Best Philosophy book for a Seminarian?

[bhabyeinch]

If your looking for a philosophy book for the seminarian, I can say that the book of Jostein Gaarder’s book entitled, Sophies World… It is a good book especially for the beginners and it most of all a good start in studying philosophy.

 

[Bible_Reader]

Regarding Copleston’s series, there are actually 11 volumes. Only 9 volumes were published in the Image series. (The 10th volume US Amazon page] is on Russian Philosophy, the 11th volume US Amazon page], is on Logical Positivism and Existentialism. The 11th volume was originally published as Contemporary Philosophy.)

The entire 11 volume set can be purchased from Amazon UK for £93.50 = US$147. It is 5,344 pages long.

For Summa Theologiæ, I strongly recommend the Blackfriar’s edition. It is in 60 volumes (plus an index volume) it has extensive supplementary material, as well as a diglot presentation of Latin and English. It is 14,716 pages long. The cheapest price online for the set I have found is from Amazon Canada (CDN$1455 = US$1278).

While these sets are pricey, if one actually reads them, they are huge bargains (particularly considering the page/price ratio). Shipping costs are cheap since Amazon treats the shipping cost of a set at the same price as a single volume.

And if the cost is too high, there is always the local library (or, if necessary, inter-library loan.)

 

[PoliSciProf]

I would sugggest Eva Brann’s Feeling Our Feelings. It is a comprehensive account of the major issues with in the history of philosophy. A really good book if you have some background in philosophy is Stanley Rosen’s Nihilism It is an interpretive essay which takes on Heidegger, Marx, Nietzsche et al. as he explicates the nature of nihilism in an attempt to save the reasonableness of reason.

 

[geometer]

What book do you recommend a Seminarian should study for philosophy? (needless to say it has to be faithful to the Church, would it be too much to ask for one with an Imprimatur & Nihil Obstat? ) Thanks!

Well, I believe that you should not limit your reading to western philosophy, because it is too logical, and ignores experience.

You should read “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda. It gives real insight into discipleship and the importance of learning through experience. Much of the book deals with the ordinary spiritual events of everyday experience, which seem to be largely ignored in the west.

Best regards,

Vincent

 

[Charlemagne_II]

Depends on what the seminarian intends to do with his “philosophy.” If he is going to become a philosopher per se, he can’t do better than Copleston’s series, which will include a good introduction to Augustine and Aquinas. If he’s going to use philosophy for catechetics or apologetics, or even as a preacher might use it, I would recommend three volumes chock-full of wisdom easy to find and witty to boot alphabetically arranged by subject matter and proper names:

The Quotable Chesterton
More Quotable Chesterton
The Quotable Lewis

Used copies of all three can be bought at Amazon for about $40 plus shipping if you go there today. Just checked. Good luck to you and/or your seminarian friend.

 

[Charlemagne_II]

In addition to the books mentioned in my previous post, I would highly recommend that seminarians become educated about the ultimate questions addressed by modern science. There is no better, clearer, or more fully detailed introduction to the questions of the Big Bang, Evolution, Intelligent Design, etc. than Roy Abraham Varghese’s The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God. (2003, TYR Publishing, 425 pages) Antony Flew, the world reknowned atheist, said it was one of the books that persuaded him to recently abandon atheism.

Used copies can be purchased at amazon.com starting at about $15.

 

[JonathanAquino]

(10) Aquinas: Selected Philosophical Writings (Timothy McDermott,O.P., Ed., trans.; Oxford University Press, 496 pgs.) (This one might be the best of the bunch listed, containing ample selections not just from the Summa Theologica and Summa Contra Gentiles but from many smaller, lesser-known works, a couple of them in their entirety.)
amazon.com/Selected-Philosophical-Writings-Oxford-Classics/dp/0199540276/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230749847&sr=1-5

What do you think of Davies’s “The Thought of Thomas Aquinas”? This book keeps popping up in discussions of how to approach Aquinas. Is it possible to get a good understanding of Aquinas’ thought from this book, which, despite being a secondary source, has received much praise? It seems that it would enable one to digest Aquinas’ thought with greater ease in less time.

 

[JP2Admirer]

For the straight philosophy of Aquinas I would recommend his Commentaries on Aristotle’s works.

Especially the De Anima, Metaphysics, and Nicomachean Ethics.

The De Ente et Essentia is recommended…however, a lot of these it is good to have a good teacher with as they are pretty heady stuff.

For truth seeking that is an amalgamate of philosophy and religion the Summa Theologica.

Also, I would read the classical philosophers as well…Aristotle and Plato.

They are the foundation of later Christian philosophy, although we should not mistake them to be Christians. (Though providence is amazing in how faith and reason came together so commensurately at the time of the Incarnation.)

