Philosophy Books for a Beginner
Hi,
This might sound a bit strange but recently, I've gotten interested in reading about philosophy as a side interest after work and was wondering if there are any good books for someone who's very new to this field to read and get a good base in it.I really don't know where to begin really, so any suggestions would be great.
I never really pursued my "other" interests in college (was too focused on finance/econ classes) and now want to broaden my horizons a bit by learning about new subjects. Philosophy and sociology stood out to me as I read a little bit more about them, so that's why I'm asking this question and would appreciate any help.
Thanks!
Get one of those anthology books that allows you to sample the major philosophers. Also, depending on if you're more of a humanities or math/science person, you might want to start either with ancient or modern (i.e. twentieth cent.) analytical philosophy.
Both these sites are free/legal downloads. Hope it helps.
I've had "A History of Western Philosophy" (Russell) advised by my friend's thesis advisor. Free online here: http://archive.org/details/westernphilosoph035502mbp
Also, via the interwebs, "Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction" can be found here: http://www.getbookee.org/get_book.php?u=aHR0cDovL2VtaWxraXJrZWdhYXJkLmR…
berrand russell is the best place to begin..
Russell's 9-volume history of philosophy is too damn long and detailed for someone to begin with. I've read a bunch of philosophical texts in and out of class, and I haven't yet bothered with the Russell tomes.
I second the Very Short Introduction, and if OP knows someone from school taking intro philosophy class, take a look at the syllabus and mimic the course
I've never taken a good Intro to Phil course, of course I've never taken one at a decent school. Good call on mimicking someone's intro course, as long as they're at a decent school with a decent professor. If you don't have anyone with firsthand experience, I'd definitely check out Notre Dame's Introduction to Philosophy class (OpenCourseWare): http://ocw.nd.edu/philosophy/introduction-to-philosophy-1
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For existentialism, I recommend Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground. It was my first, and it was impactful.
^Thanks for that. I definitely don't know anyone who is taking philosophy classes. I tried signing up for a coursera intro philosophy course, but I didn't like the material/the lectures were very vague, so I dropped it. I'll check out the materials listed above and the books from UND's syllabus
http://rintintin.colorado.edu/~vancecd/phil1000/Nagel.pdf
Thomas Nagel's famous essay on subjective experience and consciousness. Great read. Highly recommend this as a good starter on the hard problem of consciousness.
Just look at philosophy books used in Political Thought classes. Usually contain a plethora of the most renowned and relevant philosophers to start with; Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Nicomechean Ethics.
Books I have: Classics of Moral and Political Theory 4thed. and Readings in Classical Political Thought.
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