Good Philosophy Books?
 

Any that stick out? I got a 50 dollar gift card to barnes and noble from my uncle, and i want to do some thinking. I think i'm getting Plato's "Republic", but that should leave about 35 bucks left over... any ideas?

The Upanishads (sometimes spelled the Upanisads), very good Hindu philosophy.

depends on what you like. what kinds of questions do you want answered? or do you just want a brief overview of a lot of philosophy? If the latter, check of bertrand russell's "history of western philosophy" (i think that's the title)..it gives a great overview of all the famous philosophers!!

btw, i would not buy the republic at barnes and noble--any used book store will have a few copies for much cheaper.

"Sun Tzu's The Art of War."
You'll probably have money left over for a book or two.
Henry petroski spins a good yarn on engineering philosophy too.
Check out "The Pencil" or "The evolution of useful things". They're interesting if you're interested in design.
I would also recommend "How To Solve It" by george polya for the problem solving math junkie in you.
All could probably be acquired for less than fifty dollars.

Buying books is exciting!

The Tao Te Ching (Dao de Jing) by Lao Tse (Tze), although the translations can be very different. I like this translation.

Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda. It isn't his first book, but it is the first I reccomend reading. If you like it, go back to The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Life and then on the others.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. While intended as an allegory on Christianity, I would suggest it to non-christians as well, as it makes many points about human nature which transcend the Christian doctrine. Not only that, but I think C.S. Lewis really saw through a lot of the fluff and stuff of modern Christianity. So, before you rip on the religion, maybe read this book. Then, make fun of the Church all you want, but see how it is not truly representative of the religion.

Any of the works of:
Friedrich Nietzsche
Wittgenstein
W.V. Quine
St. Thomas Aquinas

There's a start, I will let you know if I think of more.

All of the above, plus:
Sciene of Being and Art of Living- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Conversations with God series- Neale Donald Walsch
The Architecture of All Abundance- Lenedra J. Carroll
Celestine Prophecy- James Redford/Carol Adrienne
and any Taoism books.
There are so many great books out there. Check out your local library.

Sophie's World. Nice introduction to basicaly all of western philosophy in an entertaining (and mind bending) work of fiction.

Not so much philosophy but more world perspective - Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.

Sophie's World is good, but be aware, it's not always entirely accurate.

Critique of Practical Reason by Emmanuel Kant is arguably the definitive philisophical work of the last few centuries. It's a heavyweight.

Dostoyevsky:

I think you mean "Critique of PURE reason" - That was Kan't first "Critique" and the one most widely read.

The "Critique of PRACTICAL reason" is his second "critique" on ethics, and then he wrote a third one on beauty/taste "Critique of Judgment."

Anyways, I would recommend NOT buying Kant for an intro to Philosophy. The guy's wicked brilliant, but unless you're especially gifted you won't understand a word he's saying if you don't read him with some sort of guide. Also, in my opinion, unless you're in academia, Kant's not very worth reading.

Kant can help one understand every other philosophical development of the past 200+ years or so, so if one wants a better understanding of, say, existentialism, he's not totally useless, but in general I'd probably agree with you, iman. Incidentally, Henry Allison's book (runs to bookshelf to check title) Kant's Transcendental Idealism is a good guide, if you do want to check Kant out.

For my part, I'd recommend reading some Nietzsche. The Gay Science (now sometimes translated as Joyful Wisdom) is, in my opinion, his central work. Kierkegaard is also very good; with him I'd check out Either/Or, or, if you're a Christian, Works of Love. A bit heavier are Being and Time by Heidegger and Of Grammatology by Derrida, both central to 20th century continental philosophy.

all the previous posts are good suggestions and probably better than my following suggestion based on what you're probably looking for. BUT, I'd suggest "Anger" by Thich Nhat Hanh. Not your typical western philosophy as it is written by a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, but a good read nonetheless.

<a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=2TAVVHCX26&isbn=1573229377&itm=1">Anger</a>

<i>Classics of Western Philosophy</i> (edited by Cahn) is a great sampler. If I had $35 to spend on one philosophy book that would be the one. Check <a href=http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/philclassics.html>here</a> to see what good chunks of philosophical works (if not the complete work) are included.

Han Fei Tzu, a Chinese Legalist, is an enjoyable read. A discerning reader will pick up some really interesting truth about human nature. Also, its a nice change from Confucianism, which is pretty much what everyone has read of ancient Chinese philosophy.

atlus sgrugged is fairly good its not 'textbook' but its got some neat views and stuff i think its about 10 bucks

"The Republic," "The Trial and Death of Socrates," or anything else on Socrates, especially those written by plato, is good as far as ancient greek philosophy is concerned.
Then there's also Aristotle's "The Nicomachean Ethics." That's a good one for ancient greek philosophy as well.
A short piece that you can find in a library and copy (It's not very long) is Epictetus's "The Enchiridon." That's a wonderful philosophy that although may be a bit extreme, has some wonderful ideas. If you read that one, then I'd also get James Bond Stockdale's Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior.
If you want to go on the more religious side of things, Dostoevsky's "The Grand Inquisitor" is a good piece of russian literature that proposes arguably the best case for Athiesm there is out there, but in many people's view, still isn't a great enough case.
Then there's more modern American Literature, at least in comparison to Ancient Greek Philosophy, that are great philosophical pieces. One such classic is Melville's "Moby Dick or The Whale." It's a great philosophical text if you read it with a book talk group and discuss it in sections of chapters, but not a piece that you would want to read alone.

