Philosophical Works

[Rodri]

Socrates!
Why hasn't anyone mentioned Socrates. He was the father of Western philosophy, after all and pretty much laid out the basic philosophical process (which is called the socratic method). Read a bit of Socrates first and you will have the foundation to continue on from there.

[Gnerphk]

Socrates wrote nothing; that's why. Plato and Aristotle are the only reason we even know about him. Unambitious *er.

Which is decent philosophy, I might add.

Aye; I'd concur with many of the posts in the thread, and especially with the inclusion of Wells and his history. A decent grounding in world history (and necessarily its religions) is essential to understand the people and opinions therein. And it must never be forgotten that people write history and create (or discover) philosophy.

My own advice? Read the Aubrey/Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brian. They'll give you a better application of philosophy than any Aristotle, Descartes, Pascal, or Plato - and they're far more interesting, so you'll retain more.

And finally: Know yourself first. Philosophy is merely a caveat to self-knowledge.

[Rodri]

"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for."
Socrates

"To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge."
Socrates

"The unexamined life is not worth living."
Socrates

"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be."
Socrates

[Rota]

Many good books have been listed already. Here's a few more...

The Trial and Death of Socrates - Plato
Utopia - Thomas Moore
Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx
The Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith
Art of War - Sun Tzu
Utilitarianism - John Stuart Mill
Beyond Good and Evil - Friedrich Nietzsche

[Moghedien]

The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine Published in 1791. Try to find the oldest edition you can. This is true for any book.

[Conrad_Jalowski]

I. Ancient Philosophy

In the study of Occidental philosophy, I recommend that you begin with the Pre-Socratic philosophers and sophists. The birth of atomic theory under Democritus and Leucippus, the apeiron model of Anaximander, the process philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus, the various cosmological models and the process of demythologization all occurred before the philosophical teachings of Socrates. The Pre-Socratics and the first physicists contemplated the creation or origin of the cosmos and the processes that led from the period of Chaos to the established universe. From the state of Chaos arose the cosmos and from a state of disorder and disunity arose an ordered and highly structured universe. While the Pre-Socratics contemplated the origin of the cosmos and the essences of the corporeal and material world, Socrates brought the gift of philosophy down from the heavens and into the center of human affairs. Socrates was a hierophant of philosophy who observed and studied human relations, passions, impulses and desires as well as the concepts of Truth and justice. Simply put, Socrates was a physician of the souls of men. Socrates sought Truth or the essences of things which were objects removed of their superfluities in order to reveal their core values or essences.

The three Grecian philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle of Stagira formed the foundation of Occidental philosophy. Before delving into the Platonic Dialogues or the works of Aristotle, I recommend that you briefly research on the Great Peloponnesian War [431-404 BCE], terms such as classical tyranny, oligarchy, democracy, timocracy, aristocracy and anarchy, the composition of the Athenian democracy in the time of Pericles and the dangers of a democracy on the Athenian model. Before delving into the philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle, you should acquaint yourself with the historical background of the particular time periodfor each philosophical tradition is deeply rooted into the general culture of its time. For example, why was Socrates condemned to die by the Athenian Ekklesia or Assembly? Socrates was condemned for two major points: for being deemed an atheist and not worshipping the Olympian Pantheon which was easily dropped and for the corruption of the Athenian youth. In a sense, he did "corrupt" the Athenian youth for to corrupt is to lead astray from the popular conventions and norms of society. Athens though democratic was a patriarchal society with the adult male as the head of the family. To undermine the authority of the traditional elite and the eldest members of the family unit was a form of corruption. Socrates taught his pupils to not slavishly adhere to the works of others or to blindly accept the authority of influential figures but rather to develop their own autonomous thoughts. This subversion of the traditions of the Athenian state or this form of "corruption" ultimately led to Socrates' condemnation. In addition, Socrates' known dislike and marked repugnance for the democratic institution of Athens greatly offended the democratic politicians and the rabble. Socrates and later Plato despised the rabble or the masses of the polis of Athens which they deemed as easily misinformed, ignorant and vulgar. In the democracy of Athens, demagogues would often mislead the people and inflame their passions. The ideal was expressed in Plato's The Republic which was the rule of the sagacious or the wise individuals of society and the Philosopher-King himself followed by the warrior class and finally the laborers. The philosophers represented Logos, the warriors Thymos and the laborers Eros. Although Socrates could have been banished or escaped from his jail cell to avoid the sentence of death, he chose to cling to his ideals and to his philosophy to his last gasp of air. Socrates chose to die and follow his principles rather than to negate his philosophy and his most sacred values. In this sense, Socrates is a Christ-like figure and the ultimate model for the autonomous thinker. Overall, if one does not possess prior knowledge on the faults and instability of the Athenian model of democracy and Periclean imperialism, the philosophy itself would not be fully grasped or understood.

