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i just looked at the date of the initial post, and woudl imagine that the gift certificate is long since spent. but just in case---for athenian philo, i would advocate heraclitus--and if you are going to read plato, you should read across the various phases of his work--don't limit yourself to the republic or the laws. it would make some sense to read around on athenian democracy too, so that you can work out a more complicated view of what plato's notions of hierarchy mean, what they react to---aristotle's politics as well, for the logical extension of plato, and an origin point for conservative social philo.
but there are so many possibilities beyond that....
wittgenstein's philosophical investigations is a personal favorite. it is quite technical, so it might help to read some secondary stuff as well, like malcolm's book "nothing is hidden" which charts the shift from the tractatus to the investigations.
on ayn rand---well here is a problem--i would think that the same impulse that would find its confirmation in rand would probably also lead you to nietzsche, who is a far more substantial thinker (admittedly, to my mind, rand sets the bar quite low in this regard--sorry)--stuff like the birth of tragedy or teh gay science or twilight of the idols are all really smart---am myself less a fan of zarathustra.....
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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