My 18 year old brother got sentenced for murder last year and he recently started asking for philosophy books. I want to be careful with this because i know some philosophical ideologies could be a bad influence to him given where he’s at. Any ideas?
by Correct_Brick_2319
7 Comments
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky communicates his philosophy through the novel, like Camus does in The Stranger and The Plague. Bonus points for Brothers are that it is (1) an enjoyable story on top of being a great elucidation of Dostoevsky’s philosophy, and (2) it’s long.
yikes
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
Anything about Stoicism would be good, I think. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, the Handbook by Epictetus, or a modern companion like the Practising Stoic by Farnsworth
more details may help here.
Born Again by Charles Colson could be a good choice for him, it was written by someone who had been in prison for a while and I think it could do your brother some good.
hi, former philosophy grad. I initially got into philosophy bc I was interested in ethics, but ultimately ended up spending most of my time in philosophy of science arenas.
I would get him something like “philosophy 101” or the “big book of philosophy” or “101 essays that will change the way you think”, which spans a lot of different disciplines of philosophy. Then he can let you know what writers interest him the most.