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/lit/ - Literature

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21956112 No.21956112 [Reply] [Original]

Is any of those history of philosophy books worth it? I've been wanting to get a general view on philosphy and the most prominent philosophers, but which should I read? Or should I just forget about it?

>> No.21956129

>>21956112
Frederick Coplestone’s history of philosophy is fantastic

He does a great summary of each philosopher

>> No.21956138

>>21956112
IMO they're not really worth your time. You should just jump into books you want to read.

>> No.21956207

They're fine as a starting point but it would be poor to think you can become educated on philosophy by reading one.

Coplestone's is good but long, Anthony Kenny's is a more modern and concise vision, Bryan Magee's is baby mode but the most 'simple' starting point if one is a true layman.

I started with Magee's when I begun reading philosophy and do not regret it.

>> No.21956227
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21956227

One must know the power and divinity of Monad himself.

>> No.21956245

>>21956112
why not just pick a philosopher you're interested in and take a look at their writings? the idea of getting a grand overview is silly. Just explore the history and look at a bunch of stuff and see what grabs and moves you.

what topics are you interested in?

>> No.21956384

>>21956245
I did go for it and started with the Greeks, but there is so much to read and I am very busy with life right now; it seems like it will take me decades to get a grip on all these thinkers... So, I'd like to build this base knowledge on them asap and hopefully feel less anxious about how little time I have to dedicate to it and how long it will take me to read through all of their works.

>> No.21956683

>>21956384
Relax bro

>> No.21956691
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21956691

>>21956112
You want to read the Jonathan Barnes edition of the Complete Works of Aristotle.
You really do...

>> No.21956707

>>21956129
These are the best but somewhat hard to acquire. I've been collecting them as they appear at my local used book store (I have four)

>> No.21956710

>>21956245
Getting the grand overview is by far the best way to get acclimated and nearly every decent university has a course like this.

>> No.21956801
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21956801

>>21956112
there's a history of philosophy podcast on spotify. its been going for more than 10 years with 400 episodes that average 20 minutes an episode. he advertises that he skips nothing.

>> No.21956808

This is gonna sound unromantic and pseud as fuck but I unironically think the best starting point for someone who doesn't know anything about philosophy is just to look through philosophers' articles on Wikipedia.

>> No.21957776

>>21956112
From GBWW

RED (Philosophy and Theology):
Vol. 7: Plato
Vol. 8: Aristotle I
Vol. 9: Aristotle II
Vol. 12: Lucretius / Epictetus / M[arcus] Aurelius
Vol. 17: Plotinus
Vol. 18: Augustine
Vol. 19: Thomas Aquinas I
Vol. 20: Thomas Aquinas II
Vol. 30: Bacon
Vol. 31: Descartes / Spinoza
Vol. 33: Pascal
Vol. 35: Locke / Berkeley / Hume
Vol. 42: Immanuel Kant
Vol. 46: Hegel

http://www.theworldsclassics.org/p/the-great-books-of-western-world-gbww.html

John Calvin and Nietzsche were also added during the 1990 rerelease along with a bunch of relatively minor 20th century thinkers such as William James. They were included under speculative science iirc.

>> No.21958379
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21958379

Nearly finished my first philosophical book and am on my way to only being 1/3rd illiterate instead of half-literate.