Philosophy books?

Semiazas

Semiazas

I'm beginning to get interested in subjects like philosophy. The concepts interest me' and broadening my mind could strengthen my art.
So the question is, where do I start? What philosophy is worth a read for someone just getting into the subject.

These are all public domain due to age right? So I'm guessing if they are public domain I can find them online for free?

Cheers
 
I studied a lot of philosophy.

I would recommend you start with Socrates' Meno and Crito first.

If it interests you, you yourself will go through all of his dialogues fairly quickly.

Once you're done, post here again and we can slowly move onto "more complex" materials.
 
nietzche is my favorite..... crackpot, is really the appropriate word.

Voltaires candide was good.

Bhagavad gita and the tibetan book of the dead are all amazing actually.

I would start with homers illiad and odyssey before moving up to socrates and plato, even though thats not technically philosophy.
 
I actually have Iliad and The Odyssey so I can start on them soon.

What philosophy books are there that are like Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra", where the philosophy and ideas are expressed within a narrative?
That's a preference for philosophy if you know of any :)
 
Xairete! (Ancient Greek for "Greetings!)

If you're into Nietzsche, you'll probably like the existentialists/absurdists, who were heavily influenced by Nietzsche:

I'd recommend Dostoevsky (particularly Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov), Albert Camus (especially The Plague). In a similar vein (the meaninglessness and absurdity of life, etc.), of course read Samuel Beckett's play, Waiting for Godot.

An interesting philosophical novel written during the early '70's by Robert Pirsig, called Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, examines eastern philosophical thought (esp. Zen Buddhism) compared to western thought (esp. classical rationalism exemplified by Plato) in a fairly entertaining narrative. Plato comes out the loser for Pirsig, but I'd argue Pirsig's characterization of Platonic philosophy is narrow and somewhat shallow. Still, it's a good introduction to philosophy in general.

As for Plato, certainly don't miss reading his masterpiece, The Republic. Socrates and two brothers, Glaucon and Adeimantus (my avatar namesake lol), build the "perfect city" from scratch in a marathon, all night dialogue. The city that results is not one that most people would choose to live in, a fairly repressive regime, for which Plato has been much criticized by liberals. But those critics fail to recognize that the whole project is tongue-in-cheek; that is, Plato builds a political system built strictly on reason in order to demonstrate the LIMITS of reason.
 
Let me again stress the importance of reading the Socratic Dialogues.

They will teach you how to think for yourself about all the other philosophy you will read. That is extremely important in my view. Without having the tools to break apart and question and resolve those questions within the works of other philosophers, one might accept certain ideas of theirs naively.

Let me put it another way. Socrates taught you HOW to think while others taught you WHAT to think (this is obviously not a 100% true but it is a large difference in the basic beginnings of philosophy.) You should know the how before you accept any of the what's.

In fact, you yourself will realize the two extreme differences between the how's and what's when you read Socrates and Plato. The difference in the dialogues is vast.
 
How about a book about a handful of philosophers?

I recently (and finally) finished The Consolations of Philisophy by Alain de Botton. It does have a fairly pleasant and palatable narrative that, praise the Lord, never gets too thick or dense with philosobabble. Seemed to me to be a valuable introduction to the philosophers he considers, including the much and generally fawned upon Socrates (not that de Botton fawns). I liked it. I'll probably read it again sometime, circumstances willing. Of the handful of philosphers described in this book, I think that I learned that Michel de Montaigne was the most likable and interesting to me. I'd like to learn more about him.

But it's not public domain, so probably not online.

Disclaimer: this is coming from someone who's not all that interested in philosophy.
 
I can only reemphasize the importance of the Socratic Dialogs. All philosophy (at least, all philosophy that doesn't fall apart into a meaningless pile of disconnected ideas) rests on this foundation. And if you start getting into the more Eastern schools of philosophy that steer away from logic and the quantification of ideas, you'll still need to have understood the Socratic thought process in order to see when something defies it.

Really, honestly, you can read Crime and Punishment or the Brothers Kamarov, and enjoy it for the pure storytelling aspect, but it will take on new meaning when you understand the foundations of philosophy as they were first expressed in the Greek philosophers.
 
A good way to ease into it might be to read Sophie's World. It uses a fictional narrative to cover the basic concepts of the main philosophy concepts through history. Do yourself a favor, though, and don't research it too much. Just get it and read it. There are some interesting twists in the book that would be ruined by would-be spoilers on the net.
 
In terms of narrative works on philosophy, don't skip over Sartre. "Nausea" is a fantastic overview of Existentialism, and one of my favorite books. And another vote for starting with Plato and Socrates, and making sure that you hit the Tibetan Book of the Dead at some point.

And, in my opinion, most importantly EVERYTHING is worth reading at least once (which can be extended to film and/or music as well).
 
Semiazas said:
I actually have Iliad and The Odyssey so I can start on them soon.

What philosophy books are there that are like Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra", where the philosophy and ideas are expressed within a narrative?
That's a preference for philosophy if you know of any :)
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h p lovecraft? Dante's inferno? Aldous huxley's brave new world (actually read it), I guess george orwell's 1984. I haven't consistently read any books since I was a teenager, in 20 years i'll be like an illiterate newborn!

In highschool reading nietzche I would like, hunch my shoulders up to my ears, coil down the chair sleuthishly and zair vee vood go vrom thair viv zuh nietzche books.

I read crime and punishment 3 quarters of the way through, it was relentless that book.

Sophie's world was good and androgynous, despite the girly book cover.
 
Semiazas said:
What philosophy books are there that are like Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra", where the philosophy and ideas are expressed within a narrative?
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Just about anything by Ayn Rand features her views on objectivism. The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are the most well known.

The Fountainhead is an easier read, but Atlas Shrugged is ultimately more rewarding, although it sometimes seems a bit silly by how dated it is.
 
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Some dont consider it philosophy, but I would recommend "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu and "The Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke"
 
Not making light or fun of your sincere request or of this thread. It's just that this Monty Python skit is funny and it's cute and it reminded me of this thread. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5fGSBsfq8
 
richy said:
Not making light or fun of your sincere request or of this thread. It's just that this Monty Python skit is funny and it's cute and it reminded me of this thread. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5fGSBsfq8
Click to expand...

BAHAHAHA!! My idols!!!
 
I'm actually currently re-reading a philosophy book from my old Intro to Philosophy class. It was really helpful in understanding many of the key philosopher's views, their pro's and con's. It it called "Does the Center Hold?". It features almost all western philosopher's so you will not see any eastern, but a great start nontheless.
 
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