Philosophy Books?

Question

Any suggestions for an apprentice of philosophy. I just finished reading Sophie's World by Gaarder, anyone have anything that may be good following that up?? I've been thinking of Nietchze, but i think it may be too complicated yet. Any Suggestions anyone!?

Answer 1

No, go with Nietzsche; he's simple, easy to read, sometimes fun and always intriguing.

The only problem with Nietzsche is once you've read him, you'll feel as though you no longer need to read any other philosophers' works or at least previous philosophers' works because he gives you all the answers.

So if you intend on getting a history of philosophy, read the classics everybody else mentioned and eventually read Nietzsche; but if you want to find answers, read him first.

It's almost like cheating on a high school test: do want all the answers or do you want to take the boring process of memorizing things you probably won't need later in life?

Answer 2

I agree with the first guy (tchem75) start by reading The pre-Socratic Philosophers: the early Greeks, the Cynics, the Stoics,
the Epicureans. Start by reading Wole Soyinka, Confucius, Democritus, Leucippus, Pythagoras, & Nicholas Copernicus.
The Idealists: Plato, Hypatia, George Berkeley, Georg Wilhelmm Friedrich Hegel.
The Materialists: Aristotle, Karl Markx
The Scholastics: St. Augustine, St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas
The Rationalists: Parmenides, Rene` Descartes, baruch Spinoza
Gottfried Leibniz
The Empiricists: John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Karl
Popper
The Pragmatists: Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, John Dewey
The Phenomenologists: Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Pointy
The Existentialists: Jean-Paul Sartre, Soren Kierkegaard
Feminist Philosophers: Mary Wollstonecraft, Simone De Beauvoir, Luce Irigaray
The Postmodernists: Heraclitus, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ludwig Wittengenstein, Thomas Kuhn, Michael Foucault and Jacques Derrida.

Answer 3

I believe you could spend all of your philosophical study time on just two philosophers and never get bored. They are Plato and Renée Descartes. If you really want to spice things up a bit, though, I love Heraclitus, too. Tiny amount of surviving material, but very entertaining. The Stoicists are also a very good bet, e.g. Thoughts for Myself by Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

But if you want a good basic work that's more contemporary and a bit more nitty-gritty and technical, I would highly recommend The Open Society and Its Enemies by Professor Sir Karl Popper. We studied it at the Sorbonne. It uses simple language; Popper was writing in non-native English while an exile in New Zealand during the Nazi occupation of his native Austria). Notwithstanding, it is very thought provoking.

Above all, have fun!

P.S. Nietzsche's an overrated freak, but by all means, read him. He's got some very good, and some very interesting ideas (though they don't usually coincide). One should always have a well-rounded experience of the philosophical landscape. Just take him with a large bucket of salt.

Answer 4

Start with the classics. Philosophy is one of those subjects that builds upon what past philosophers have done. Start out with a book on the Pre-Socratics, then to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. once you have read them you will have a pretty good foundation to read anything else.

If you have more philosophy questions or want a more extensive book list feel free to contact me.

Answer 5

I wouldn't say Nietchze was complicated, it's more that he was...German. Bertrand Russell is probably one of the best ones to try, I'd also recommend Robert Pirsig.

Answer 6

that's one of my favorite books! Gaarder's other books are cool too, try the solitaire mystery. =D

Answer 7

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: "Reveries of a Solitary Walker" and "Confessions".