Philosophy: Two favorite books

  • Thread starter Thread starter cpayne
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
40.png
ABostonCatholic:
Am I the only person who thinks that Aquinas and the ST are overrated?
Click to expand...
I think I might be in a position to be persuaded in that direction. Wanna start a new thread and persuade me?
40.png
ABostonCatholic:
  1. Plato’s Symposium
Click to expand...
😃 I have to hide now because cp said only two books and I have been commenting willy nilly.
 
Ani_Ibi said:
I think I might be in a position to be persuaded in that direction. Wanna start a new thread and persuade me?

😃 I have to hide now because cp said only two books and I have been commenting willy nilly.
Click to expand...
Comments are fine.🙂 Of course, I have to say that because I think I’ve made about ten comments myself.

“Willy nilly.” Nice vocab.👍
 
Well, well. Okay, so I’m going to go off now and spray on a whole canister of AquinasDefender, with its secret TerrificThomistic ingredient. (Patent pending.)

Just be prepared.
 
cpayne said:
Well, well. Okay, so I’m going to go off now and spray on a whole canister of AquinasDefender, with its secret TerrificThomistic ingredient. (Patent pending.)

Just be prepared.
Click to expand...
:knight2: 🙂 Who is going to start the thread?
 
Title of the new thread: Philosophy: Is Aquinas Overrated?

THIS thread is still on “two favorite (philosophical) books,”
thank you very much.😃
 
I’m not much for rules 😉
  1. The Critique of Pure Reason - Immanuel Kant
  2. Almost anything by Saint Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Thomas a Kempis
  3. History and Class Consciousness - Georg Lukács
 
matthias said:
I’m reading After Virtue right now. I’m about 4/5ths of the way through it. What do you think of it?
Click to expand...
At first I thought he was a bit too pessimistic. Now, after a few years, I think he was simply being realistic; I’d consider it one of the best philosophical works of the past three decades or so.
 
cpayne said:
I hereby proclaim myself IN CHARGE and that means you have to obey THIS RULE: No long lists of books; you have to stick with TWO.

Here’s the question: (1) What is your single favorite work of philosophy by the actual philosopher (primary source, in other words); (2) What is your favorite secondary-source philosophical work (derived from or commenting upon an original philosopher)?

An example: Mine would be (1) Aquinas’s Summa Theologica; (2) Peter Kreeft’s “Christianity for Modern Pagans.”

Any others?
Click to expand...
  1. Aquinas’s Summa Theologica
  2. Mortimer Adler’s Aristotle for Everyone
 
Neither one is a secondary source. My apologies.

Plato’s Republic.

Quine’s From A Logical Point of View, especially his article “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” contained therein.

God Bless

Jon Winterburn
 
cpayne said:
I think we’ll change the rules again: How about any two books related to philosophy at all? This seems more accommodating.
Click to expand...
I like this rule change. Trying to pick a “favorite” philosophic text is like being offered a Sophie’s Choice. Two commentaries that have read a lot are Stanley Rosen’s marvelous Nihilism: A Philosophic Essay and Leo Strauss’ Natural Right and History.I read the latter as an undergraduate and the former in grad school. I have returned to both many times and have never failed to get new insights from each of them. It is fair to say that both have deeply influenced my thinking and my career.
 
Here’s two of my favorites that I didn’t see while skimming the responses:

Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy
Pieper: The Four Cardinal Virtues
 
East_and_West said:
I HOPE you are the only one. Its only the most brilliant document ever composed with out the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Click to expand...
I woulden’t go that far, Aquinas was truely a genius, however there is no, objective, quantative measure by which you can defend your claim here.
 
  1. Mortimer Adler: How to think about God, and yes it’s philosophy not theology (technically it’s natural theology, but that’s “philosophizing about God as such without reference to revelation”)
  2. Yagyu Munenori: Family Martial Art Teaching Book, commonly known in the west as The Life-Giving Sword. Yes it’s philosophy–it’s about Zen. Real Zen, that is, not what actors think Zen is.
Only two is, however, a horribly small number.
 
My favorite philosophical works:

Practical Ethics - Singer

and a shorter work

Utilitarianism - Mill
 
Two favorites:
  1. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles
  2. Alvin Plantinga, The Analytic Theist
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top