what philosophy books do you recommend me?

Question

i'm begining law school this fall and i feel i need to read some philosophy books. what do you recommend me, taking into consideration that i like writers like dostoievski and kafka?

Answer 1

5 phil books for your taste & 5 for law grounding ok?
TASTE
1. Albert Camus-The Myth Of Sisyphus
2. Friedrich Nietzsche-Thus Spoke Zarathustra
3. Jean Paul Sartre-Being & Nothingness
4. Anthony de Mello-Awareness
5. Martin heidegger-Being & Time (not the actual thing, ya wont understand without philosophical training but a guide to it)
.
LAW
1 Plato-The Republic
2. John Rawls-A Theory Of Justice.
3. Hobbes-Leviathan
4. Machiavelli-The Prince
5. Karl Popper-The Open Society & Its Enemies (both vol.s)

Answer 2

A lot depends on what you want to read philosophy for, and what your educational level is. For a simple, comprehensive overview, try The Complete Idiot's Guide to Philosophy by Jay Stevenson. For a short but intense and opinionated introduction that gives its author's perspective only, read Roger Scruton's An Intelligent Person's Guide to Philosophy. A recent introductory book that looks interesting is Martin Cohen's Philosophical Tales: Being an Alternative History Revealing the Characters, the Plots, and the Hidden Scenes that Make Up the True Story of Philosophy. Jostein Gaarder's book Sophie's World is a famous novel that integrates the history of western philosophy into an entertaining, easy-to-read story. For a more "respectable" academic history, try Anthony Kenny's Illustrated Brief History of Western Philosophy. Fairly easy to read. (The same author also wrote a 4-volume history of philosophy, in case you want more detail.) A really, really fine introduction to a number of the great philosophers is The Great Philosophers by Bryan Magee. It's based on a British TV series of which Magee was the host, and consists of conversations he had with important modern scholars about the classic philosophers. Very easy to understand, but also gets into the meat of the issues. Read this one! Yet another perspective that focuses on the intellectual history (but also its significance for today) is Richard Tarnas' The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View. Deep but accessible. If you want to go straight for the classic texts, I suggest starting with some of the easier ones. Aristotle, Kant, Hegel and Heidegger will be unreadable for beginners, so try these instead: Plato - try some of the shorter dialogues such as the Apology (not really a dialogue, though) and the Meno. The Republic is longer but still accessible. I recommend a modern translation with introduction and explanatory notes. Penguin and Oxford both have paperback versions that give all this. Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy. Get the most recent translation you can find. This book was written while its author was in prison and is his attempt to find meaning when his life seems to be a failure. It was written at the end of the Roman empire and became an extremely popular book in the middle ages. Descartes - Meditations on First Philosophy. Short and sweet but had a revolutionary impact on the western world. Some of his arguments can be a little hard to follow, so an edition with explanatory notes will be useful.

Answer 3

HA HA. I think it's great when somebody asks for suggestions to get 'into' philosophy and people respond with being and time, being and nothingness, why not like include Hegel's entire system and kant's three critiques, too?

yeah guys, a beginner is really gonna get a LOT out of that.

What I'd suggest to the law-school girl is to read some biographies of philsophers that she's heard of or admired. These books will focus more on the personal life but they will almost always give clear summaries of the major works, so you can learn some basic philosophy in an easy way while enjoying the book you're reading. There is no point in overwhelming yourself with impossible texts right off the bat -- unless, of course, the main thing is trying to impress people. But I think only boys would be foolish enough to read philosophy to impress people.

Answer 4

If you're looking for law and government related texts, then you've already had some good suggestions. If you're not experienced with philosophy (and assuming you have the time), I would recommend that you read the entire History of Philosophy series by Frederick Copleston (9 or 10 volumes I think). It is an extremely accessible text, thoroughly explaining the development of philosophy from the presocratics up to characters like Betrand Russell.

Be careful with the short readers on particular philosophers and ideas; they sometimes gloss over and leave out important concepts and fail to provide a context for their subjects.

Answer 5

The Passion of the Western Mind, Richard Tarnas, which is a really good introduction to Philosophy. If you're going to law school there are plenty of books on Jusrisprudence around by authors such as Dawkin, Nozick, Rawls, Dewey, Oliver Wendel Holmes and Llewellyn. Posner on the economic theory of law is also interesting. You can also read Aristotle, Cicero, Justinian, Aquinas, Locke, Rousseau, Fuller and Mead on Natural law and Kelsen, Austin and Bentham on Povitism. A good book which reviews the whole field of Jurisprudence is "Introduction to Jurisprudence' by Lord Lloyd of Hampstead and M.D.A.Freeman.

Best of luck.

Answer 6

There is a very very good book that I recomend though i do believe that it may be out of print. You might have to go to Amazon.com or Half.com or Ebay or something to get it. It's called Ideas of the Great Philosophers written by William S. Sahakian and Mabel Lewis Sahakian. Most of the works by Plato are very good. but the Idea's gives you an overview of what many of the Great Thinkers thought why they thought it and how to apply it.

Answer 7

How about Philosophy for Beginners, by Richard Osborne 180 pages of very easy going and light hearted pen pictures of the greats.

From that you can select those you are interested in and not waste your time

ISBN 0-86316-157-X

Answer 8

zephyrcrescent's list is apt.

He pointed to some great works in the existential canon, under which your prefered authors fall-- one being "Being and Time" and he offered the caveat not to read it directly. It's a paradigm work. If you want a good secondary interpretation to it, I suggest "Being-in-the-World" by Hubert Dreyfus.

All the other texts are approachable enough for a literate person.

enjoy yourself~

Answer 9

1. You should most definitely read Plato's the Republic. It contains a lot of political and legal ideas - so very appropriate for your course work.

2. Philisophicus Tractatus by Ludwig Wittgenstein only because if I had to read it then everyone should have to read it.........

Answer 10

Read book with a title Einstein's Dream, talk about time and humanity.