Philosophical Sources

[Aquinas21]

I have been noticing a lively interest in some areas of philosophy in this forum, even including some philosophy of religion and philosophical theology. I have always appreciated the kinds of philosophy that are helpful and constructive for theology and religion.

Therefore, just as a general informational or educational question, I’m wondering if anyone feels like mentioning any of their favorite sources for philosophical documentation (for example, regular books or reference books or journals, or even online sources).

The first two journals that come to mind for me are The Thomist and The Review of Metaphysics (also here). I also use Wikipedia articles frequently, not because they are great but mainly because they are convenient for me at my current location. (I used to live near large academic libraries, but nowadays I’m just a small town person.) As philosophy moves towards theology and religion (my true and primary subjects), I have often been helped by reference books such as The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.

 

[Linusthe2nd]

If you are reading these sources, ther is no reason why you shouldn’t read Thomas himself. dhspriory.org/thomas/ I would start with his Summa Thologiae. You also might check out the works of Etienne Gilson and Riginald Garrigou-Lagrange.

Linus2nd

 

[Aquinas21]

If you are reading these sources, there is no reason why you shouldn’t read Thomas himself. dhspriory.org/thomas/ I would start with his Summa Theologiae. You also might check out the works of Etienne Gilson and Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange.

Linus2nd

Thank you, it’s very good to see those references on the screen. In graduate school and subsequently for many years, I was frequently greatly blessed by the writings of Thomas himself as well as the other authors you have mentioned. I even have many of their works (in 20th-century printings) in my personal book collection.

 

[Aquinas21]

… just wondering if anyone feels like mentioning any of their favorite sources for philosophical documentation …

I see that this thread is not exactly wildly popular with many interested posters. I just figured that people in a philosophy forum might enjoy mentioning their philosophical provenance (so to speak) or at least their bibliographical provenance.

Since I have been posting a few times here, I might as well admit that I’m not really very knowledgeable about 21st-century developments in philosophy (including theological aspects). I’m more familiar with authors and sources from the 20th century and earlier centuries.

In epistemology, for example, I typically recall Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (in the old Meiklejohn translation) as a great defining moment historically, and then I remember that various subsequent authors were able to make some additional progress (beyond Kantian boundaries to some extent, so to speak) in an idealistic manner, not just Hegel and Bradley but also people like Schleiermacher and Lonergan.

In metaphysics, I recall old books such as Elements of Metaphysics by A. E. Taylor and Metaphysics: A Systematic Survey by J. Peters.

In philosophy of religion and philosophical theology, I mainly think of Christian academic authors (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox) with a few others also sometimes (like S. Radhakrishnan for Indian philosophy).

And of course, if all else fails, there are always reference books, which are great for saving time and energy.

 

[Bahman]

I see that this thread is not exactly wildly popular with many interested posters. I just figured that people in a philosophy forum might enjoy mentioning their philosophical provenance (so to speak) or at least their bibliographical provenance.

Since I have been posting a few times here, I might as well admit that I’m not really very knowledgeable about 21st-century developments in philosophy (including theological aspects). I’m more familiar with authors and sources from the 20th century and earlier centuries.

In epistemology, for example, I typically recall Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (in the old Meiklejohn translation) as a great defining moment historically, and then I remember that various subsequent authors were able to make some additional progress (beyond Kantian boundaries to some extent, so to speak) in an idealistic manner, not just Hegel and Bradley but also people like Schleiermacher and Lonergan.

In metaphysics, I recall old books such as Elements of Metaphysics by A. E. Taylor and Metaphysics: A Systematic Survey by J. Peters.

In philosophy of religion and philosophical theology, I mainly think of Christian academic authors (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox) with a few others also sometimes (like S. Radhakrishnan for Indian philosophy).

And of course, if all else fails, there are always reference books, which are great for saving time and energy.

I use wiki, IEP and Stanford

 

[Aquinas21]

Here are three more good Catholic philosophical links.

American Catholic Philosophical Association

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

School of Philosophy, Catholic University of America

 

[polytropos]

I don’t know how these would exactly break down in terms of philosophy vs. theology, but James Ross and David Oderberg both have a lot of essays and articles accessible online, and are good thinkers.

 

[Aquinas21]

I recognize the name James Ross from a long time ago (20th century), and I had never heard of David Oderberg previously. Concerning philosophy vs. theology, I usually like to consider sources (including people and places) as belonging in both categories if they were (or are) dealing with both categories at least to some extent. That makes it easier to mention theological (and even religious) sources (including people and places) even here in this supposedly philosophical thread.

Of course both subjects were here on Planet Earth before we were born, and both subjects will be here after we are gone, so for me there is a gentle and pleasant emotion that might be described as a ‘joy of documentation’ in these areas. Instead of always trying to re-invent the wheel (a figure of speech) in these areas, I have often been glad that great pathways of thinking have already been provided by other people.

 

[polytropos]

I really enjoy James Ross. I recently managed to get a used copy of his Philosophical Theology on Amazon. I haven’t read it yet, but it looks pretty thorough (it seems like a background in analytic philosophy would be helpful). His most recent book Thought and World is very good. It is not directly theological, but I think a lot of what he discusses there is important for clear theological and philosophical inquiry.

David Oderberg is good because he is very systematic and lucid. He writes on a variety of topics as well.

 

[Aquinas21]

Here is a link for a recently revived thread concerning philosophical sources.
Good Catholic Philosophy Blogs

 

[levinas12]

I have been noticing a lively interest in some areas of philosophy in this forum

I have a question for you … what kind of a question is a “philosophical” question … or how do you distinguish a “philosophical” question from other kinds of questions … for example, a typical philosophical question is whether time and space are “synthetic a priori intuitions” (Kant) … how do you deal with a question like this … it’s different than the usual everyday questions (e.g., “is the store open today”) or questions that may arise in science (“is there a Higgs particle”) and mathematics (“is Fermat’s Last Theorem true”) … but how is it different?

 

[Aquinas21]

I have a question for you … what kind of a question is a “philosophical” question … or how do you distinguish a “philosophical” question from other kinds of questions … for example, a typical philosophical question is whether time and space are “synthetic a priori intuitions” (Kant) … how do you deal with a question like this … it’s different than the usual everyday questions (e.g., “is the store open today”) or questions that may arise in science (“is there a Higgs particle”) and mathematics (“is Fermat’s Last Theorem true”) … but how is it different?

I’ll try to express a theoretical answer and also a practical answer.

Theoretically, I think that philosophical questions (or philosophical subject areas) are usually distinguished by (or characterized by) plenty of ‘second-order discourse’ (so to speak) in terms of reflection (or argumentation or whatever) that is especially concerned with meanings, preconditions, connections, and implications (not just with facts as facts or phenomena as phenomena).

In practical terms, I think that philosophical questions (or philosophical subject areas) are easily recognized because those kinds of questions (or subject areas) are already identified and categorized in library classification systems for books and journals in philosophy, and they are also already listed (and described) in course descriptions of academic philosophy departments (as mentioned for example in post 6). Examples of typical subjects would include logic, epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, history of philosophy, and many other subjects (general or specific, abstract or applied, difficult or easy).