Need some beginers guid to Philosophy!

[Hate Is Art]

Well I want to get some books by some famous Philosophers, the most famous ones and nothing which is really horrible to read! What do you all recomend!

[Trissy]

Right. If you need to go into battle with anyone on the topic of religion then I must advise you read 'why I am not a Christian' by Bertrand Russell. Very easy to read and very entertaining.

For Existentialism a must read is 'Existentialism & Humanism' By Jean-Paul Sarte. It's very short and quite easy to read.

If you want to get a good grounding in some of the philosophers but not read through hugh texts by them I'd advise the 'Introducing' series by Icon Books. I love them because I feel it better to know what I'm talking about then to be able to quote lines which I know nothing about. 'Introducing Marx' is probably the one a lot of people on here have read but the ones on Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Machiavelli, Sartre, Descartes, Russell, Camus, Plato, Aristotle and Political Philosophy are also very readable. I know lots of people thing they're philosophy dumbed down but I don't care...they've helped me lots so far in my degree.

I'll add more once I've looked through my bookshelf...

[monkeydust]

If you want a basic guide outlining some key aspects of Philosophy in a concise manner get Nigel Warburton's "Philosophy: the basics"

http://www.phil-books.com/Philosophy_The_B...0415146941.html (http://here)

[Wenty]

Get into philosophy through Camus and Sartre. Learn about the basic 'problems of philosophy' (perhaps the book of the same name by Bertrand Russell). Learn about the basic, age old theories for the existence of god, Anselms ontological, Aquinas' Five ways etc. Look into Descartes and even buy the Meditaitions if you want.

The Empiricists - Hume, Locke, Berkeley
The Rationalists - Descartes
On their own - Kant

Look into Analytic and Continental philosophy too.

P.S Zappa never took drugs DN.

[Trissy]

Sorry...please ignore Wenty when he talks about Anselma and Aquinas...any argument for religion is extremely flawed.

Anselm's ontological argument is dubious, and so is Aquinas' Five ways. They have very little to do with the world. If you must dabble in them then I advice you read 'The Puzzle of God' by Peter Vardy. He's my favourite philosopher of religion and he gives a fairly good modern account of the arguments in an easy to understand way (in a very fair manner if you want to know Adam!). I'll second Wenty's recommendation of 'The Problems of Philosophy' By Bertrand Russell though.

If you want general philosophy of factors in the modern world then I'd add 'The Meaning of Things' By A.C.Grayling. It is a very good book. He's not a very famous philosopher but I like him a lot. 'The reason of things' might also be worth a look but I don't rate it as highly.

Also try to avoid Hume, Berkeley, and especially Kant until you feel ready to tackle the subject. The language they use is very difficult to read at times and it could easily put you off if you went straight for the harder stuff. It'd be like someone who cannot swim starting out by trying to dive from the highest diving board...very messy!

[Wenty]

I agree about Anselm and Aquinas but its still philosophy. Does anyone actually still believe Descartes mind-body distinction? We should still learn it though.

[Trissy]

Erm...I think you'll still find lots of people who are dualists Adam even if they cannot explain why. They believe what Descartes has to say, even if they don't quite understand what is at stake. Likewise we have people who don't agree with Descartes and are either Idealists or Materialists.

On the other hand is there anyone on this planet who believes because of Anselm's (or Descartes') version of the ontological arguement? Granted some people may believe in God because of Aquinas' (or Liebniz's) version of the cosmological argument but I seriously doubt whether they could defend that position if challenged.

Hence the issues at stake in Descartes' Meditations are of more importance today (especially if you consider the development of Psychology) then the works of Aquinas or Anselm (which have farely little influence inside [let alone outside] of your religious world).

[Wenty]

Its all Philosophy, good to learn it anyway.

I don't think you can believe through Rational arguments anyway. Descartes actually said that faith was enough for him to believe but decided to try and argue through rationality so as to convert others.

[Pedro Alonso Lopez]

Philosophy the basics is nice, there is a thread somewhere with a list of books in all fields I posted but alas I cannot remember the thread.

What is your main area of interest, that way you can work your way through from a certain perspective and through that you will come across others.

[Trissy]

Descartes actually said that faith was enough for him to believe but decided to try and argue through rationality so as to convert others
Yes but I think Descartes thought that his version of the ontological argument is good <_< That should show us that even the greats have off days