existentialism - always my favorite branch of philosophy. if you don't want to read books on theory and shit you can try existentialist fiction Fyodor Dostoevsky - Notes From the Underground - about a "crazy" dude isolated from society Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis - short story. A dude turns into a fucking insect. I would recommend browsing the philosophy section at your local bookstore. I forget the publisher's name, but there is this one series of books they sell at Barnes & Nobles. These little books on philosophy that kinda summarize different branches and important people and gave examples and shit. Those looked pretty cool.
Are you talking about the oxford press, "a very short introduction..." series? Very Short Introductions - General Series - Series - Academic, Professional, & General - Oxford University Press Those are quite good.
Watch waking life. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iDAaS3QiNk]YouTube - Waking Life Trailer[/ame]
this book is fucking amazing, read it!! Amazon.com: Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (9780060616625): John Dominic Crossan: Books
Any one looking for new book suggestions on any school of thought definitely give this thread a look http://forum.grasscity.com/spiritua...gious-spiritual-philosophical-e-readings.html
Wow, lots of great book suggestions. If your looking for an intro to philosophy, I would recommend starting with Wikipedia, as mentioned by most members. Start off skimming philosophical ideas, ideas regarding the existence of God and it's ramifications on ethics. It's the basic building block of philosophy for me, for it is the essential question that all must disciplines must answer sooner or later. As already mentioned, since most people here live in the Western world, start off with the Ancient Greeks, people like Plato and Aristotle, and work your way through the pre-Socratics through to the post modernists. I like to save logic for last, for it is the most mathematical in nature, and can help you better understand all that you have and will have read. Also, don't just read philosophy by itself, skim some psychology as well, it can really help put things into perspective. A basic exercise to intro philosophy students, read about social contract theory and attempt to understand the arguments regarding human nature. It's a really fun argument to have with friends. Then from there, I would read Plato and Aristotle. Disclaimer- don't let anti-realists fuck with your conception of the world, people face injustices everyday, be it poverty, war, genocide, slavery, etc. I hate how much Social Philosophy is so neglected.
Total fail. Where is this critical thought? The bible is totally myopic philosophically speaking. Anyone getting in philosophy for a first time does not need to be reading Nietzsche, or Kant. The basics first people: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, then move forward to Thomas Hobbes, and continue on historically as political philosophy develops. And for FFS keep away from Wikipedia unless you need solid facts that can't be disputed or have split opinions over, like a countries flag, and statistics. Wikipedia for philosophy? GTFO.
I'm kinda shocked that there are some people here who enjoy the philosophy of language... anyone who wants to discuss let me know. I love philosophy of semantics/language
The fuck!? Wikipedia has an abundance of sources at the bottom of each article to read for yourself. If you're looking to Wikipedia for information on a hotly controversial political topic, yes, proceed with caution. But if you're looking for technical articles (literature and philosophy are the ones I'm usually looking for) it's perfectly fine. Wikipedia is like any other tool: you need to know how to use it properly. If you don't, trouble will pursue. The truth is that people shouldn't trust any source completely (Also in academic settings citing from ANY encyclopedia, not just Wikipedia, seems to be considered bad form.)
Out of all the things I've read about philosophy, no matter how different the subject matter.. one common theme that's always there is about words. Start a thread and I'm there.
Some personal suggestions are as follows; Thus Spoke Zarathustra Human, All Too Human Isis Unveiled Of Ape And Essence Hope this helps =]