Philosphy textbook suggestion

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jenniferolg
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Jenniferolg

Guest
Greetings!

My 17 year old son is interested in philosophy. He watches lectures on Youtube, and he has asked me to get him a textbook to read that would help him make sense of some of the concepts. I have never studied philosophy, so I have no point of reference. What would be a good high school or college level textbook for him that won’t totally squelch his strong Catholic faith? He is looking for more of an overview than a study of just one philosopher. He is very bright.

Thank you for your suggestions.
Jennifer
 
Jenniferolg said:
Greetings!

My 17 year old son is interested in philosophy. He watches lectures on Youtube, and he has asked me to get him a textbook to read that would help him make sense of some of the concepts. I have never studied philosophy, so I have no point of reference. What would be a good high school or college level textbook for him that won’t totally squelch his strong Catholic faith? He is looking for more of an overview than a study of just one philosopher. He is very bright.

Thank you for your suggestions.
Jennifer
Click to expand...
Might I suggest “An Introduction to Philosophy: The Perennial Philosophy of the Classical Realist Tradition” by Daniel J Sullivan.

Easy read - it’s like Thomas Aquinad 101. I usually suggest it to Catholics interest in philosop for the first time or for people of other religious faiths who just want to get their bearings on us.

Another suggestion is Father Copleston SJ’s “A History of Philosophy” Volumes 1 and 2.

That should cover everything from Presocrates to the Medieval Period.
 
Jenniferolg said:
Greetings!

My 17 year old son is interested in philosophy. He watches lectures on Youtube, and he has asked me to get him a textbook to read that would help him make sense of some of the concepts. I have never studied philosophy, so I have no point of reference. What would be a good high school or college level textbook for him that won’t totally squelch his strong Catholic faith? He is looking for more of an overview than a study of just one philosopher. He is very bright.

Thank you for your suggestions.
Jennifer
Click to expand...
The most clear introductory texts I have found are written by Mortimer Adler. In fact, they are surprisingly lucid – whilst still retaining the depth which they ought to have.

Consider these:
Aristotle For Everybody
Six Great Ideas
Ten Philosophical Mistakes

He also has an interesting book on reading effectively, which I refer to from time to time in my studies. The book is called, very simply, How To Read A Book. He has a related text called How to Speak, How To Listen, although I have not read it.

Mortimer Adler was one of the great Catholic philosophers of the 20th century. If you have ever heard of the “Great Books of the Western World” series, this fellow was, along with Robert Hutchins, the genius behind it.
 
Jenniferolg said:
Greetings!

My 17 year old son is interested in philosophy. He watches lectures on Youtube, and he has asked me to get him a textbook to read that would help him make sense of some of the concepts. I have never studied philosophy, so I have no point of reference. What would be a good high school or college level textbook for him that won’t totally squelch his strong Catholic faith? He is looking for more of an overview than a study of just one philosopher. He is very bright.

Thank you for your suggestions.
Jennifer
Click to expand...
Stanford has good online sources: philosophy.stanford.edu/research/stanford-philosophy-online
 
ChineseCatholic said:
Might I suggest “An Introduction to Philosophy: The Perennial Philosophy of the Classical Realist Tradition” by Daniel J Sullivan.

Easy read - it’s like Thomas Aquinad 101. I usually suggest it to Catholics interest in philosop for the first time or for people of other religious faiths who just want to get their bearings on us.

Another suggestion is Father Copleston SJ’s “A History of Philosophy” Volumes 1 and 2.

That should cover everything from Presocrates to the Medieval Period.
Click to expand...
I’m not famaliar with the book by Daniel Sullivan but I do have Fr. Copleton’s history of philosophy which is very good and quite thorough. Another very excellent source is Christian Philosophy by Fr. Joseph M. de Torre. This last is not so much a history of philosophy, though Fr. Torre does devote a chapter to it, but it is more like an overview of christian catholic philosophy especially as coming from the school of St Thomas Aquinas who is the teacher par excellent in the catholic church in both theological and philosophical studies.
 
The Philosophy of Religion by Elton Trueblood is easy reading and comprehensive.

I have been using it for many years, especially to remind myself of philosophical issues that old age has helped me forget. 😉 Trueblood was not a Catholic but was a deeply religious man, sort of like C.S. Lewis. He could strip complex issues down to their simplest expression.

Can be located here … cheap buy.

amazon.com/Philosophy-Religion-Elton-Trueblood/dp/0060466901/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1490674676&sr=8-2&keywords=the+philosophy+of+religion++elton+trueblood
 
-]/-]
Richca said:
I’m not famaliar with the book by Daniel Sullivan but I do have Fr. Copleton’s history of philosophy which is very good and quite thorough. Another very excellent source is Christian Philosophy by Fr. Joseph M. de Torre. This last is not so much a history of philosophy, though Fr. Torre does devote a chapter to it, but it is more like an overview of christian catholic philosophy especially as coming from the school of St Thomas Aquinas who is the teacher par excellent in the catholic church in both theological and philosophical studies.
Click to expand...
Have the book - somewhere that is. You think it’s a good starter for Jennifer’s 17 yr old son though? I wanted to give him something as easy as possible to understand and then use Copleston as a road map to explore once he had a foundation.

I did my time with St Thomas a while bacì now. I’m more likes Ressourcement/NeoAugustinian like our Pope Emeritus these days - more likely to pick up the Fathers or Augustine or Bonaventure.

I find Aquinas more apt to do defense of faith/interaction with wider world type work.

The Cappadocian Fathers or Maximus the Confessor are more likely to inspire faith in me because they are Patristic in nature - also gives me a good background in understanding the more mystical work of folks like St John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Therese of the Little Flower, etc.

Not the type of thing Ms Jennifer’s son will be exploring in his philosophy classes I wager 😉
 
Readings on the Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy (Penguin Academics Series) (2nd Edition) by Nils Rauhut. It’s cheap on Amazon, and it is a great intro text because it outlines various ‘problems’ in philosophy - subjects where there are contention. And it provides two readings that argue different angles. And then the student can evaluate the arguments against one another and really weigh the pros and cons of them. And hopefully, the tension in the two arguments will lead the student to investigate the subject more deeply.

Philosophy is about tension between ideas, and thinking critically. A philosophy student shouldn’t be lead by the nose in how to think - merely shown the framework of the debate and why there is tension.
 
Thank you all very much for your helpful and prompt replies to my query. We ordered three today: Ultimate Questions, Ten Philosophical Mistakes, and Philosophy of Religion…for just over $20! After he finishes with those, we will order more. I will also read them, so we can discuss them.

I never refuse my children books, few take me up on the offer like this one does! He just finished with a physics read-a-thon.

God bless,
Jennifer
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top