Is this a good book to start philosophy with?

Question

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0415146941/ref=ord_cart_shr/002-3052126-4678413?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
Philosophy the basics by Nigel Warburton

Answer 1

A book I always recommend as a very basic starter is Donald Palmer's _Looking at Philosophy: The Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter_. It's informative for someone who wants a basic starting point, and it's very entertaining, too.

_Sophie's World_, IMHO, is okay, but its fictional plot is really thin. It's basically a philosophy starter course disguised as fiction. I honestly don't particularly like it, though the info is all right. It leaves out a few crucial philosophers.

Answer 2

I would start any investigation into philosophy with Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. It is accessible and can change your life.

The Enchiridion by Epictetus is also a good primer.

Another good read would be "Philosophy as a Way of Life" by Pierre Hadot.

Here are the first two for free ;-) Happy reading.

Answer 3

Bertrand Russell's the subject concerns of Philosophy is a huge, short introductory text cloth to the main important subject concerns in cutting-part analytical philosophy. I used it a trustworthy volume in my first year of school, and it served me nicely.

Answer 4

Plato's _Republic_ is a good start for a primary text. The secondary text that I like is Anthony Kenny's _A Brief History of Western Philosophy_.

Answer 5

depends on what u are looking for. what do you mean by philosophy? ethics (right/wrong), metaphysics (what is out there), epistemology (what is truth), existentialism (who are we), political philosophy, logic... ... philosophy is like saying automobile, as if you are asking, what car is a good one to start driving with? you see how every answer depends on your own search, talents, direction and needs.

In other words, you must already have a sense of philosophy to want to start reading the books.

The are plenty of History of Philosophy books out there. start with the historical context, if you want to start backwards and work your way to now. But that's like starting your quest for advanced astrophysics by reading Copernicus (necessary but not at first).

I started with Walter Kaufman's Existentialism when I was 15. I've since worked on my readings focusing on contemporary post-nietzchean existential phenomenologies (namely Heidegger, Sartre...). Also great places to start.

but i highly recommend starting with contemporary philosophy, then as you grow lost and confused from missing the nuances and references of older works, you can go read those as footnotes to the real work being done today to lay to rest the bad work of old. Derrida, Foucault, Irigaray, Deleuze. Gosh, even these guys are old now.

It also depends if you want to be a student of history of phil. or if you want to be a phil. or if you are looking for answer to questions you can't find at church or the bottle or vagina (your own or someone elses).

Any way you start, be prepared to alter... yourself, your world, your perception, your values. If you can't, don't start.

best of luck!

Answer 6

There's also a couple Philosophy for Dummies books
No offence
I don't know how advanced you are, or where you want to start
But sophie's world by Jostein Gaarder is a good one

Answer 7

A good one is Sophie's World.
It briefly touches on all of the philosophers and mixes in it's own story in the process.

Answer 8

You might not like it, but I recommend a book called Sophie's World, by Richard Gehr.

http://www.levity.com/rubric/sophie.html

Answer 9

There is a book called Learn to Think or Learning to Think. It is a great place to start.