[coastbeats]

Hi everyone,

This year I will be applying to universities for PPE and I've got a handful of famous texts to read and thus to write on my personal statement. E.g I have A treatise of Human nature, rationalism, on liberty, the philosophy of economics, groundwork of the metaphysics of morals etc.

But these books are so widely read and used to write in people's personal statements, I want to be original. I was wondering if there are philosophical books out there which aren't written by famous philosophers but do answer the main themes of philosophy. It's hard to explain but I don't just want a famous text written by an actual philosopher from the 16th or 17th century, I want a book which covers philosophical questions but in a unique way, either in a novel or any other form.
So basically I don't want a list of arguments a famous philosopher has to say but philosophy portrayed through a modern outlook.

Thanks for your help.

[sanmisra]

Looking for an under-rated philosopher is difficult. There may be some you haven't heard of but are very famous and influential.

If you're looking particularly at early modern (17th-18th century) - off the top of my head, I'd say;

John Toland - Christianity not mysterious (very interesting, especially regarding the historical context)

Leibniz - Philsophical Essays (many people overlook his philosophical writings - consider reading the Monadology and Principles of Grace and Reason)

Spinoza - Ethics (brilliant especially in contrast to Leibniz - a great depiction of rationalist sentiment carried forward from Descartes).

I feel these few are often missed out by people I've talked to, they're famous but often overlooked. Also, there are many works by famous philosophers that are overlooked- Kant's Philosophy of Right for example- it's a dodgy read, but an example nonetheless. Or Wittgenstein's Remarks on Colour or On Certainty.

What you'll find helpful for PPE, maybe for your application, but definitely for your degree (regardless of where you go) - political philosophy - read Rawls and see what you think; Theory of Justice, Justice as Fairness, The Law of Peoples. He is in my opinion, one of the most, if not the most important 20th century philosopher.

To go in to a mini-rant; yes, some books you read will be really famous and widely read but that's more of a reason to read them, surely? There are complex details that need to be addressed and even today further literature is dedicated to unraveling the details. Make sure if you mention a book on a personal statement you don't just re-iterate what you read, but what you gained from the book (maybe that's obvious, or maybe you already knew that).

Also, please don't fall in to the trap of looking for ways to be unique, and ignoring what truly interests you or how a certain piece of work affects you. If you liked reading 'A treatise on human nature', for example, then say what you liked about it, what you think it represents and if attempts to be challenging something and/or how it has affected other philosophers. Look into the detail of one or two books (for your personal statement or interview), regardless of who wrote them - and if you can definitely understand where they are coming from, you've done well because then you can explain what you think and feel about the selected works, and do be able to do so with analytical precision. Doing so will be worth more than finding under-rated philosophers or generally more specific or harder to read books that you may not be able to completely grasp. Just giving some advice that I know I've benefited from, so don't take it the wrong way .

That wasn't really very 'mini', sorry! Hope I've said has been useful!

Good luck with your application .

[TheSophist]

(Original post by coastbeats)
Hi everyone,

This year I will be applying to universities for PPE and I've got a handful of famous texts to read and thus to write on my personal statement. E.g I have A treatise of Human nature, rationalism, on liberty, the philosophy of economics, groundwork of the metaphysics of morals etc.

But these books are so widely read and used to write in people's personal statements, I want to be original. I was wondering if there are philosophical books out there which aren't written by famous philosophers but do answer the main themes of philosophy. It's hard to explain but I don't just want a famous text written by an actual philosopher from the 16th or 17th century, I want a book which covers philosophical questions but in a unique way, either in a novel or any other form.
So basically I don't want a list of arguments a famous philosopher has to say but philosophy portrayed through a modern outlook.

Thanks for your help.

Bernard williams!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Descartes-Th...3440219&sr=8-3

[whaledunnnnn]

Hi thank you so much for this! I'm in exactly the same position at the moment. I'm planning to apply for PPE in the US and UK, so some of these books will give me a great insight.

[navyspaces]

I'd say your angle is wrong - don't try to look for 'famous philosophers' or 'well known issues' etc... be thoroughly original and just find a book you enjoyed, and dig out the philosophy in that. What I often do is meander through books on Amazon (clicking on 'what other people bought' etc) and reading the summaries until I find one that sounds vaguely interesting, and then see if that one actually does satisfy my odd interests.

I wrote about The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins in my Philosophy section (my statement had a paragraph on economics and geopolitics, and one on philosophy and science ) to show my science background, and it worked out fine for me. I'd definitely say reading something you can be passionate about is far preferable to reading something well established as good. As sanmisra said, the entire point is to show how you understand whatever it is you've read.

[Estreth]

I second Sanmisra's rant in support of reading the philosophical classics (including Rawls - three of his books on my desk right now as I (don't) write my dissertation) and also Navyspaces' argument for reading and analysing philosophically books that you find interesting. Personally I think The Selfish Gene is a particularly good shout, given that I got asked about game theory (although not labelled as such) in my Oxford philosophy interview, and wouldn't have coped anywhere near as well with it if I hadn't read Dawkins. You never know what will be useful in philosophy.