For those who do not have too much time at disposal I would recommend The British Empiricists (very expensive as I see, personally I borrowed it once - and copied it - from the local British Council Centre) and A Short History of Modern Philosophy: From Descartes to Wittgenstein.

This may be the wrong place to ask, but what's the deal with the "my reality" threads that keep popping up?

Loren Michael wrote:This may be the wrong place to ask, but what's the deal with the "my reality" threads that keep popping up?

Look at me!

man I want to be edgy too

maybe I should jump on that bandwagon

Astreja wrote:I look at this sub-forum with great longing, wanting to participate but not really being all that conversant with the classics and some of the terminology.

Can you recommend any websites or smallish books that cover the basics of philosophical discourse without bogging down in minutiae?

Copleston's series on the history of philosophy.

Mick wrote:Copleston's series on the history of philosophy.

The woman asked for an introductory booklet, not an entire history of Western philosophy.

Speaking as a philosophy major, the best way I found to introduce a layman to philosophy is to recommend him a philosophical work that isn't too long and doesn't presuppose a large preknowledge usually attained at lectures. Two of such works that come to my mind are Descartes' Meditation on First Philosophy and Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. It's philosophy without burdensome jargon and with enough content to stimulate one to think philosophically.

For those interested in philosophy of mind (which seems to be a large proportion of the people in the philosophy forum) I'd recommend "The Mechanical Mind: a philosophical introduction to minds, machines and mental representation" by the philosopher Tim Crane.

It's not a large book and it's written in a readable style and rarely gets technical but it covers a lot of ground and is bang up to date.

"What is History?" by Edward Hallett Carr. Make sure you buy the edition with the foreword by Richard Evans.

Far more interesting than analytic philosophy proper.

This probably isn't the right thread for this but I better ask it here than start a new thread.

I vaguely remember a quote attributed to Immanuel Kant so I'd be grateful if someone can tell me the exact quote. Also, if it's rightly attributed to Kant. The quote goes something like, "Man creates rules for/of the world and those rules in turn create the world he observes"

TIA!

advaitya wrote:This probably isn't the right thread for this but I better ask it here than start a new thread.

I vaguely remember a quote attributed to Immanuel Kant so I'd be grateful if someone can tell me the exact quote. Also, if it's rightly attributed to Kant. The quote goes something like, "Man creates rules for/of the world and those rules in turn create the world he observes"

TIA!

Ive had a quick scan of my copy of The Critique of Pure Reason, and couldnt find anything in the index (I looked up the term "rules"). The phrase dosnt look familiar, but the general idea does. Is it possible the actual Kant quote used quite different words, or are you sure he mentions "rules"?

Hi Walter.

I am not sure of the exact wording of the phrase or mention of the word rule. Like you, I only faintly recall the general gist. Instead of "rules", it might have contained "man defines the laws of the universe.." but I cannot be sure.

advaitya wrote:Hi Walter. I am not sure of the exact wording of the phrase or mention of the word rule. Like you, I only faintly recall the general gist. Instead of "rules", it might have contained "man defines the laws of the universe.." but I cannot be sure.

I am too busy to look it up now - but what you have in mind is in "Critique of Practical Reason" (towards the end as I recall).

Kant is discussing the problem of free will in relation to necessity and chance. As I recall he only offers it as a suggestion and says later that the theory would be difficult to justify and might raise more problems than it solves.

You can find the text on Gutenberg - you can probably find it by doing some skimming. If I have time later I can probably find the part.

Positron wrote:

advaitya wrote:Hi Walter. I am not sure of the exact wording of the phrase or mention of the word rule. Like you, I only faintly recall the general gist. Instead of "rules", it might have contained "man defines the laws of the universe.." but I cannot be sure.

I am too busy to look it up now - but what you have in mind is in "Critique of Practical Reason" (towards the end as I recall). Kant is discussing the problem of free will in relation to necessity and chance.

As I recall he only offers it as a suggestion and says later that the theory would be difficult to justify and might raise more problems than it solves.

You can find the text on Gutenberg - you can probably find it by doing some skimming. If I have time later I can probably find the part.

In fact I have found the part fairly quickly - look in the Gutenberg Project Critique of Practical Reason and search for the heading "Critical Solution of the Antinomy of Practical Reason" which is, I am pretty sure, what you are referring to.

Personally I think philosophy is overrated. I've learned more about the world and humanity by reading history than I ever have reading philosophy. Don't get me wrong, I do find it interesting but only in the same way as I find puzzles interesting.

Anyway, here is a good place to start. The supplementary materiel is on the Oxford website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdCBGWcd4qw

All of Nietzsche's works, "The Critique of Pure Reason" by Kant, "L'Etre et le Neant (Being and Nothingness)" by Jean-Paul Sartre, "Godel, Escher, and Bach" is an interesting read by Douglas Hofstadter, though I'm not sure it counts as philosophy.

Greatctulu wrote:All of Nietzsche's works, "The Critique of Pure Reason" by Kant, "L'Etre et le Neant (Being and Nothingness)" by Jean-Paul Sartre, "Godel, Escher, and Bach" is an interesting read by Douglas Hofstadter, though I'm not sure it counts as philosophy.

Don't bother with Nietzche. At first it's interesting enough, before you realise he isn't actually saying very much. In terms of having something solid to work with, David Hume is far more worthwhile.

metacristi wrote:For those who do not have too much time at disposal I would recommend The British Empiricists (very expensive as I see, personally I borrowed it once - and copied it - from the local British Council Centre).

It's now available in paperback at a reasonable price and even cheaper on Kindle.

Yes - read Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil is a great start)...

It is fun, as well as heavy with ideas - whether you agree or not.

Not a primer - but Pierre Hadot's Philosophy as a Way of Life is a good read....

"The Philosopher's Toolkit" is an excellent intro that will help you with critiquing arguments and philosophical theories.

Critique of Pure Reason as an introductory book to philosophy? lols.