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Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

Physiocrat — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:08:55 GMT

Hashem, it's not that I consider them unimportant but that they do not ask the most fundemental question of ethics- in Aristotle's words "how then shall we live?" It only really considers political theory rather than the entire compass of voluntary human activity.

I will though read those works at some point. I've read chapters from The Economics and Ethics of Private Property; one could consider me somewhat of a Hoppean.

As an aside is Jeremy Bentham worth reading? I considered reading him instead of Hazlitt but since his ideas are based on cardinal utility I couldn't bring myself to reading him. In the same way I decided against the clearly absurd Hegel.

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

hashem — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:47:35 GMT

Do I have any glaring omissions?
Well just kinda glaring. Nothing important...

The Economics and Ethics of Private Property
—Hans Hoppe

The Ethics of Liberty
—Murray Rothbard

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

Physiocrat — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:59:49 GMT

Here's my pretty much completed list. Do I have any glaring omissions?

Epistemology

Title	Author
Critique of Pure Reason	Kant
A Treatise into Human Nature	Hume
The Laws	Plato
Parmenides	Plato
Phaedro	Plato
The Meditations and Discourses	Decartes
The Tractatus	Wittgenstein
Nature of Thought	Blanshard
The Republic	Plato

Metaphysics

Title	Author
Metaphyics	Aristotle
Language, Truth and Logic	Ayer
Ego and His Own	Stirner
Being and Time	Heidegger

Ethics

Title	Author
Beyond Good and Evil	Nietschze
The Groundwork of the Metaphysics or Morals	Kant
The Metaphysics of Morals	Kant
Ethics	Spinoza
Foundations of Morality	Hazlitt
Nichomachean Ethics	Aristotle

Aesthetics

Title	Author
Either Or	Kierkegaard
The Symposium	Plato

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

William — Sat, 14 May 2011 21:11:26 GMT

Oh right - the obvious just occured to me

- William James on ethics, a man who shouldn't be ignored:

http://www.philosophy.uncc.edu/mleldrid/American/mp&ml.htm

Everything (which isn't much) I have read by James is at least a good read. Even if one disagrees with him, he is a great thinker, great writer, and from what I can gather a great man in his own right. Once again though, I am more used to him in chuncks, commentaries, and collections so I can't be help to much here either.

- And Mr. Sanchez has been recommending that Hazlitt book,"The Foundations of Morality" - haven't read it, but it would probably be a good start on consequentialism and utilitarinaism for the uninitiated...a s well as a useful way to look at Mises and his relation to morality, if interested.

- Also, a potentially very very important book to understand for at least historical reasons on ethics- and not just for getting Hegel, Marx, Stirner, or the left-Hegelians either. This is the text of humanism, and a good point to show a shift of cultural attitudes: Ludwig Feurerbach's "The Essensce of Christianity".

- As for "classic" metaphysics/ epistemology you may as well add Descartes' Meditations and/or Discourse,. If you had to pick one, Meditations is the most used text. And then there is David Hume's Treatise, as well as Kant's Critique. That is probably the "classic" foundational run on things.

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

William — Sat, 14 May 2011 18:04:26 GMT

Plato Metaphysics / Epistomology (sans Republic):

Sophist, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Paramendides, The Law

- Also and I have never read actual works by him (just collections and articles) - but you may want to look into St. Thomas Aquinas, his metaphysics and ethics are an offshoot of Aristotle. Don't know how to direct you to his origianl works though

Aesthetics:

- Aristotle's Poetics and Rhetoric are probably the best starting ground on this - at least as far as fame is concerned

- Plato's Ion maybe? It's a short read regardless. Symposium would probably be the biggie though. And if I remember Phaedrus covers some aesthetic too.

-Plotinus is huge on aesthetics, but I only know him in chunks and articels

- Epicurus; but you are actually going to be reading Lucretius - unless you want to slog through Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Laertius(which is an amazing book, and worth a peek at... but still)

- St Augustine is known for aesthetics, but I just don't know of any 1st hand writing dealing specifically with that issue. You can find articles and references on it though.

- Either / Or by Kierkegaard is one of my favorite reads of all time, and may be the next most famous philosophy book on aesthetics (that is next to Aristotle). It also gets into the ethical too.

- The Birth of Tragedy by Nietzsche, or his two books on Wagner I guess.

- Strangely enough Heidegger is probably one of the other big names in this field. It is all post "Being and Time" stuff, this is kind of what is meant by "late Heidegger" I think, and I can't comment much on it as I haven't looked into it all that much

- Also The Cambridge Compaion to Marx deals much with Marx and his relation to morals, aesthetics, and culture...kind of a strange book as it doesn't really help as a companion to his more "scientific" theories.

