[Vonlenska]

In the words of Albert Camus: "The great novelists are philosophical novelists."

On that note, what are your favourite philosophical works of fiction?

I'd say, in no particular order:

• The Outsider - Albert Camus
• The Fall - Albert Camus
• Nausea - Jean-Paul Sartre
• Candide - Voltaire
• A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess (If you'll let me have it...)
• Justine - Marquis De Sade

These are just my favourites of what I've read so far.

[Kiss]

I like mostly dystopian novels, the usual suspects being ´1984´, ´Clockwork Orange´, ´Brave New World´ etc. but I found ´One Flew Over The Cuckoo´s Nest´ inspiring and it opened many philosophical questions on free will, treating people who can or can´t think for themselves and it helped to illustrate the appauling conditions of the 50s and 60s for those in US psychiatric wards.

[rawkus]

slaughterhouse 5?

[Rhadamanthus]

In b4 the Randroids.

I'll say any Camus book, especially The Outsider.

[L'art pour l'art]

The Brothers Karamazov.

[Schlegel]

Any Dostoyevsky.

But, really? I don't think the best novelists are philosophical. ''The job of writers is to ask questions, not to give answers.' - Anton Chekhov

[MJOwen]

Island, by Aldous Huxley, undoubtedly. I've never read a more complete ( fictional ) exploration of Buddhist and, to a lesser degree, Hindu philosophy. I hasten to add though that one without a rudimentary understanding of the central concepts of Buddhism would find it difficult.

[Kiss]

(Original post by MJOwen)
Island, by Aldous Huxley, undoubtedly. I've never read a more complete ( fictional ) exploration of Buddhist and, to a lesser degree, Hindu philosophy. I hasten to add though that one without a rudimentary understanding of the central concepts of Buddhism would find it difficult.

Not read that, what´s it like and about??

(Original post by Rhadamanthus)
In b4 the Randroids.

I'll say any Camus book, especially The Outsider.

I like ´The Fall´.

[Rhadamanthus]

(Original post by Kiss)
I like ´The Fall´.

Yeah it's good too. Camus's absurdism is an interesting philosophy.

[Kibalchich]

Yeah, Mark E Smith is a modern poet.

[MJOwen]

(Original post by Kiss)
Not read that, what´s it like and about??

Basically, a British journalist finds himself on the island of Pala, normally out-of-bounds for foreigners, as a representative of a multi-national oil company. It is a utopian society which combines the best of Mahayana Buddhism and Western Science wherein everybody is perfectly happy through recourse to insightful ' Moksha medicine ' ( a somewhat hallucinogenic drug ), ' sex yoga ' and the like. However, it is threatened by a rival country with links to big business and industry and the heir to the throne is intent on selling the country out to oil corporations and consumerism. The journalist ends up identifying with the Palanese and a ideological and identity struggle ensues. The concept of ' no self '- anatta- takes a powerful hold on him and alerts him to the vacuousness of his Western society.
I'd recommend it, it's a thoroughly thought-provoking work and not at all pretentious

[Kiss]

(Original post by MJOwen)
Basically, a British journalist finds himself on the island of Pala, normally out-of-bounds for foreigners, as a representative of a multi-national oil company. It is a utopian society which combines the best of Mahayana Buddhism and Western Science wherein everybody is perfectly happy through recourse to insightful ' Moksha medicine ' ( a somewhat hallucinogenic drug ), ' sex yoga ' and the like. However, it is threatened by a rival country with links to big business and industry and the heir to the throne is intent on selling the country out to oil corporations and consumerism. The journalist ends up identifying with the Palanese and a ideological and identity struggle ensues. The concept of ' no self '- anatta- takes a powerful hold on him and alerts him to the vacuousness of his Western society.
I'd recommend it, it's a thoroughly thought-provoking work and not at all pretentious

Sounds interesting, I´ve only read BNW. You read that?

[MJOwen]

(Original post by Kiss)
Sounds interesting, I´ve only read BNW. You read that?

Yes, I've read BNW. A very clever book, almost prophetic in its depiction of today.