Books and links for beginner philosophy

Great!

If it's general introductions you're looking for, one thing to keep in mind is that very often, what you're getting is the author's idea of what's important in his/her opinion, often, some important thinkers and even entire movements can be left out. All the same, any good introduction is better than none, and you can always dive in deeper later on.

A History of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell is always considered a classic. Still, a lot of it is his opinion and not as impartial as you might like. Plus, it's huge. You might also like to check out 'The Problems of Philosophy', Russell's classic that accessibly aims to raise and explore those big questions,

This is probably very good as the series it's part of is deadly.

The Oxford Companion to Philosophy is an excellently compiled reader, including writings by philosophers instead of people writing about philosophers.

I'd paste more but svchost.exe just crashed and I can't copy and paste anything now, but this 'The Great Philosophers: An Introduction to Western Philosophy' by Bryan Magee is probably very goos 'cos it's published by Oxford.

Seriously, though, those comic introductions to philosophy are really good and very informative and those short introductions to philosophy that specialise on individual thinkers are excellent also, but are really rediculously pricy.

to be a beginner philopoher would you not just come up with an idea... research the idea to see if its out there .. find holes in the arguments ... which then inevitably lead on to different ideas and just keep snowballing from there untill you are a 'philosopher'?

Aye, Sophie's World is very good. The story's a bit mingin' but the philosophy bits are good.

The other thing about that Russell book is that it's not very up to date. Since it was written, a number of influential contemporary trends/branches have popped up in philosophy which he wasn't, um, really alive to write about. Some of it is a little archaic.

Trebor: head along to Hodges Figgis or Waterstones, they have good philosophy sections, and find a decent general introduction - anything published by Oxford, Blackwell or Routledge should be good. You should probably steer clear of pop philosophy like Alain de Botton's yokes, 'cos they're a waste of money.

http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/

- that site is pretty good for when you need some quick info on a philosopher or want to know bits and pieces about references you might come accross.

steer clear of pop philosophy like Alain de Botton's yokes, 'cos they're a waste of money

I picked up the consolations of philosophy without knowing anything about the subject and it had a proufound effect on the way I look at life.
He may be, as you say 'pop' but it is highly accessable and from him I have dug far deeper and am still digging. He open up a world I was not aware was there.
From his name dropping I was able to get a basic grip on who is who.
Of course its not a proper academic introduction but I HIGHLY recommend him, in conjunction with more wieghty tomes.No matter how many letter you got after your name.
I probably would never have read any books on this subject had I not ,by chance picked up that book.
nuff said .respect to de botton.

The solitaire mystery by Jostein Gaarder, i prefer it to sophie's world. its a little childish in places and not in others but then again plenty of adults read hairy porter.

i'm doing philosophy in college, i always find these sites usful:

http://www.philosophypages.com/

http://www.iep.utm.edu

http://plato.stanford.edu/

http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~dey/phil/

edit/ maybe a sticky with good philosophy sites like this might be usful simu?

dont know if i'm meant to give you this but here are the Notes and Readings by Year for the Philosophy debt in UCD, could be useful for people thinking of taking it up in college.

ucd philosophy notes

in particular first year would be useful:

http://www.ucd.ie/philosop/template/index1styr.htm

if you take the time to read through some of these i think you will find it very interesting.

I was reading a book called "Modern British Philosophy" by Bryan Magee over the weekend. It's based on a radio series he did for the BBC and consists of a series of interviews with British philosophers and philosophers working in Britain about their own work and the work of other philosophers. It's got interviews with Gilbert Ryle, Peter Strawson and Karl Popper to name but a few and discusses such topics as linguistic philosophy, analytic philosophy, Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell and his opposition to linguistic philosophy, Ryle on the mind-body problem and more. In brief, it seems like a pretty good intro to British philo from the start of the 20th century to 1970 (when it was published). It's fun to read, especially the interviews where there are two or three philosophers disagreeing on topics! And there's also a pretty comprehensive bibliography for each interview at the end.

I'm not sure if you can buy it new anymore (I just found it in my parents' summer house) but if you see it in any 2nd hand shop, it's worth a look!

This is, basically, a philosophy magazine for people with an interest in but not necessarily an in-depth knowledge of the subject. Here's what the makers say about it. I saw it in Eason's in Galway so it should be available in other parts of Ireland too. The issue I got focused on consciousness and seemed to be pretty accessible and varied in its content.

Check out the reading lists in the Oscail course handbook:
(300k pdf file - http://www.oscail.ie/students/guides/ba_handbook_04.pdf)

Ok i suggest you start with
René Descartes this man was a master at maths and philosophy too good to mention everything but lets just say hes great
Then
Friedrich Nietzsche now most students that read / do philosophy never get to the real understanding of this mans ideas take the time to do so you will know your there when you feel very very very depressed.
Then Richard Dawkins now he is not a philiosopher but a great scientist and athiest,--- his two best books are
The Selfish Gene and A Devils Chaplin //well worth the read
Someone in the board said
A History of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell i would say this is a must
The pre-Socrates philosophers are a mind of wonders i really like Pythagoras
he believed justice would be repersented by the number 2 the first even number "justice is even". rumor has it he killed one of his students when he proved there existed a square root of 2 wich works out to be roughly 1.4 which he thought was proof that justice could be corrupt i dont know how true this is but its a nice story all the same
well if you finish that book your on a good track to becoming a good philosopher but still dont forget that most philosophers, believe it was the first science and science is the new philosophy they are closely related thats why i suggested Richard Dawkins but remember you dont need to read much be a philosopher in fact id say a truly empty mind would be a great place to start then fill it with a little knowledge and see how u go

In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate.
Rene Descartes

Darwin's Evolution by natural selection is a great read too and yes it is science but there is an element of philosophy in it too.

good luck on your quest
i hope you figure out the universe.

The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts.
Rene Descartes

God ah ha, it was Augustine, in Against the Academicians, that first reached the conclusion "I think therefore I am".

Plus, I'd say go with Gould over Dawkins.