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Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

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Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#61

Post by mahmud »

wheels wrote: post #51
mahmud wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read it cover to cover and loved it. But Russel, although a humanist, is firmly an occidental man. He rushes through Oriental philosophy like it's a bad neighborhood (he really didn't hide his distaste for mysticism and metaphysics at all.) A better read might be Will Durant's "The Story of Philosophy". And Durant's masterpiece, The Story of Civilization is unparalleled in its scope and lucidity, though not philoso…

Well, it is a history of western philosophy. Also, I wouldn't say that Russell has a distaste for mysticism; my read of many of his writings on religion ( A Free Man's Worship , Mysticism and Logic , etc.) would be that he genuinely sees the value of mysticism and transcendental experience – though I'm going on memory from reading about a decade ago. Durant's writing is great too, but The Story of Philsophy doesn't h…

The book might be strictly Western in its coverage, but my opinion on his approach to Oriental thought is extrapolated, and is the sum of everything I have read of the man. I say this as someone who first discovered Russell as a logician.

Regarding his mysticism, Whitehead must have passed some of it on, but in the History, he is nothing but a rational materialist. You see this in his treatment of Plato and Platonism vis-a-vis, say, Aristotle.

Where others saw Plato's Ideal as a pure goal or experience, obtained only through sheer effort or total transformation, as evidenced by the various religious groups who synthesized platonic ideals with mystical beliefs. Russell saw something a bit more proscriptive, imo. Allegory is open to interpretation, and I think Russell approached Plato as a fellow Cambridge gentleman, and not, say, a troubled mind searching for answers in a world with much less science, and is forced to defer more to the unknown, the perfect place with all the answers .. where we could go, if only we were perfect ourselves. Plato's obsession with the Ideal, order, wisdom the perfect society, etc. is a cry for help; he is desperately seeking full understanding of his world and is unable to. Only if he could change himself and his society would the world change to something more tangible!

Russell missed that part and projects his own image on Plato; the fully informed intellectual royal whose words are heeded by society. He thought Plato enjoyed a similar luxury, and his calls for perfection, specially in the Republic, were made out of snobbery.

This is my personal take on it, and I am excited to take a second stab at the History.

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#62

Post by DanielBMarkham »

Some great recommendations here! All I can add is the quote "All of Science is footnotes to Plato" -- no matter how far we come, the ancient Greeks still have relevance. So I'd get a good introductory good to at least the top 3: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. (I could list a few more)

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#63

Post by darushimo »

rms wrote: post #6
jrp wrote: post #2

I don't know if it counts as a serious philosophy book, but I really enjoyed Godel, Escher, Bach. Math, computers, consciousness, etc. I'm currently reading Reasons and Persons. Thought experiments and discussion about how personal identity works under, eg, transporter copies.

Godel, Escher, Bach won a Pulitzer Prize; I think that counts as serious. :)

it may be serious, but it is not 'philosophy' as the topic is generally understood. (not to discount it as a worthwhile read.)

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#64

Post by darushimo »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #23

Sophie's World is a fun novel and a map of the historical development of philosophy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophies_World The first book on philosophy that both blew my hair back and made me realize philosophy is alot more than just academic was You Can Trust the Communists (to be Communists) . http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/schwarz-cover.htm... My best friend in college was a Russian Jew whose fami…

not to sound like an ass, but if you want to seriously deal with philosophy, don't waste your time with sophies world. or 'zen and the art of...' for that matter.

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#65

Post by michael_dorfman »

I think the quality of advice you're getting on this thread is very mixed.

Some of the books mentioned are absolutely great-- like "Being and Time", or Husserl's "Logical Investigations"-- but incredibly difficult to read unprepared. If you were ready to be reading them, you wouldn't be asking the question here.

The two books you mention in the question (Common Sense and "On the Fourfold Root") are both quite readable, as are a few of the primary texts mentioned in the responses ("Existentialism is a Humanism", "Thus Spoke Zarathustra") but in general, I'd have to suggest you stay away from primary texts at first.

In other words, begin by reading works about philosophy, rather than works of philosophy.

A single-volume work on the history of philosophy will give you the broad scope (for example, Durant, or Russell, or "Sophie's World" if you prefer fiction), but will tend to turn the philosophers discussed into caricatures of themselves.

You mention that you are in school; I'd suggest you take a philosophy course or two, if you are interested in the field. Having an experienced guide will definitely help.

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#66

Post by darushimo »

There seem to be two questions here. First: 'what are some eye-opening reads'? Second: 'what are some good philosophy books?'

The fact is, "eye-opening reads" really depends on the eye, and without much context, it's very difficult to give recommendations.

So I'll name two books that were 'eye-opening' for me AND are good philosophy and another that is just 'good philosophy.'

J. S. Mill's On Liberty. Read it. It's short. It's poignant. Don't not read this book.

Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche is required reading. if you like it, check out the viking collection of works by him and read his wikipedia page. You'll get a sense of what else you'd like to read from these two sources.

The groundwork for a metaphysics of morals by Kant is a great introduction to his way of thinking/reasoning and deals with an important matter--the possibility of a moral system. This book is a good introduction to a way of philosophizing very different from the others--Kant aims to be deeply systematic and specific. While not eye-opening, 'sexy philosophy' or quite 'enjoyable,' GMM is a relatively short read and a worthwhile thought-journey.

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#68

Post by cromulent »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #62

Some great recommendations here! All I can add is the quote "All of Science is footnotes to Plato" -- no matter how far we come, the ancient Greeks still have relevance. So I'd get a good introductory good to at least the top 3: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. (I could list a few more)

> "All of Science is footnotes to Plato"

Science? Wasn't Whitehead talking about Western philosophy?

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#70

Post by hh »

ulvund wrote: post #17

I would not recommend any compilations of philosophy. The great thing about philosophy is reading the rationales and the results, not only the results. "Ricard+Revel - The Monk and the Philosopher" http://www.amazon.com/Monk-Philosopher-Father-Discuss-Meanin... "Socrates(/Plato) - The Allegory of the Cave" http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html "Plato(/Socrates/others) - Symposium" http://www.amazon.com/…

I absolutely agree that The Monk and the Philosopher is one of the best book. A frank discussion between a father and son who both have PhD. Every interesting book.
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