/lit/ - Literature

>>3691279

It's pretty biased, actually. I would recommend just dabbling around in primary texts.

He does a good job with the presocratics, but his biases creep in when he's writing about modern philosophy. Get Fredrick Copleston's History of Philosophy if you want a really good primer. However, at 9 volumes, it is a bit daunting.

>>3691285
Hmm interesting. I had read his problems of philosophy and quite liked it.
What philosophical movements do you recommend starting with? I've only read Freud, Jung, Sartre, and Hume (in my intro to phil).

What does /lit/ think of Anthony Kenny's history of philosophy?

>>3691325
The Oxford Illustrated History of Western Philosophy
>illustrated

>>3691353
That's only one version, I swear!

>>3691297
Thanks anon. I think I might jump right in at volume 6

>>3691297
Btw, its now 11 volumes

I tote this book around a lot on here, but a good beginning book is The Story of Philosophy by Durant. It's not particularly long and does a good job of giving the lives and ideas of the major philosophers. He also does the contemporaries of his time, which was around the birth of the Modernist movement, but they aren't nearly as good as the bulk of the book.

>>3691325
Kenny is brilliant, you won't go wrong with it.

>>3691325
go 4 it, bro

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0199656495<wbr>

>>3691279
Despite Nietzsche allegedly being full of shit, this thread sure is doomed to eternally recur.
Ubermentzsche: 1
Bertrand Runtermensch: 0

Not OP, but should I buy:

1. Bertrand Russell's "A History of Western Philosophy"
2. Anthony Kenny's "A New History of Western Philosophy"

I read a review saying Kenny is a bit of theologist and it creeps into his work, which is not what I want. I'd like a neutral view, with some historical perspective.

>>3691559
>a neutral view
Impossibru. Philosophy is divisive business.

>>3691559
u saiyan a theologist can't b neutral?
Laughable. The biased one is you.

>>3691575
No I'm not. You're implying I was.

I read a review that said he is a theologist and it creeps into his work. Therefore, someone has noted already how he seems a bit biased.

Of course a theologist can be neutral - apparently, this one isn't, though.

Fucking muppet.

>>3691568
Relatively neutral, then, if we're going to get semantic.

The least biased one you know of, or at least one in line with most of the Western canon.

>>3691559
>I read a review saying Kenny is a bit of theologist and it creeps into his work, which is not what I want. I'd like a neutral view, with some historical perspective.

Even if that's the case, I doubt that his work could possibly be more biased than Russell's.

Any thoughts on this as a short intro to western thought for my (non-western) girlfriend?

The Passion of the Western Mind, Richard Tarnas (1993)
http://www.amazon.com/Passion-Western-Mind-Understanding-Shaped/dp/0345368096

>edit
"The most lucid and concise presentation I have read, of the grand lines of what every student should know about the history of Western thought. The writing is elegant and carries the reader with the momentum of a novel... It is really a noble performance."
--Joseph Campbell

Well fuck, why am I even asking you guys?

it sucks

it should be titled "Betrand Russel Tells You What You Should Think"

>>3691589
Bertrand Russell was an atheist (like the Richard Dawkins of his day) and he lets that creep into his work

>>3694473
Isn't that the subtext of EVERY book?

Not OP, would that help my revision for my philosophy exam?

Core theme: What is a Human Being

>>3691568
>Philosophy is divisive business.

I bet you're the same kind of uneducated ignorant kid who thinks of philosophy as "opinions".

back to /sci/

>>3694482
What the fuck is with edgy bullshit posts like this one?

you're like the stoner kids or /pol/ manchildren

>>3691297
9 volumes sounds like a bit more than even a "really good primer". Thanks for the rec, though.

History is great and all, but I'd also recommend checking this out.

Also, Russel has a book you can get on gutenberg for free. It's called The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. Get it here The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

>>3695733
whoops, here is the link: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5827

>>3694465
Just get her Sophie's World. It's decent when your a girl and non-western.

No. Just start reading and interpreting the texts on your own. Stop trying to ruin the experience by filling your head with secondary writings and letting some Englishman do the thinking for you.

Russell is the bottom of the barrel. Stay far, far away.

Russell made some legit contributions to logic in his time, though they are pretty outdated now. and the book is a pretty dodgy bit of scholarship.

basically don't bother. Read the originals then dip into more interesting secondary stuff

>>3698717
But I am English. I can't not let some Englishman do my thinking.

>>3698851
>I can't not let some Englishman do my thinking.
Now you're just being defeatist.

>>3695737
>>3695733
heh I just read this

it's pretty enjoyable/easy and super short

>>3698741
>though they are pretty outdated now
huh?