Philosophy: books and discussion

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Not read 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' - I haven't got a motorcycle .

Your mention did remind me that I enjoyed 'Jonathan Livingstone Seagull' though - one of my favourite 'spiritual' books.

I remember enjoying it too, but it was so long ago, I don't really remember why - except for the beautiful photos.

Philosophy books are so much more engaging when they have photos

[FlorenceArt]

And how about "Siddharta" by Hermann Hesse?

I think I may have read a couple of books by Hermann Hesse when I was a teenager, but I'm afraid I forgot all about them.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

And how about "Siddharta" by Hermann Hesse?

I think I may have read a couple of books by Hermann Hesse when I was a teenager, but I'm afraid I forgot all about them.

I've read 'The Glass Bead Game' which I really enjoyed.

I must read 'Siddharta' - the Wiki page about it sounds intriguing.
I will scale the north face of my TBR mountain, and place it near the summit.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

I've read 'The Glass Bead Game' which I really enjoyed.

I must read 'Siddharta' - the Wiki page about it sounds intriguing.
I will scale the north face of my TBR mountain, and place it near the summit.

Looking at my Amazon cart (where I often put books I'd like to read some day), it's obvious I have searched for books on Zen before. I must have bought the one I did because it was the only one I could find in e-form. But there are several that look interesting in paper form (or in Kindle form, which is still unavailable to me )

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...s=Zen+Buddhism

[tompe]

Originally Posted by recluse

I'm kinda new to this philosophy thing and was hoping for some help.
I've read Nietzsche and Bishop Fulton Sheen.
I am particularly interested in anything concerning human evil.
Any reading recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Basic books in moral philosophy might be good so you understand that "evil" is a hard concept to define and you can give many meanings to it.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

But that's not enough. There are many things that I don't know and could exercise my mind on. Some of them I even do read about, but not all of them. I make a selection. So why philosophy?

One good reason to study philosophy is that it trains you to think critically. You get into the mind set of always questioning assumptions and always making clear that all the terms used are understood correctly.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

I'd forgotten - I bought Zen and the Art of Anything by Hal French at Books on Board, but couldn't read it. The author apparently decided that the normal way of diplaying words in a book -one after the other until the line is full, then move to the next line- was distracting, and that he would help me read by deciding himself where to put line breaks. Gah! Talk about distracting....

Probably thought he was a damn poet!

[hidari]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Sorry Tom, we cross-posted. I'd like to re-read Nietzsche, but I don't remember much from the first time I read Zarathustra.

I'd be happy to discuss the Stoics, or at least Seneca, after I have read a bit more from him. And I made a note about Marcus Aurelius!

Nietzsche could at least write a good story.....

@Florence...sorry. But Plato beats Aristotle any day...Plato gets pedantic at times but at least there is a story... Aristotle is ssssssssssssssslllooww. at times...

[Bilbo1967]

A great book and a good introduction to philosophy and philosophers is Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy.

An entertaining as well as informative read.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by hidari

Nietzsche could at least write a good story.....

@Florence...sorry. But Plato beats Aristotle any day...Plato gets pedantic at times but at least there is a story... Aristotle is ssssssssssssssslllooww. at times...

A story is good, but I was talking about content. I doubt that I would be interested in Aristotle's ideas, but I can positively tell you that I hate Plato's, story or not.

However, if you enjoy stories of some half-wit being beaten to death with falsely logical arguments and ridiculous similes, drop everything and read Plato now!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

A great book and a good introduction to philosophy and philosophers is Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy.

An entertaining as well as informative read.

Also available for the kindle at amazon. http://www.amazon.com/History-Wester.../dp/0671201581

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

However, if you enjoy stories of some half-wit being beaten to death with falsely logical arguments and ridiculous similes, drop everything and read Plato now!

What about his Cave Allegory? - surely that's a neat idea!

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

What about his Cave Allegory? - surely that's a neat idea!

I don't know, what's so neat in the idea that we are all blind and that only a chosen few are allowed to see and tell us what to think and do?

I suppose there are millions of neat ideas out there. Personally I like mine seasoned with a bit of fact. The only fact Plato's theories are based on is his hatred of life and reality.

Sorry. As you can see, I'm getting a bit overexcited about this. I really really really hate Plato's ideas.

[beppe]

It took the Avatar contest to find this wonderful thread in Florence signature.
Joy, and so many members that I admire!

I give a tiny contribution. I get much of my Philosophy reading from a site. I make PDF's of what I am interested and read it on my reader at leasure.
I find reading philosophy directly very hard in general, expecially the modern and contemporaries, while in a handbook, mediated by a professor, it gets more palatable.

This is my bookmark.

oh marvel Florence had it already on https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...90&postcount=1

[beppe]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

I don't know, what's so neat in the idea that we are all blind and that only a chosen few are allowed to see and tell us what to think and do?

I suppose there are millions of neat ideas out there. Personally I like mine seasoned with a bit of fact. The only fact Plato's theories are based on is his hatred of life and reality.

Sorry. As you can see, I'm getting a bit overexcited about this. I really really really hate Plato's ideas.

I like very much the screen. It is the metaphor of the impossibility of obtaining a faithful image of reality. BTW about this impossibility there are no privileged chosen to be remembered.

It is a very actual and realistic thought. Reality is so complex that, even in its simplest manifestations, it eludes a representation that is more than limited to a particular and highly simplified abstraction.

It is a central thought for those who are interested in the search for what is this?

There is one of the British Empirist, Hume if I remember correctly, that warns us. If you put on tainted glasses you will see everything green. This very useful thought comes right from the screen.

tirade against reltivism

Spoiler:

All the relativists, those who say that everything is the same as my opinion is as worthy as yours, use the screen constantly, varying its opacity at will, and discouraging their targets to find more. To their advantage of course. The modern obscurantism. Obtained by flashing the blinding light of false egalitarianism in the eyes of the admiring masses, that finally have a justification for debasing themselves in any possible way.