- You also ay want to look into Hegel for Aesthetics and Spinoza for Ethics. Can't really comment much on them though, but I think they are both big in that field. Hegel is obviously a big name in everything, but it is Hegel, so I don't know how you want to deal with that issue.

- regardless I think the "top 2" , as far as renown, would be Aristotle and Kierkegaard, with an asterik on Heidegger.

.................................................

On Heidegger Being and Time recommendation: As far as ontology and time are concerned, as well as (along with Husserl) phenomonology and heurestics, I think it is usualy considered the most important "continental" work in more modern philosophy (I thinkmany label it as the start of "post-modernism"). On a side note: for Austrians it may be of interest to contemplate the works of Husserl, Max Weber, and Heidegger and it's relation to Austrian economics.

Anyway, If this is kind of what you were looking in the metaphysic dept (ontology) - I would also be compelled to recommend, to no ones surprise, The Ego and His Own by Stirner. And while I still have an asterik on the whole Heidegger stuff, this to me is ontology. I'll just leave it at that due to bias, as I have no qualms calling myself a Stirnerite.

As for moreof the "analytic" views on ontology maybe Quine's Ontological Relativity (this is a short read). and Karl Popper's "three world" theory

and epistemology: Quine's essay Epistemology Natualized and Alvin Goldman's book "Epistemology and Cognition", and I suspect (but know nothing about) Donald T Campbell's work in epistemoloy is pretty important.

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

Physiocrat — Sat, 14 May 2011 11:34:11 GMT

If Heidegger is important to a major school of thought on Being and Time will be added.

Any idea which of Plato's works majors on any of these three areas with the exception of the Republic?

Does anyone know of any the important works in Aesthetics?

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

William — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:24:01 GMT

Added William. Any idea if the groundwork of Metaphysical Morals is worth reading before the main text?

Honestly my advice on Kant (and Aristotle), is not to read Kant as he is very very boring. Get a good, more modern and lively translation and analysis of his work. But from what I recall, yes still relevant to people

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

William — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:04:53 GMT

Are you into the Husserl-Heidegger stuff for metaphysics, or is that going way out there? I read Heidegger once, other than Hegel, it was the most difficult thing of my life to read. Though he seems doable with time and patience (lol, Patience and Time?), and help from outside sources.

If so I guess add Being and Time to your metaphysics list. I tell myself I will re-read that book and understand it, but I seriously dread doing it.

Oh and Language, Truth, and Logic by Ayer for the Elimination of Metaphysics - if you want to examine that attitude (or Carnap or Reichenbach would have roughly the same conclusions - so take your pick )

And maybe The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Popper if you want to get into the whole falsification thing

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

Physiocrat — Fri, 13 May 2011 11:27:26 GMT

Added William. Any idea if the groundwork of Metaphysical Morals is worth reading before the main text?

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

William — Fri, 13 May 2011 09:23:19 GMT

Wouldn't Kant and Nietzche's Beyond good and Evil be the big Ethics ones?

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

Physiocrat — Fri, 13 May 2011 09:17:49 GMT

Bump.

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

liberty student — Tue, 10 May 2011 16:00:03 GMT

This is more new school, but anything by NN Taleb is an interesting supplement to the classics.

Re: Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

Smiling Dave — Tue, 10 May 2011 15:03:38 GMT

A suggestion, from someone who knows nothing about philosophy.

Go to these three pages:

http://web.gc.cuny.edu/philosophy/program_information/metaphysics_comp.htm

http://web.gc.cuny.edu/philosophy/program_information/ethics_comp.htm

http://web.gc.cuny.edu/philosophy/program_information/epistemology_comp.htm

Pick the guys who look famous. Read them.

Philosophy Reading List - Help Please

Physiocrat — Tue, 10 May 2011 13:55:24 GMT

I know this is annoying tell me what books to read thread but anyway. I want to study epistemology, metaphysics and ethics by reading the seminal texts from the major schools of thought. This is to the end of having a comphrensive grounding in the foundations of the subject from the mouths of the proselytiser not from their critics. That said if there are any important review articles let me know. I have the read the subject for a while but not in any systematic manner.

To start the ball rolling myself I already own:

Epistemology

The Tractatus by Wittgenstein (not sure how to catergorise it but I think it looks best here)

Metaphysics

Metaphysics by Aristotle

Ethics

The Nichomachean Ethics by Aristotle

The Metaphysics of Morals by Kant

Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzche