The Student Room Group
Reply 1
Anything by Nietzsche.

That'll teach you.
Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.
Reply 3
Do you know what aspects of philosophy would interest you?
Would you prefer to read one of the 'classics' or something more modern?
There are soooo many philosophy books lol
Reply 4
emioly
Do you know what aspects of philosophy would interest you?
Would you prefer to read one of the 'classics' or something more modern?
There are soooo many philosophy books lol

I'd like one classic and a modern one.

The best of the old and the best of the new. :biggrin:
Reply 5
I've got Philosophy - A Guide through the Subject by A.C. Grayling, which our university reccomended for people to get to grips with philosophy. It cost me £25 and I'll sell it to you for £15 if you want?
Reply 7
£13 final offer.
Reply 8
50p?
Mill/Kant/Bentham would probably be good to start you off
also aquinas
and classical philosophers
it depends on what period interests you the msot
Reply 10
or I'll throw in Nagel's "What Does it All Mean" and Russell's "The Problems of Philosophy", which they reccomended for us as well for £20
Reply 11
J-E-N-O-V-A
I'd like one classic and a modern one.

The best of the old and the best of the new. :biggrin:

Well, I've only read Descartes and John Stuart Mill - Descartes was alright and is generally regarded as the 'founder' of modern philosophy so I would recommend his meditations... even though it's just so cliched lol. Mill was... well pretty boring lol
In terms of modern stuff I don't really know. I like stuff on philosophy of language so I read part of Simon Blackburn's 'Spreading the Word' but that's sort of like an introduction. Bernard Williams' 'Morality' is quite good as well...
If you want stuff that will be of use at the beginning of your degree, The Republic by Plato, as mentioned Hume's Enquiry and Descartes Meditations, if you're feeling brave you could tackle Kant but go for something relatively easy like the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals or Critique of Practical Reason. For a more modern book, you could try Mackie's Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong, it's pretty well written and isn't an introductory type text. Ayer's Language, Truth & Logic might be useful too.

If you do read Nietzsche, realise that until you know a bit about Kantian metaphysics, and the history of western philosophy in general, you won't actually understand him.
geminibubblegum
Mill/Kant/Bentham would probably be good to start you off
also aquinas
and classical philosophers
it depends on what period interests you the msot


I wouldn't start with Kant! I'm in my third year now and am still struggling with him...

I'd second Washingtonirving's recommendations, and would add Hume's Dialogues and Berkeley's Principles.
J-E-N-O-V-A
I was wondering whether people could recommend me some of the fundamental books to the subjects of philosophy that I should read before beginning a joint honours degree of Maths and Philosophy. Not Maths related books please, and not introduction books either (I'm currently reading one). Purely philosophy books is what I need. Thanks!
:smile:


Maths and Philosophy means lots of logic. Wilfred Hodges' Introduction to Elementary Logic is a fairly accessible start.

On general philosophy, seeing as you've only got recommendations for classics so far, I'd say it's worth looking at some Nozick. Anarchy, State and Utopia is easier to get hold of, but Philosophical Explanations covers a wider range of topics.
Reply 15
Thanks for all the help guys :smile:
I've decided that I'm going to take a Gap year before going to uni, when I've finished my exams I'll come back to this thread and start buying some of the books you've recommended. I want to read as much as possible in my Gap year so that I can go to uni knwoing what the hell I'm talking about :h:

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