Books on Philosophy

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jimmied1910

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Hello all!

Not sure if this is the right place to post this question or not, but I am interested in learning more about philosophy. Does anybody have any good “intro” books about philosophy that they could recommend. If they were from a Catholic perspective, that would be preferred.

Thanks, God bless.
 
The series A History of Philosophy** by Frederick Copleston, S.J. is a great start. I have not read all of it, but what I have read is very good. It also happens to be the series that some of the Philosophy faculty at Catholic University of Steubenville use.
 
Hi,heres a great book to start down the philosophic path “sophies world” by jostein gourder . This is a novel which in corporates a pholosophic backround into each chapter. Sophie is a young girl who’s father is in the mideast working for the govt. He writes sophie almost daily, and sophie has an enquiring mind so he includes a philosophers history and ideas in each letter. The letters also revolve around a mystery story,so you get a good yarn and an insight into some knowledge and backround,very interesting… Its a novel about philosophic history and mystery all in one…ck it out on google william bradl
 
Thanks so much everyone! Those look like great places to begin.

God bless,

Jimmie
 
I’ve got an MA in philosophy and have taught philosophy. Here’s what I think. two cents and some practical experience.

Forget Sophie’s World. That really doesn’t work unless you’re already able to catch the allusions to the philosophers and it’s also poorly written. It was a hit, inexplicably so, in Europe.

I dislike books in which an author tells you what each Great Philosopher thought. These often present a canned or dumbed-down view. . . and, critically, they often are just summaries and don’t show you the reasoning that led to the conclusions.

The reasoning is important to know.

Skip modern philosophy (anything 1500 to recent). You need a foundation on the basic stuff itself. Plato’s dialogues are very approachable: try the Symposium (on love) or the Republic (on society and politics). If the Zombies came, and I had to remove quickly to a desert isle, the one philosophy book I’d want to take with me is Aristotle’s Ethics. . . this is a highly readable analysis of human motivation/human psychology/human values. It’s a great place to start.

By reading the original authors you’ll see much more than you otherwise would get.
 
to capt america: I certainly wld not suggest starting a philosophic inquiry with "sophies world in view of your knowledge and experiince. I thought for a quick entry the book wld be entertaining and informative,but not for you …wbradl
 
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