I doubt this deserves its own thread, but whatever. My reading material has lately consisted predominantly of The Far Side compilations, but for some reason I've also been digging works of philosophy by various dudes. Lately it's been Rousseau and Locke, but I'm also really getting into C.S. Lewis - i read Mere Christianity and The Screw Tape Letters, and just got The Great Divorce and Miracles.

Anyway, the thread topic is this - what philosophers are you into? What philosophers' works can you recommend? And of course, what is your own personal philosophy on life, government, economy, etc.?

isn't there already a thread for people to argue in?

i took a philosophy class freshman year in college and hated it, so i stopped going, didnt do the readings, and didnt do well in the course.

My all time favorite philosopher is Camus. I think he's got it right. Most people see his philosophy of absurdism as very depressing and nihilistic, but it never endorses the idea that life has no value and is not worth living (see his idea that says the only real question in life is whether or not to commit suicide), only that all things in life can never lead humans to meaning. I don't really enjoy heavy philosophical reading very much, but The Myth of Sisyphus is not a bad read. His fiction is excellent though, and it is just a vehicle for his philosophical ideas. The Stranger is an absolutely amazing book, and if you like that A Happy Death is very very similar to the Stranger but the writing is a lot rougher. Mersault (in both Stranger and Happy Death) is the most interesting fictional character I've ever come across.

A warning though, most of the people in my english and philosophy classes who read the Stranger did not enjoy it very much. They said it was too depressing and kind of took Mersault's lack of popular morals and atheism as an attack on their own religious beliefs. I think the philosophical ideas in it were just too far from what they believed in though. So this is definitely not for everyone, but those who get it and enjoy it will love it

My love of Thrice and Dustin's lyrics has gotten me curious about C.S. Lewis; which of his works is a good introduction to his ideas?

Enjoy life while you can, there's enough time to be dead.

That's what I go by.

Edit: And of course, the IDWIW idea. Props Russ.

Most of the ones i've read are full on books, so i'd probably say try The Abolition Of Man - it's shortish and it has some cool ideas. Also, while we're talking about music here, most of the lyrics for the song Saturnus by TREOS were pretty much lifted from a passage in Lewis's The Great Divorce.

ESSENTIALS

you should all read these:





























and see this

i read the plague in high school. pretty cool imagery.

I'm in a philosophy class right now. I find it unbelievably boring. I think it's just because of the stuff we're reading, but I just can't stay awake in that class.

thats because you arent reading any of the books i listed.
or you should go to that class high, that would probably make it more appealing.

philosophy.

serious business.

Tao Te Ching is one of my all time favorite books, but it's not really philosophy so much as it is a religion...still good stuff

and Sartre is gold

Taoism as a whole is considered an eastern philosophy with many spiritual aspects. i believe it is more of a philosophy that you should live your life by than an actual religion.

apparently there are both philosophical and religious movements

it can be interpreted as both


edit : Taiwan is 35% Buddhist and 33% Taoist

wikiyay

I've asked several people that were "Taoists" but they also claimed to be Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and many other "religions." That whole debate is pretty pointless, because in reality it is both. It depends really on what stage of life you are in as to whether they will claim it to be one or the other, for most of them.

Nietzsche's The Antichrist and Beyond Good and Evil, Aurelius' Meditations.

I've been wanting to get my hands on some Camus lately also.

Anything by R.L. Stine

the goosebumps series in particular really molded my philosophical views of existence

The CHOOSE YOUR OWN ENDING series allowed me to propagate my own ideas on a vastly different level than before

lolz