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Does anyone here have any suggestions on readings in (modern) philosophy?
An interesting, although quite academic, read I was recently suggested was Moral Uncertainty by Krister Bykvist, Toby Ord, and William MacAskill. Does anyone here have any suggestions on (modern) philosophy that you have currently been reading or are interesting in reading?
It might be a bit introductory for some, but I really enjoyed At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell.
She covers the Existentialist greats - Heidegger, Husserl, Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus. What made it great though was she also covered the historical context in which they developed their philosophies. For example, how the differences in the early lives between Satre and Campus led to some of their interpersonal strife.
Its a nice combination of philosophy and history.
I'm curious to read some more as well if I'm honest?
I've not long finished Not so Black & White by Kenan Malik and it was really eye opening about racial <stuff> that affects the UK.
I've also done Stoicism to death lately. Epictetus, Seneca and Aurelius are great. But the whole 'stiff upper lip' just doesn't do it for me. Love the notion of four virtues, but the whole control of emotions just flies in the face of my firebrand attitude.
So I'm on the look out as well.
Sounds interesting. I'm in Finland where nobody really talked about race until the last 10 years when the number of immigrants (and refugees) really picked up. A lot of people aren't familiar with the discourse that for example the US and UK have had on the topic for a long time but I feel like we're slowly getting there. Thanks for the suggestions.
Race is a tough one, mostly because it's such a nonsense artificial construct devised by us Europeans to devalue just about anyone else other than our white-skinned selves.
Highly recommend Malik's works to be fair. The UK Humanists do a great series of books that are very similar too!
Are you asking what I'm currently reading? Or are you asking me to recommend books for you to read?
Both! Would you recommend the books you are currently reading or something else?
I'm not currently reading any philosophy books. I'm reading a couple of science fiction series. So, on that basis, I have nothing to tell you.
However... if your main goal is to get recommendations of philosophy books, rather than to find out what's currently on my Kobo... I might have something to say.
Hence my request for clarification.
Great. So what do you recommend?
Firstly, I'm going to edit your title to reflect the fact that you're actually looking for recommendations, rather than people's current reading.
Okay. Now I've got some recommendations.
First up, a couple of primers.
Ethics
edited by Peter Singer
This is an anthology of various ethical writings from the past 2,500 years, from the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. up to the 20th century A.D. (the book was published in 1994). The essays and extracts are grouped by topic.
The Story of Philosophy: A History of Western Thought
by James Garvey & Jeremy Stangroom
Pretty much what it says on the label: the story of western philosophy for the past 2,500 years, touching on major philosophers and philosophies across that period.
And one polemic:
The Moral Landscape: How science can determine human values
by Sam Harris
This is a challenging and controversial attempt by the author (a renowned atheist writer and spokesman) to find a scientific basis for morality. He looks at the realm of science to interrogate whether we can build an ethical framework from our scientific reality, including human neuroscience (which is a way to measure the well-being of humans).
Ok, thanks a lot! I took a basic course in philosophy in university so I have some background in the history of philosophy but I don't remember much so a refresher sounds great. I've also set both of the books on ethics on my reading list. I've heard a lot about Peter Singer but never actually read anything written by him. The polemic also sounds interesting and thought-provoking if nothing else.