Philosophy books

My gf liked The God Delusion but she doesn't like religion.

i started with all the books like that and they are ok sometimes but a waste long term imo

if you are still in a decent university i'd start with highly regarded philosophy courses/professors that are heavy in recitation/discussion.

if not, you just gotta get your hands dirty but i would recommend starting with the classics.

actually, there is a free course on academic earth/youtube called "justice" taught by michael sandberg (or something like that) at harvard. i thought it was a fantastic introduction to ethics as well as philosophy and how it should be taught and the world would be a better place if everyone took that course.

apart from that i wish i had access/time to an exceptional university but i don't so just went w/ the classics and read them. they are not easy reads but luckily there are such things as google and wikipedia. also, i found if something didn't make sense or i questioned something one of the others would basically answer it or make it less foggy.

sartre
kant
dyostoevsky

are 3 i would heavily recommend

socrates
tolstoy

i dunno w/e. just find something you like is probably most important and you can't go wrong w/ any of the classics.

Instead of reading the books you wrote up there, youtube Dawkins and Hitchens, and enjoy yourself for a few hours. I think rather hunt, track down some more brainy type of books xD

the god delusion is a great book, i've read that one

anything by dawkins is a slam dunk

the god delusion isn't driven by hatred; it's driven by statistics and logic

i've listened to noam chomsky for many many hours on youtube. The guy speaks sooooo logically and unassuming. He is good at revealing how bias people can be in a convo with pretty much anyone.

On May 28 2012 12:30 RiKD wrote: i started with all the books like that and they are ok sometimes but a waste long term imo if you are still in a decent university i'd start with highly regarded philosophy courses/professors that are heavy in recitation/discussion. if not, you just gotta get your hands dirty but i would recommend starting with the classics. actually, there is a free course on academic earth/youtube called "justice" taught by michael sandberg (or something like that) at harvard. i thought it was a fantastic introduction to ethics as well as philosophy and how it should be taught and the world would be a better place if everyone took that course. apart from that i wish i had access/time to an exceptional university but i don't so just went w/ the classics and read them. they are not easy reads but luckily there are such things as google and wikipedia. also, i found if something didn't make sense or i questioned something one of the others would basically answer it or make it less foggy. sartre kant dyostoevsky are 3 i would heavily recommend socrates tolstoy i dunno w/e. just find something you like is probably most important and you can't go wrong w/ any of the classics.

I find that selection of people weird. I can't imagine Kant and Sartre agreeing on very much and except for Socrates the other two are mostly known for their novels rather then ideas. Also I kind of feel that Socrates is slightly overrated (I much prefer Aristotle) but that's probably a matter of taste.

Dont hesitate to spend money on books you'll always be wiser afterwards

Anyone had some experience with these titles? I'm especially interested in thoughts about the second one, since if it's just some random hatred-driven rant about how religion is crap (which, after reading up about it, appears to might be), then I could give up on checking it out.

IMO it's ok read, and covers a wide range of issues around religion. There are some things I don't like about it, but it certainly is no hatred-driven rant (like Hitchens book for example is).



In general classics of philosophy tend to not be interesting for beginners (most are incomprehensible too). Instead I strongly recommend introduction books, which usually are interesting and also give an idea of what's up in that specific field right now (whereas classics give you an idea of what was up 200 or 2000 years ago).

If you are interested in philosophy I recommend stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/ Whatever issue in philosophy you are interested in you can find an engaging and concise expert article on it. E.g. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fictionalism/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/economics/ Only drawback is that there aren't many general articles, most are about very specific issues or only present one point of view.

Also there is a very good philosophy study guide at http://www.bris.ac.uk/philosophy/current/undergrad/studyguide/ on which you can find good recommendations for introduction books to read.

Although i like Dawkins and i agree with him, i didnt like his the god delusion, as i remember its simply boring, consists obvious, logical stuff that if youre an intelligent atheist you came up yourself long ago, and boring facts. Didnt go past 1/4 of it. Also written in a way that will annoy any believer that will stop reading it very soon. So i wouldnt recommend it to either believer or not.

bertrand russel's the problems of philosophy seemed like a pretty good intro

I don't really like Dawkins and I think it's too optimistic of him to be so sure and present "proofs" that God doesn't exist. Usually his points are not sensible at all (eg. when he tried to say that he's the same as christians with his beliefs, only that he's gone 1 God further).

I like Richard Feynman who also believed there was no God but at least he realised that was just his belief (so maybe agnostic formally speaking but w/e) and that model of the world on which he bases his assumptions might be wrong. I think that is a trully bright approach.

On May 28 2012 13:40 DustySwedeDude wrote: Show nested quote + On May 28 2012 12:30 RiKD wrote: i started with all the books like that and they are ok sometimes but a waste long term imo if you are still in a decent university i'd start with highly regarded philosophy courses/professors that are heavy in recitation/discussion. if not, you just gotta get your hands dirty but i would recommend starting with the classics. actually, there is a free course on academic earth/youtube called "justice" taught by michael sandberg (or something like that) at harvard. i thought it was a fantastic introduction to ethics as well as philosophy and how it should be taught and the world would be a better place if everyone took that course. apart from that i wish i had access/time to an exceptional university but i don't so just went w/ the classics and read them. they are not easy reads but luckily there are such things as google and wikipedia. also, i found if something didn't make sense or i questioned something one of the others would basically answer it or make it less foggy. sartre kant dyostoevsky are 3 i would heavily recommend socrates tolstoy i dunno w/e. just find something you like is probably most important and you can't go wrong w/ any of the classics. I find that selection of people weird. I can't imagine Kant and Sartre agreeing on very much and except for Socrates the other two are mostly known for their novels rather then ideas. Also I kind of feel that Socrates is slightly overrated (I much prefer Aristotle) but that's probably a matter of taste.

in a nutshell:

i'm basically a giant kant fan and always will be. reading his stuff though raised a lot of questions and disagreements. then i read sartre and was like whoa man you have the same questions and disagreements but have thought about them more and write about them exquisitely.

dyostoevsky is kinda like neitsche and sartre before neitsche and sartre, except writes bad ass literature w/ his own stank on it. i listed tolstoy as just another bad ass russian literature writer. i could add pushkin, nabokov, etc.

tbh, i just added socrates cuz it's just what popped into my head at the time.

I liked the god delusion, although Dawkins' tendency to extend Darwinism to EVERYTHING annoyed me a little.