
Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading? - te_chris
So one of my friends has been accusing me of being a Nihilist lately - mainly because I don't really care about the whole Osama thing - and this has made me curious again about philosophy.  I know a little bit from various things I learned in university, but I really want to learn more about the thought and writings of various philosophers.<p>That being said however, I have read Foucault and a couple of other philosopher's texts before and it was difficult.  I know that is partially the point, however I figured the intellectually curious HN community must be able to recommend some easier to read, yet still in-depth and not patronising books discussing philosophy?
======
jerf
I'm going to say something probably unpopular, given the tone of many of the
suggestions popping up, but philosophy is one case where I actually prefer to
stay _away_ from the so-called "primary sources". They are typically
extraordinarily long and verbose for what they have to say, and if the idea
some source is groping for is genuinely new, the fact that they are only in
the beginning phases of grappling with it tends to show in the presentation.
Plus they will tend to use quirky nomenclature that was not necessarily
settled on later. If I'm after an actual understanding of philosophy and not
merely enjoying some work for its own sake, it's better to read something that
has been distilled over the years to its essence and stripped of its
ornamentation, so you can contemplate the essence of the idea on its own.

I scare-quoted "primary source" because in a way, the ideas belong to humanity
as a whole and the first person to "discover" a particular school of thought
is not always its best advocate; it's primary more in the sense merely of
_first_ rather than the journalistic sense of _authoritative_. I would say the
journalism or scientific drive for the "primary" sources is much less
important here. To me it would be like insisting the only way to tour the
Americas is to follow Columbus' precise route and anything else isn't _really_
seeing the Americas.

I say this not because they are worthless or even a bad idea, but that I
really do consider them a bad place to _start_.

Frankly, you could do a lot worse than to just cruise Wikipedia, and drill
down in what you find interesting from there. (Don't skip the drilling down.
I'm not saying Wikipedia is a full education on the topic. I'm just saying,
it's really not a half-bad way to start.)

~~~
Arun2009
The early modern texts site (<http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/f_why.html>)
contains works that have been translated to contemporary English which could
alleviate the archaic language problem. From the link:

<QUOTE> My versions are faithful to the content of the originals, but are
plainer and more straightforward in manner. I could have made them even
plainer, but that would have taken them further than I wanted to go from the
stylistic feel of the originals. I love the original texts, and am glad to
have spent years wrestling with them in their pristine form. I do wish,
though, that through the years I could also have read them sometimes with all
my energy going into the philosophy. </QUOTE>

To the OP, two overviews of Western Philosophy (of the analytic variety) I'd
suggest are Russell's "The Problems of Philosophy"
(<http://www.ditext.com/russell/russell.html>) and Nagel's "What Does It All
Mean?: A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy".

------
mbanana
You may find the Dialogues of Plato rather entertaining -
<http://www.classicallibrary.org/plato/dialogues/>

The funny thing is, they were written more than 2000 years ago, and no one has
been able to add anything substantial to the subject since then :-)

~~~
gsivil
If you do not mind I would like to pick the Apology:

[http://www.classicallibrary.org/plato/dialogues/12_apology.h...](http://www.classicallibrary.org/plato/dialogues/12_apology.htm)

It seems that it is the most accessible text. In my opinion it goes beyond the
limits of philosophy and it becomes real poetry.

------
mindcrime
Bertrand Russell - The History of Western Philosophy:

[http://www.amazon.com/History-Western-Philosophy-Bertrand-
Ru...](http://www.amazon.com/History-Western-Philosophy-Bertrand-
Russell/dp/0671201581)

~~~
count
That's sort of evil to use as an 'Introduction'...it's like reading the
Silmarillion before you read LOTR.

~~~
mindcrime
Maybe, but it's a nice overview of a lot of stuff, spanning a long period of
time, and it is better - IMO - than telling somebody "go read primary sources
for all Western philosophy developed since the Greeks." I suppose one could
recommend Frederick Copleston's _A History of Philosophy_ , but it's difficult
due to all the untranslated quotes from primary sources. (Well, unless you
happen to read Latin, German, Greek, and whatever else.) It's also 9 volumes
long, which is quite an undertaking.

