche, in the first essay of the book the concept of master morality and slave morality is introduced, some people think that Nietzsche favors the first, I disagree, for me he describes and criticizes both. - Truth and Method, the classic of Gadamer, some people call it a "postmodern" work, this only serves to show how "modern" some of the "postmodern" were, the book basically addresses how our current beliefs and customs, which he calls traditions, plays an important part in our hermeneutics and how we always are biased to interpret something. - Epistemic Justification, this book of William Alston is a good refinement if you already know some epistemology, although I disagree with the "justified true belief" definition of knowledge, that is the main theme of the book and its essays, it introduced some questions about the nature and limitations of knowledge. - Inquiry into the Human Mind, by Thomas Reid is a good read and also a staunch defense of the common sense.
• telemachos 16y ago
  Some from the canon: Plato: Defence of Socrates, Euthyphro, Crito (translated by David Gallop) The Modes of Scepticism by Julia Annas and Jonathan Barnes (a beautiful collection of texts from Pyrrhonian scepticism and analysis of their arguments; the best way I know to meet ancient scepticism) Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy (The Cambridge University Press edition is very good; it's probably worth buying their Selected Philosophical Writings for a good basic Descartes text) David Hume: An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding and An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals (I recommend the Oxford Philosophical Texts editions) Wittgenstein: Philosophical Investigations (terribly, terribly difficult, but very rewarding) A few contemporary things: Gilbert Ryle: The Concept of Mind Willard Van Orman Quine: From a Logical Point of View J. L. Mackie: Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong Thomas Nagel: Mortal Questions (short essays, well-written, very accessible) Bernard Williams: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy Michael Smith: The Moral Problem Specialist, technical, odd: The Frege Reader by Michael Beaney (for modern logic and the beginnings of contemporary philosophy in the analytic style) J. L. Mackie: The Cement of the Universe: A Study of Causation William Kingdon Clifford: The Ethics of Belief (he argues, oddly but powerfully, that it's immoral to believe things on insufficient evidence or irrationally - an offense to morality, not just reason)
  • rwl 16y ago
    This is a great list. +1 on the Philosophical Investigations. As an introductory book, I would recommend Russell's Problems of Philosophy.
• steveplace 16y ago
  Sophie's World is by far the best introduction to philosophy that you can read. It's presented in a narrative and the lessons are in conversation form. The plot is really good-- it goes very meta at the end.
• aspirant 16y ago
  Surprised no one has mentioned Paul Graham's How to do Philosophy. We are after all hanging out in his living room. http://www.paulgraham.com/philosophy.html http://www.paulgraham.com/philosophy.html
• edna_piranha 16y ago
  If you're interested in phenomenology and/or existentialism and works that are somewhat readable (this is subjective of course), I'd suggest: 1. Maurice Merleau-Ponty - The Phenomenology of Perception 2. Simone de Beauvoir - Ethics of Ambiguity 3. Friedrich Nietzsche - Will to Power I'd highly recommend NOT reading Being and Time by Heidegger - you'll want to stab your eyes out ten times. Outside of pure philosophical texts and more emphasis on fictional works related to philosophy, I'd suggest indirect material that encourage ideas of subjective perception and point-of-view. Examples are works by Franz Kafka, Ryu Murakami and William S. Burroughs.
• zb 16y ago
  I don't know if you would strictly call this a philosophy book, but one that is particularly relevant to engineers is Discussion of the Method by Billy Vaughn Koen.
• jashmenn 16y ago
  Irrational Man is a good introduction to existentialism and he has a very readable overview of philosophy from the Greeks until now. This is will largely be ignored on this tread, but The Bible is a source of philosophical thought for millions of people. You can get a clear picture of the central theme by reading the book of John.
• harscoat 16y ago
  It depends if you want to be knowledgeable "about" philosophy and knowledge or if you want to apply it to you life. * K.Popper (in both cases;): _Open society and its ennemies_ http://www.archive.org/stream/opensocietyandit033120mbp#page/n7/mode/2up http://www.archive.org/stream/opensocietyandit033120mbp#page... for "Ars Vitae" (applicable to one's life) * Plato: _Gorgias_ * Marc Aurélius: _Meditations_ * Friedrich Nietzsche: _Beyond good & evil_ I agree with others on Hume, Russell, Husserl. Another great thinker while he does not pretend to be a philosopher is Dan Sperber, I think of 2 books * Dan Sperber (with Deirdre Wilson) _Relevance. Communication and Cognition_ (Blackwell, 1986) * Sperber, Dan (1996) Explaining culture: _A naturalistic approach._ (Oxford: Blackwell) Finally philosophical literature: * Doistoievski: _The Brothers Karamazov_ (question of God is asked)
• joshuacc 16y ago
  Since it looks like skeptical philosophy is covered pretty well, here are some books from religious philosophy that you'd probably do well to read: The Tao te Ching The Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent by John Henry Newman Either/Or by Kierkegaard
• ghb 16y ago
  The Coming Community, Giorgio Agamben: A series of reflections on medieval philosophy and language that culminates in a notion of community that isn't grounded in any kind of commonality. It's a brilliant work that still serves as the terra firma for understanding the rest of Agamben's more popular works such as Homo Sacer and Means without Ends. This is one of the most influential and brilliantly conceived books I've ever read.
• gmaster1440 16y ago
  The Stranger - Albert Camus
• alsomike 16y ago
  Simulacra and Simulation - Jean Baudrillard Dialectic of Enlightenment - Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno The Sublime Object of Ideology - Slavoj Zizek Sources of the Self - Charles Taylor
• kpich 16y ago
  I highly recommend "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" by Quine. It's just a short little essay, but it's quite accessible (as far as these things go) and was highly influential (and is really fun to read too).
• lg 16y ago
  Quantum Mechanics and Experience, by David Z. Albert, is the most interesting book I read as a philosophy major.
• deleted 16y ago
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• MWinther 16y ago
  I took a course in philosophy during my Cognitive Science studies, and our course book (http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Mind-Anthology-John-Heil/dp/0199253838/ http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Mind-Anthology-John-Heil/dp...) was really useful, since they had an original text and a couple of criticisms of that text, sometimes followed by a retort on that criticism. That was really good to get a grasp of the subject, even though I agree with others here that having an excellent teacher did a lot more to get the subject than any book would have.
• damoncali 16y ago
  Anything by Hunter S Thompson.