Edit in: I came across more philospical books in my collection that I thought I should add in.
"Sophocles I" is a good one on grek tragedies.
"The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave" is a good book with a philosophical aspect to it.
Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" has a philosophical aspect to it. That vision of the future is often compared to the vision illistrated in "1984."

History of Western Philosophy is great. The thing about Kant is I remember correctly, was he would invent words if he couldn't decide which words to use in a particular sentence.

Modern Philosophy
 

On the more modern scene, Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead might be of interest. Both are written by Ayn Rand and both lay out her unique capitalist philosophy of Objectivism in novel form.

Re: Modern Philosophy
 

Atlass Shurgged is a huge book, but it's an important work. The library of congress said that it is the second most importan book ever written (second only to the Bible).

Required reading for every civil libertarian.

Try Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

If you want to read Plato or Socrates, make sure not to skip out on Aristotle. If you do, you'll only be getting half the picture of Greek philosophy as it developed.

Cicero's On the Good Life and Lucretius' On the Nature of Universe. To works by coming out of the late roman republic/realy empire. Both deal with how/what is a good life and how to live it. There is also Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig. Good stuff as well

The Tao of Pooh. Takes a look at Taoism through the actions of Winnie the Pooh. Charming, and yet surprisingly intelligent and effective in teaching about the Tao. Good stuff, and not very long.

On top of those suggested so far, I would add that "A Brief History of Everything" by Ken Wilber is an interesting read, and I second the suggestion on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence. I think it sort of depends on whether you want books that serve as an intro to Philosophy as a formal subject, or if you want some books that deal with philosophy and make you think. I'd second the recommendation on Russel for formal-ish introduction.

ps. Concerning the stuff on Rand / Objectivism - funny : the first time I read Atlas Shrugged I thought it was awesome, but maybe long-winded a bit. The second time I thought it was more of a love story for nerds. ;) Either way, I think there are parts where you have to really plow through it...

Re: Re: Modern Philosophy
 

I don't mean this in a confrontational way at all, but where did you find this?

Atlass Shrugged is definitly on my list, even though I don't agree with Rand, I feel it is important for any serious political philosopher to understand the views expresed in that book.

Also, read Neitzche after you read other philosophy books, but if possible read him with a group of people or a commentary, beacuse its very hard to read him by yourself and get everything out of it. I read it with a group of 12 college students (all incredibly intelligent, it wasn't for a class) and 2 professors, and even then I don't think I fully understand it. But Neitzche is an essential counter-point to most philosophy. You need to understand his arguments if you are going to get anywhere.

I have to disagree with you about Rand, iccky. There is not a single political philosopher I know who takes Rand seriously. If you want a crucial work of political philosophy, the book to read is "A Theory of Justice" by John Rawls.

Descartes' works are really good.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

I just got this. I have read a few of his books. It is pretty good stuff, alot broader of a view. Hard to describe but I would at least suggest checking out a book. Intergral Psychology was my favorite.

If you are interested in the history of philosophy, all of the previous suggestions will fill you in. if you are actually interested in philosophy, you don't need a book. Just reason it out by yourself. It sounds odd, but if you can't figure things out within your own mind, you won't really understand anything in a book.

Books and other learning devices give you the tools to figure things out.

And while you're at it why not knit your own clothes, grow your own vegetables and build your own house? Sure, deriving several thousand years worth of thought in your spare time is a nice idea, but not everyone has time to do everything. That's one of the reasons we have society.

Thought is one of the few renewable resources we have. That means you can create as much of your own as you like and it won't wear out, but it also means you can reuse everybody else's.

Reading philosophy in books doesn't mean you have to rote learn without understanding, it just means you can get a prod in the right direction and benefit from inspiration you never had.

So go and read The Philosophy Gym by Philip Pullman. It's a good, reader-friendly, well-digested introduction to loads of philosophy (albeit largely western rational).

Re: Re: Modern Philosophy
 

LOL, did they really say that?

I find that extremely amusing, seeing as how her work is pretty much roundly ridiculed in academia.

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.....

If you can wade through it, Hannah Arendt's The Life of the Mind.

And, Harry Stein's Ethics and Other Liabilities (dated but you can find it used, cheap, on amazon.com)