 

[Abba]

I don’t understand why people in this thread keep suggesting books on the history of philosophy. Studying the history of philosophy is not the same thing as studying philosophy. If you are studying philosophy itself then you would be reading the writings of philosophers, not o historians. Also, people keep saying that seminarians only need to study philosophers that are relevant to catholic theology. But I thought seminarians were required to get a degree in philosophy. If you get a degree in philosophy then you would be studying philosophy as a whole, not just certain opinions within philosophy. When I studied philosophy at university there were several seminarians who were in my classes, and they did infact study the philosophers I originally suggested, such as Descartes, Kant, Nietzsche, and Hegel etc.

jfoges,

I want to let you know that I am with you 100% .

The OP statement surprised me. What is that?!? Talk about a contradiction. Then to read the recommendation not to read the works of certain philosophers it’s astonishing to me. What in the world? What is that about textbooks and reviews?!?

 

[Abba]

What book do you recommend a Seminarian should study for philosophy? (needless to say it has to be faithful to the Church, would it be too much to ask for one with an Imprimatur & Nihil Obstat? ) Thanks!

Hello Crusader4Jesus,

I am just curious, are you a seminarian or are you looking for info for a website? If you are indeed a seminarian you will get the red carpet thrown out in front of you here. I would certainly be honored to serve you.

Anyhow…

Let’s baaaaaack up.

You got it all wrong. Let me present an example of how your post looks to some of us. Imagine a young man who has lived in the desert all his life and the only water he has seen is the one he pulled from a well in a small bucket. One day, he hears of a thing called ‘swimming’ and it sounds like a great thing to do for him. He tells a possible instructor that he wants to learn to swim but the water can only be as deep as that of a small bucket, which he is familiar with, and in a space of only 2x2. Do you see the difficulty? This in effect, is what you are asking in your post in regards to philosophy.

Now, one thing that we need to understand is that philosophy is not something that you study per se. What poses the misunderstanding to many in regards to philosophy is semantics, like with that little word ‘study’. When we use the word ‘study’ in regards to philosophy we mean something different than if we use it in reference to, lets say, study for a math exam. Philosophy (done correctly) is not an area of education that you study in that way, rather, it is something that you learn to do - like swimming and you can become in so learning a philosopher just like you would become a swimmer.

The study of philosophy is not a process of gathering or memorizing data or reading a story nor of learning names and certain information that can be attached to those names (e.g. Nietzsche = atheist, John Stuart Mill = utilitarianism). No, no, no, Now, someone can ‘study’ philosophy in that manner and can say to the world; I studied philosophy, but – that is not what philosophy really is nor what it is really meant by to study philosophy. To translate to a more modern term, you learn to be a thinker and you become a thinker.

I have to stop here. Gotta go take care my father… If you wish, I can continue later.

Hope this helps,

Abba

 

[Abba]

Oooooh, this is a revived thread. Crusader4Jesus may be a priest right now for all I know.

 

[Abba]

Also, I would read the classical philosophers as well…Aristotle and Plato.

They are the foundation of later Christian philosophy, although we should not mistake them to be Christians. (Though providence is amazing in how faith and reason came together so commensurately at the time of the Incarnation.)

That’s funny that you should mention this understanding. I had just posted a similar presentation four hours before your post. forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=7474407&postcount=171 I don’t think this understanding has been presented in the history of the philosophy forum.

Thank you for accompanying me in my thoughts.

Abba

 

[levinas12]

I am attending seminary for MA, I recommend Robert Sokolowski: The God of Faith and Reason. It is short and sweet and inexpensive. You can look up all the others on google - that’s what I did, because as MA student I don’t need to take philosophy, but the seminarians do - in college. Robert Sokolowski is prof. of philosophy at Catholic U.
good luck!

In addition to “The God of Faith and Reason”, I would mention Robert Sokolowski’s most recent book, “Phenomenology of the Human Person.” Both of these books show what it is like to do philosophy.

 

[Geremia]

Hands-down, I recommend this: Reality: A Synthesis of Thomistic Thought by Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. (Pope John Paul II’s thesis advisor), although it isn’t solely philosophy.

For “pure” philosophy this is good, too: (2004 reprint)Modern Thomistic Philosophy by Phillips (1st vol. on natural philosophy is free online; you can probably find the 2nd volume on metaphysics used for really cheap)

And so is this: A Manual of Modern Scholastic Philosophy by Card. Mercier (also free online: click the “Internet Archive” links on its WorldCat page for both volumes)

 

[lowell_mass]

I recommend the "Socrates Meets . . . " series by Peter Kreeft - Philosophy Professor at Boston College. He analyzes most of the major punks in modern philosophy from Descartes to Kant to Sartre from a Catholic perspective.

Most introductions to philosophy are like Time magazine. They say “Hegel was influential” or “Lady Gaga was influential.” But who cares!!! We want to know if they were right, not just if they were “influential.”

 

[JonathanAquino]

I am slowly making my way through Edward Feser’s “The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism” which, along with what its title says it is, is also a surprisingly good introduction to Aristotelianism (matter and form, the four causes, actuality and potentiality) and Thomism (the existence of God, the immateriality and immortality of the soul, and the natural law conception of morality). I’m about halfway through it.

Dr. Feser also has a book called Aquinas which evidently goes a bit deeper and has fewer polemics - I may study that next.