------
veyron
anarchy, state, and utopia: [http://www.amazon.com/Anarchy-State-Utopia-
Robert-Nozick/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Anarchy-State-Utopia-Robert-
Nozick/dp/0465097200/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304391557&sr=1-1)

or, if you find yourself particularly liberal, a theory of justice:
[http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Justice-Original-John-
Rawls/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Justice-Original-John-
Rawls/dp/0674017722/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304391543&sr=8-1)

thank you for the moment of nostalgia -- CC was a formative class in my
college experience: <http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/classes/cc.php>

------
zhynn
I have to say, I've learned more from LessWrong (lesswrong.org) and
OvercomingBias (overcomingbias.com) than I have from nearly all of my
classical reading. No, it doesn't cover the classics in the same detail, but
they do cover rational discourse of philosophy very well.

------
bosconi
Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractatus_Logico-Philosophicus>) and
Philosophical Investigations
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Investigations>). The former was
a keystone of the Logical Positivist movement (and accepted by Bertrand Russel
as LW's PhD thesis). The latter is its comprehensive dismantling (in note form
only). Russell thought Wittgenstein had gone mad. We know otherwise :)

------
alderssc
I recommend The Apology of Socrates and The Republic, both written by Plato.

The former because it's an excellent introduction to one of the west's most
influential figures (Socrates). As a testament to that influence, any
philosopher before him is called 'pre-Socratic'. Not to mention Socrates' tale
of traveling around Athens questioning the populace after visiting the Oracle
is a great story. It wouldn't hurt to follow up with the dialogue Phaedo next,
which details the end of Socrates.

The latter for many reasons. The Republic is the most complete statements of
Plato's philosophy, in addition to being beautifully written (Plato's writing
seems to shine through in just about any translation that I've seen, but the
Allan Bloom translation is particularly enjoyable).

Plato, and this book in particular, have been extremely influential in western
thought. Indeed, one philosopher wrote that "the safest general
characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists
of a series of footnotes to Plato." And here in America, the founding fathers
often quoted Plato in their pamphlets prior to seceding.

Following the dialogues in the book will take you from discussions on the
nature of justice and reality, to the best mode of governance. It serves as a
wonderful introduction to what it means to do philosophy and hopefully you
find it as enjoyable as I have.

------
zoowar
Gilles Deleuze: Something short, Postscript on the Societies of Control
[https://pdflibrary.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/deleuzecontro...](https://pdflibrary.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/deleuzecontrol.pdf)

Or you can listen to it: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIus7lm_ZK0>

[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Gilles_Deleuz...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Gilles_Deleuze)

------
karlzt
Friedrich Nietzsche
[http://www.theperspectivesofnietzsche.com/nietzsche/nphil.ht...](http://www.theperspectivesofnietzsche.com/nietzsche/nphil.html)

~~~
kloc
Start with this one : [http://www.amazon.com/Story-Philosophy-Opinions-
Greatest-Phi...](http://www.amazon.com/Story-Philosophy-Opinions-Greatest-
Philosophers/dp/0671739166)

Will give a picture of different philosophers of their time and then you can
pick up whatever philosophy you like to read further.

~~~
kloc
I meant a top level comment :)

~~~
bartonfink
I thought that was just an extremely subtle comment on the source you
recommended.

------
toponium
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Notes from Underground

[http://www.amazon.com/Notes-Underground-Fyodor-
Dostoyevsky/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Notes-Underground-Fyodor-
Dostoyevsky/dp/1936594676/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304393473&sr=1-1)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude

[http://www.amazon.com/One-Hundred-Years-Solitude-
P-S/dp/0060...](http://www.amazon.com/One-Hundred-Years-Solitude-
P-S/dp/0060883286)

~~~
ahsanhilal
None of this is actual philosophy.

------
turbojerry
If you want a fast introduction to lots of different philosophers for a hacker
audience I would start with watching The Matrix trilogy and then the
documentary Return to the Source about philosophy in the films, while they
miss out lots of things it's still pretty good, it's on YouTube here-

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ysbczEYvKY>

there are also various books about philosophy in the trilogy.

