Starting a reading journey in Philosophy can be intimidating. With numerous topics to cover, it can easily be confusing and drudging. It is, however, normal to feel these things. It's the point of Philosophy after all to get us to question and reflect upon our society, ourselves, and the world that we live in.
Nevertheless, it would be of help to have a starting point. A place where we can plant the seed of our curiosities and nurture it as we go along the journey.
The internet is teeming with recommendations: "Start with Greek Philosophers" or "Begin with Stoicism" and there are also some that encourages starting with anything we find interesting.
In my case, I went about it by going through Philosophy's History. I decided to make a survey of the subject's landscape first. Doing this allowed me to be familiar with key themes, people and the timeline that occurred within the history of thought.
I think this approach can also be helpful to other people. Here are four books that I recommend for those wanting to go on the intellectual voyage we call Philosophy:
The book follows the story of 15 year old Sophie Amundsen who suddenly received mysterious letters in her mailbox. Such letters contained questions such as "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" Bewildered by the questions, she began to investigate and soon found out who's sending them: a man named Alberto Knox. But questions remain, who is he and why is he sending Sophie letters?
A mix of magical realism, adventure, and study, Sophie's World provides a light read for those wanting to learn about Philosophy without getting into much technical ideas. It is a novel-and a Philosophy book-that one can easily breeze through.
This book is part of a series called a A graphic guide. The series are composed of books summarizing fields of knowledge such as History, Religion and Physics, and even includes versions that pertains to Jesus, Stephen Hawking and Noam Chomsky among others.
Though a short book, this one about Philosophy falls no short of being comprehensive. It introduces readers to the nature of asking questions, key philosophers, and the history behind ideas like Marxism, Pragmatism and Existentialism.
The text are concise enough to express the complex ideas clearly. It's like reading a comic book but about Philosophy- a peculiar yet insightful reading experience.
Covering only 6 philosophers, T.Z. Lavine not only discussed their ideas but provided a short biography for each of them as well. This made the reading more contextual, integrating the life situation of each Philosophers and the events that influenced their thinking.
This book provides newcomers with a thorough yet easy to understand discourse on the origins of the indestructible questions we ask through Philosophy.
Starting out as pamphlets called Little Blue books, it gained popularity among American workers that did not have the time to read lengthy texts on Philosophy. Due to demand, the pamphlets was compiled into this single volume.
With wit and wisdom, Will Durant presents Philosophy as something practical, challenging the notion that it's study is only for scholars. The book aimed to humanize Philosophy or, in other words, integrate it into our daily lives.
This account of Philosophy from the perspective of a historian offers a rich learning experience. It is a book worthy of reading multiple times.
* * *
These books served as foundations for my continuing education. They made my study of Philosophy compelling. And I hope they serve other people in the same way.
Like other fields, learning about Philosophy should be accessible to all of us. It should be something that we can easily reach for to get inspiration and understanding.
Comments
Post a Comment