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Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

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Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#121

Post by JeffL »

darushimo wrote: post #66

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 sh…

You make a good point. I took 5 different philosophy classes in college because I was interested, but never was really that satisfied. For me, the authors that were really eye-opening were Ayn Rand and Thoreau, though I feel many here would scoff at them.

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#122

Post by danohuiginn »

darushimo wrote: post #64
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.

Why not? Do you consider it misleading, or just too simplistic? If the former, fair enough (though I'd love to hear details; I quite enjoyed Sophie). If the latter: I'm a big fan of light overviews. You can always go deeper into the areas you find interesting, whereas it's easy to get lost if you dive straight into the in-depth stuff.

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#123

Post by gruseom »

pavs wrote: post #29
ganjianwei wrote: post #19

I really enjoyed Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. It's not quite a philosophy book but I found his take on the concept of 'quality' very useful. To me it's a story of how a westerner discovers eastern philosophy, which is great to read coming from a western perspective.

I never leave a book unfinished, if I start a book I feel like have to finish the book (I finished Dan Brown's book with disgust, imagine that), but I just couldn't finish this book. I have absolutely no idea why people like this book and I have got recommendations from quite a few people.

I couldn't get through Pirsig either. Unlike you, though, I have no compunction about not finishing a book; it's not my job to be interested in it.

Re Dan Brown: since you feel that way, I recommend the hilarious review of it that Irish comedian Andrew Maxwell did for the BBC. Make sure to watch to the end!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9ByyMd_qDA

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#124

Post by makmanalp »

mbateman wrote: post #92

Hi, I'm an ABD philosopher. The deepest and most interesting philosophical books are generally difficult and best accompanied by some form of instruction. This is true regardless of how clearly (e.g. Plato) or esoterically (e.g. Kant) written they are. There are some good secondary sources that can help but it's far preferable to be able to talk to an expert in a one-on-one or smallish setting. It would take a long t…

This has always puzzled me. Why does it seem that the vast majority of philosophers love to stray away from plain, clear, specific definitions and step-by-step, verifiable logic? Why is it that people can't be more like Hume or Feynman? Maybe they think that complex ideas can only be explained in a nebulous, vague manner? Every time I read an overgeneralization such as "subject is ", especially when the author does not seem to be a scholar in the subject, I cringe. (I'm talking about the obvious need for "guide books". In some cases it's helpful to know the background and such, but many of these books are almost a paragraph by paragraph analysis.)

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#127

Post by kpich »

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.

+1 Reasons and Persons. The Personal Identity section in that in particular is wonderful! It's a really good book because it kind of stands alone -- you don't need to be very well-versed in philosophy to get the arguments if you read carefully.

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#128

Post by kpich »

I highly recommend "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" by Quine. It's just a short little essay, but it's quite accessible (as far as these things go) and was highly influential (and is really fun to read too).

Re: Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?

#129

Post by wanderingmango »

darushimo wrote: post #63
rms wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

Actually, at its core it is philosophical and mathematical logic. So yes, it is philosophy.
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