The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real by William Irwin

Like a Splinter in Your Mind: The Philosophy Behind the Matrix Trilogy by Matt
Lawrence

More Matrix and Philosophy: Revolutions and Reloaded Decoded by William Irwin
(Feb 8, 2005)

Philosophers Explore The Matrix by Christopher Grau

Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy and the Religion in the Matrix by
Glenn Yeffeth and David Gerrold

Also personally a few of the books that I had me think about my philosophy-

Poker Without Cards: A Consciousness Thriller
<http://www.pokerwithoutcards.com/>

Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by James
P. Carse

The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, Jests, and
Donkey Tales of the Beloved Persian Folk Hero

Also you could check out Robert Anton Wilson documentary Maybe Logic

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gp4dha42ZA>

Oh and I'll leave you with some weirdness from Timothy Leary on How to Operate
Your Brain

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQq_XmhBTgg>

------
nicelios
<http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html>

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

------
asymptotic
You should ask this question on Metafilter as well. However, some people
already have:

[http://ask.metafilter.com/71101/What-single-book-is-the-
best...](http://ask.metafilter.com/71101/What-single-book-is-the-best-
introduction-to-your-field-or-specialization-within-your-field-for-laypeople)

<http://ask.metafilter.com/52701/Philosophy-readings>

[http://ask.metafilter.com/26408/crash-course-in-modern-
philo...](http://ask.metafilter.com/26408/crash-course-in-modern-philosophy)

Overwhelmingly, with my approval, many suggest reading "The Problems of
Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell. It's one of the most accessible and thought
provoking books on philosophy I've read. This has already been suggested by
someone in this thread with a link to the book
(<http://www.ditext.com/russell/russell.html>).

------
bomoko
If you want to get a good sense of what modern philosophy (mainly English
speaking) philosophy is all about, then you should work through Scruton's
"Modern philosophy". For the most part it's a superb introduction - Scruton is
profoundly conservative, but his book is extremely useful as a primer. The
strength of this book is that it's organized thematically rather than in terms
of the "great thinkers" (although Descartes, Kant, and especially Frege - if I
recall correctly - come out as the great heroes)

If you're interested in taking a historical perspective, Anthony Kenny's new
history of philosophy books (in 4 parts) are fantastic, and a much better
overview than you'll get from Russell - for all it's idiosyncratic worth.

From there you'll be in a position to appreciate both the original texts and
other introductions (much of philosophy is getting back to basics, so you'll
never be rid of introductions ...)

------
hsmyers
Hard to beat Arthur Schopenhauer---
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer> Even better since much of
his work is freely available from sources like Gutenberg and similar...they
even have 'Studies in Pessimism' as an audio book!

------
ahsanhilal
I would highly recommend Stanford Encyclopedia on philosophy
(<http://plato.stanford.edu/>). Reading original texts of philosophy are hard
and require patience. At the same time, it also requires an understanding of
previous era philosophers, since most philosophy is built on what was said
earlier. Philosophy for the most part, evolves as ideas are built upon
gradually by one philosopher after the next, so reading something from the
middle and subscribing to it is pretty much baseless and akin to believing in
some sort of cult ideology.

The more important part is to understand different arguments, and see which
ones really stick out to you; the framework that you choose: metaphysical,
analytical, phenomenological etc. should be something that truly inspires your
way of thinking.

------
davewasthere
I thought Sophie's World wasn't too patronising... It's definitely an
approachable book

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sophies-World-Novel-History-
Philosop...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sophies-World-Novel-History-
Philosophy/dp/1857992911)

------
mtraven
Foucault and Deleuze are definitely not for beginners. Don't start there.

It really depends what you are interested in. You might check out the
Philosophy Bites podcast: <http://philosophybites.com/> (now a book too) which
has good, short discussions of current issues, and might help you figure out
which philosophical questions you are interested in.

If you really want to tackle continental philosophy and have a computer
background, I suggest starting with Phil Agre's work, like here:
<http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/critical.html>

------
avichal
A must read that's not on the list yet: On Liberty, John Stuart Mill.

