What are you favourite philosophy books ?
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Not necessarily a philosophy book, but I was introduced to it through a Philosophy class
Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge0 -
The Republic of Plato is one of my favorite books of any genre.0
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Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace. A very short book of religious philosophy that takes a very long time to read, and rewards multiple readings. Can't recommend it highly enough, especially if you're religious but even if you're not; Camus called her the greatest mind of his generation, and you really have to pay attention to follow her train of thought.
While we're on the subject of Camus, anything by him. And anything by William James or John Dewey; the American pragmatists were bracingly direct and plainspoken by the standards of philosophy, but they had much to say.
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth.
Martin Buber, I and Thou.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man is Not Alone.
A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic.
Charles Hartshorne, Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes.
Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem.
Hans-Georg Gadamer's Truth and Method is hard to read, but worth the effort. If you only read one dead bold-letter German, Gadamer is my pick.
Alfred North Whitehead's Process and Reality and Julian Jaynes' The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind are both brilliant works of philosophy (and yes, the latter is philosophy—at least from where I sit), but almost nobody understands or agrees with them. They're useful mostly because they give your mind a pleasant melty feeling.
I think much of C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity is more philosophy than apologetics and while I seem to agree with a little less of it each year, it's delightfully well-written and played an important role in my life when I was younger.
James Baldwin's essays are not usually considered philosophy, but I classify them as such. I recommend starting with The Devil Finds Work.
When it comes to the Greeks, I prefer the Stoics to Plato and Aristotle. Epictetus' Enchiridion is one of my favorite works of any era. (You can find it online by Googling it.)
Also: It's not a book, but the single most influential essay on moral philosophy of the 20th century, Elizabeth Anscombe's "Modern Moral Philosophy" (1958), can be found online and is well worth reading.0 -
Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guude series.
Symposium - Plato
Bible
The Dhammapada
Lots of life lesson types books like Multipliers, any Leo Buscalia, etc.
i used to read A LOT!0 -
Definitely Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog by Dr. Seuss............0
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Just finished with Herman Hesse - Siddhartha0
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Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace. A very short book of religious philosophy that takes a very long time to read, and rewards multiple readings. Can't recommend it highly enough, especially if you're religious but even if you're not; Camus called her the greatest mind of his generation, and you really have to pay attention to follow her train of thought.
While we're on the subject of Camus, anything by him. And anything by William James or John Dewey; the American pragmatists were bracingly direct and plainspoken by the standards of philosophy, but they had much to say.
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth.
Martin Buber, I and Thou.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man is Not Alone.
A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic.
Charles Hartshorne, Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes.
Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem.
Hans-Georg Gadamer's Truth and Method is hard to read, but worth the effort. If you only read one dead bold-letter German, Gadamer is my pick.
Alfred North Whitehead's Process and Reality and Julian Jaynes' The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind are both brilliant works of philosophy (and yes, the latter is philosophy—at least from where I sit), but almost nobody understands or agrees with them. They're useful mostly because they give your mind a pleasant melty feeling.
I think much of C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity is more philosophy than apologetics and while I seem to agree with a little less of it each year, it's delightfully well-written and played an important role in my life when I was younger.
James Baldwin's essays are not usually considered philosophy, but I classify them as such. I recommend starting with The Devil Finds Work.
When it comes to the Greeks, I prefer the Stoics to Plato and Aristotle. Epictetus' Enchiridion is one of my favorite works of any era. (You can find it online by Googling it.)
Also: It's not a book, but the single most influential essay on moral philosophy of the 20th century, Elizabeth Anscombe's "Modern Moral Philosophy" (1958), can be found online and is well worth reading.
Yeah not quite religious even though I was born a catholic, I keep an open mind and fuse different schools of philosophy together to induce my own philosophy.
Stoicism has had a profound effect on me.0 -
I don't have any, if i read it is for college purposes only. I stuck with the Bible, the Word of Truth Booooooooooom
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The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
The Power of Myth and The Hero With a Thousand Faces - Joseph CampbellThe Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
The Power of Myth and The Hero With a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
What are the central ideas that this philosophy is based on mate ?
All are sort of the anti-philosophy philosophy. Camus was very much a founder of the philosophy of the absurd. He believed that man's search for some higher meaning was pretty much futile in the world as it is (which has a lot to do with his childhood in French occupied Algeria). He was an advocate of revolt against the routine and expected. Camus is one the more poignant writers of the last century, for my money.
Joseph Campbell was a professor of comparative religion, who took the position that man needed myths, not only as a religious tool, but as a tool of art, music, science....etc. We either need to have the existence of God, or deny the existence of any God, to have self worth. The books I mention are more of a study of comparative religion that subtly put forth the philosophical idea in the telling. He was a very gifted writer. All of his books read like a story, completely absorbing to the reader.
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^and J. Campbell's work has lots of cool pictures, at least the series I would skip lunch in HS to read did.
One of the most impactful things I've ever read is a chapter: "The Grand Inquisitor" F. Dostoyevsky. I own a pocket version.
Fond of the Classics, Romantics (Emerson).
The Truth about the Truth- Postmodern World, Anderson (collection of authors)
And always happy to hear people's personal philosophies- that's always fun.0 -
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance0
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Boethius - the consolation of philosophy
Niccolo Machiavelli - the prince
And of course, Sir Thomas More - Utopia0 -
I'm a Stoic and I believe in Hormesis0
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The prince.
The bible.0 -
I've read the Prince as well, currently studying it. The 48 laws of power was based off on that..0
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Mans search for meaning is good too.0
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MyChocolateDiet wrote: »Mans search for meaning is good too.
Holy *kitten* I've read that as well. Also, check out Thus spoke Zarathustra and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
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OkMyChocolateDiet wrote: »Mans search for meaning is good too.
Holy *kitten* I've read that as well. Also, check out Thus spoke Zarathustra and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
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The Art of War - Sun Tzu
The 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey0
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