I definitely recommend Plato's The Republic for his categorization of society and his negative response to the Athenian model of democracy. As for Aristotle of Stagira, I recommend his Nicomachean Ethics, Poetics and Rhetoric and Politics. In particular, I find the section detailing the constitution of the Carthaginian state quite fascinating. Aristotle of Stagira portrayed Carthage as an aristocracy with oligarchic and democratic elements and even deemed it superior to Lacedaemon. For Roman philosophy, I recommend the study of Marcus Tullius Cicero whose greatest contribution to the field of philosophy was his synthesis of Grecian philosophy and traditional Roman values. In particular, I recommend Marcus Tullius Cicero's The Tusculan Disputations, The Dream of Scipio, On Duty, On the Orator, Laelius: On Friendship and the Treatise on the Commonwealth. I would then study the second golden age of philosophy which existed during the period of Imperial Rome with the movement of Neoplatonism and the Stoics. An example of a Neoplatonist who lived during the firm and benevolent rule of the Roman Empire was the female pagan philosopher Hypatia in Alexandria, Egypt. On a final note for Ancient philosophy, you should make a comparison of the different modes of government that existed in the Mediterranean world such as the governments of Lacedaemon, Athens, Carthage and Rome.

[Moghedien]

The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

I strongly recommend these works

[King Dylan]

(Plato) The Republic
(Aristotle) Politics / Nichomachean Ethics
(Chanakya) Arthashastra
(Augustine) City of Gods
(Aquinas) Summa Theologica
(Niccolo Machiavelli) The Prince / Discourses on Livy
(John Locke) Two Treatises of Government


That's all I can think of at the moment.

It's City of God.

That one s makes all the difference, the book puts much focus on god, the one and single, so adding the s and making it plural defeats the whole purpose of the book.

But Skirata did put alot of good books up there. It seems like your new to these reads, I suggest you start with Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. It's a much easier read than all of the other books as stated above.

[imnothere]

i think i'll tackle The Prince when i'm done with The Family, by umm.. hang on i have to go get it...Bradshaw, John Bradshaw.
for a long time i thought that because i didnt like society and its rules that what i didnt like about it didnt apply to me, that i could ignore what was wrong with the worlds and focus on what i wanted to change in my life.
but reading The Family (i'm only 3 or 4 chpts in) has changed my view, now i can see that by accepting what is wrong with the way society works i can change how i view what has shaped my life and thereby truly change what it is i dont like.

its been an amazing eyeopening read. i would suggest it to anyone who is aching for some hardcore self discovery.

[Rodri]

Gnerphk, when I speak of reading the Works of Socrates, I acknowledge that there are no texts available to us but I refer to those ideas and quotations that are directly attributed to him. I believe it is fundamental because it gives a foundation of how to think and discuss philosophically and apply critical thinking. That is why I gave no book names but these quotes of Socrates are easy to find if you google that.

Seeing as everyone else is giving there favourite branches a plug, I might as well have a go too.

I would reccomend learning about the teachings of the Buhda and in particular the four noble truths and the eightfold path. This site is anice easy introduction to the teachings of Buhda:

Teachings of Buhdda

Further, as I follow the path of Zen I would reccomend this site if you feel like following up on the basic Buhdist precepts:

What is Zen?

I would reccomend these sites to anyone who is interested in learning a basic understanding of buhdist thinking.