The thoughts/ideas on society and politics are the sort that will resonate
with a lot of the HN crowd. They advocate things like free speech, freedom of
thought, equal rights for women, a utilitarian view of morality.

Some choice quotes: "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote
happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness"

"the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member
of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others."

He was a pretty smart guy and a lot of what he advocated is now baked in to
western societies as the norm.

------
lhnz
More to the point are there any short books that will get right down to the
nitty gritty and spare me all of the examples, 'proofs' and old-fashioned
language?

------
jasoncrawford
I recommend W. T. Jones's _History of Western Philosophy_. It has a good
combination of excerpts from primary sources plus commentary on those
excerpts.

------
bosconi
Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogues_Concerning_Natural_Re...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogues_Concerning_Natural_Religion)).
A tour de force rebuttal of the watchmaker and other creationist arguments. He
did not allow it to be published during his lifetime for fear of the response
it would provoke. A classic Philosophy 101 text too.

------
capedape
I quite liked "Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates
to Foucault" by Hadot [http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Way-Life-Spiritual-
Exercise...](http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Way-Life-Spiritual-
Exercises/dp/0631180338/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304402569&sr=8-1)

------
hitechsites
Read this book by Will Durant : The Story of Philosophy. Considered a classic
and one of the best introductions to philosophy See :
[http://www.amazon.com/Story-Philosophy-Opinions-Greatest-
Phi...](http://www.amazon.com/Story-Philosophy-Opinions-Greatest-
Philosophers/dp/0671739166)

------
tunaslut
I've found Alain de Botton interesting if somewhat...um depressing isn't the
right word, but somewhere south of exuberant. He is fairly easy to read
though, unlike some of the more "academic" philosophy that I've dipped into.

Not sure it counts as philosophy per se, but I also enjoyed Thich Nhat Hanh's
Peace in Every Step.

------
draz
Columbia University offers a Core Curriculum (specifically, Contemporary
Civilization class) to address just that:
<http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/classes/cc.php>

You should browse around the other Core Classes, they're good

------
garyaj2
John Macmurray's "Interpreting the Universe" is a good overview of what
philosophy is all about. <http://johnmacmurray.org/reviews/interpreting-the-
universe/>

------
Jiminez
There's so much out there, trouble is deciding what you're likely to be
interested in. The Philosophy Bites podcast
(<http://www.philosophybites.com/>) may give you some ideas.

------
peterzakin
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus is extremely readable and a classic of
modern nihilistic thought.

I'd also recommend Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morals. It's not his most
famous work, but it's pretty widely acclaimed as his best.

~~~
bm1362
^ I too recommend Camus, 'A Happy Death' as well as 'The Myth of Sisyphus.'
I'd also read Milan Kundera's novels- although they are much less nihilistic
than Camus it still deals with the futility of life, love, and society etc.

------
placemain
I recommend 'Sophie's World' by Jostein Gaarder, a journey into philosophy.

------
olalonde
On the political philosophy side, I'd recommend Milton Friedman's "Free To
Choose" documentary: <http://www.freetochoose.tv/>

------
kelvin_huggins
Do you want something challenging, don't you? I think there are many good
recommendations here but you want "something". Maybe you can try "The Life of
Milarepa"

------
nateless
Machiavelli, Richard Dawkins, Ortega y Gasset, Madeleine Albright, Hobbes,
John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Denis Diderot.

But Machiavelli & Ortega y Gasset is a must read.

------
mbateman
There was a good thread on thsis a year or so ago:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1503137>

------
s2r2
Amartya Sen - The Idea of Justice

Highly recommendable, a contemporary philosophical book that is significant
today. (Decision theory, ethics, political philosophy)

------
irickt
The Metaphysical Club, by Louis Menand, a history of American Pragmatism

------
plamb
The books that made me decide to be a philosophy major:

Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Ishmael

Days of War, Nights of Love: Crimethinc for Beginners

The Way of the Peaceful Warrior

~~~
dytrivedi
+1 for Zen & The Art of MC Maintenance

------
szany
Nicomachean Ethics

------
thewileyone
Candide - Voltaire

------
len
just read the apology

