Hello, fellow Redditors!
I'm new to reading and am eager to dive into the world of non-fiction philosophy. I'm particularly interested in books that explore various concepts of human life and other philosophical topics.
If you have any recommendations—maybe a book that profoundly influenced you, or a must-read that covers the essence of human existence, ethics, or existentialism—I would greatly appreciate your suggestions! Also, could you include a brief explanation of what the book is about?
Thank you in advance for your help!
by vxytsl
2 Comments
The Fundamentals of Ethics by Russ Shafer-Landau, pretty much the gold standard for introductory texts for ethics and will give you a solid overview. It helped me at least, you could also just go strait to Aristotle’s Ethics
Introduction to Phenomenology Dermot Moran. To me, phenomenology is what i think of when I think of “true philosophy” that grapples with existence as existence. A philosophy about the act of experiencing at all. Granted this is outrageously difficult, I have failed countless times to read Husserl but this text does a good job highlighting many figures in the practice and can create bridges to them.
Sarah Bakewell’s At the Existentialist Café is one I haven’t read but it seems to be similar to Moran’s intro text as it covers the big boys in existentialist thought. Now I am not much of an existentialist so your mileage may vary. I can suggest Camus’s Myth of Sisyphus and Nagel’s response to Abusrdism but that is the extent of my familiarity
a few ‘short’ ones:
Marc Aurel – Meditations (stoicism, virtues, how to be good)
Lao Tse – Tao te Ching (daoism, ‘eastern’ philosophy)
Plato – Apology of Socrates (socrates trial and his arguments)
Sarte – No Exit (a play, existentialism)
Camus – The Stranger (existentialism)
Frankl – Mans Search for Meaning (read it, it saves lifes)
Theres mamy more, i would recommend to not start with soneone like Nietzsche or Wittgenstein as an introduction to philosophy haha, maybe start with the ancient philosophers first. The stoics are reasonable easy to understand and relevant (Aurel, Epictetus, Cicero, Seneca)