I went into my Philosophy major wanting to study mostly logic and math. But I actually fell in love with ethics, a topic I had never been interested in before.

I went into my Philosophy major wanting to study mostly logic and math. But I actually fell in love with ethics, a topic I had never been interested in before. I think most of these social issues find their roots in ethics, so if you're interested in that this would be my suggestion: start off with Plato's Republic[1], move on to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics[2] and then Christian philosophers (Aquinas[3], for example) and then (my favorite) John Stewart Mill. I often suggest his On Liberty[4] on HN. It's one of the absolute best primers to modern social ethics around. I don't think Kant is particularly useful (or interesting), but many would disagree, so your mileage may vary. As far as the "modern" era, I suggest reading G.E. Moore[4], Elizabeth Anscombe[5], Phillipa Foot[6], etc.) Anscombe's Modern Moral Philosophy[7] is one of my favorite essays ever. Apart from that, it's important to read Supreme Court cases and decisions (especially important ones: Bakke v. UC Regents, Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, etc, etc.) But most importantly (and what we were vehemently taught), is to always practice the Principle of Charity[8]. Some of these books and essays are very hard to parse, but there is a lot of material online that will help figure out their meaning. [1] http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html [2] http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html [3] http://www.iep.utm.edu/aq-moral/ http://www.iep.utm.edu/aq-moral/ [4] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34901/34901-h/34901-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34901/34901-h/34901-h.htm [5] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moore/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moore/ [6] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anscombe/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anscombe/ [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa_Foot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa_Foot [8] http://www.philosophy.uncc.edu/mleldrid/cmt/mmp.html http://www.philosophy.uncc.edu/mleldrid/cmt/mmp.html [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_charity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_charity