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Who are some philosophers and personalities that you find interesting?


Matsu

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I'm about to have a ton of free time after IB exams are over. I'm going to uni in America, so I pretty much don't have anything to do until August, so it would be really cool if you could suggest/discuss some philosophers or personalities who you really like and find personally appealing. I'm interesting in doing a lot of reading, watching, etc to pass the time.

Personally, I find Joe Rogan to be one of the most interesting people alive on the planet Earth today. I really like the way he analyzes, interprets and distills information.

Here's a few interesting clips of him. I think most of these are from his podcast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sJi5heRhAE

Also, he's a funny mother****er.

Who do you find interesting?

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Robert Nozick and John Rawls - their work on political philosophy is extremely good. Nozick wrote a libertarian critique to Rawls' theory of justice and it's quite interesting to see how much appreciation some philosophers have for each other even though they disagree with each other. However, I would say that you should just pick up a introduction to political philosophy book because their books are long and sometimes tedious.

John Locke and G. A Cohen are pretty cool too.

Since I don't know how much philosophy you do, or how much interest you have, and the fact that there is so much philosophy out there I'll recommend a few introductory books:

Simon Blackburn Think.

Simon Blackburn Being Good

Ross Harrison Democracy

Emrys Westacott and Chris Horner Thinking through philosophy: An Introduction

If you're interested in philosophy of religion there are loads of debates online. I personally prefer the debates with Christopher Hitchens and William Lane Craig. I'll link them later If I remember

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Robert Nozick and John Rawls - their work on political philosophy is extremely good. Nozick wrote a libertarian critique to Rawls' theory of justice and it's quite interesting to see how much appreciation some philosophers have for each other even though they disagree with each other. However, I would say that you should just pick up a introduction to political philosophy book because their books are long and sometimes tedious.

John Locke and G. A Cohen are pretty cool too.

Since I don't know how much philosophy you do, or how much interest you have, and the fact that there is so much philosophy out there I'll recommend a few introductory books:

Simon Blackburn Think.

Simon Blackburn Being Good

Ross Harrison Democracy

Emrys Westacott and Chris Horner Thinking through philosophy: An Introduction

If you're interested in philosophy of religion there are loads of debates online. I personally prefer the debates with Christopher Hitchens and William Lane Craig. I'll link them later If I remember

Awesome, thanks dude! :)

I used to debate, so I sort of get a rush from things that really make you think and analyze things. I'd say I have a pretty good interest in Philosophy. I think it keeps your brain pretty sharp and can help you form your own opinions and views on the world. In terms of breadth of knowledge though, I'd say pretty low. I've probably applied some concepts in debate, but I haven't really read up on philosophy yet for pure academic interest. I would like to though, as exploring different ways of thinking can only be a good thing!

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I don't know that much about philosophy, but I've always found the French philosophers interesting. Particularly Albert Camus, Voltaire or Montesquieu.

I'd recommend 'The Stranger', 'The Plague' or 'Candide'.

Oh. And don't forget Leo Tolstoy! (Though, War and Peace and Anna Karenina don't really count as philosophical works...)

Nathan the Wise by Lessing is also worth reading.

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I don't know that much about philosophy, but I've always found the French philosophers interesting. Particularly Albert Camus, Voltaire or Montesquieu.

I'd recommend 'The Stranger', 'The Plague' or 'Candide'.

I read The Stranger for IB English Lit! I loved it!! Wrote my World Lit essay on it (though I only got a 6 lol... missed 7 by like 1 point effffff)

Dostoyevsky was an early existentialist, good stuff.

I find hemingway quite the philosopher in his writing, despite not being considered a philosopher in of himself.

What material from Hemingway would you recommend?

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I've only read For Whom the Bell Tolls but it was indeed quite interesting, if a little bit grim. Another author who I'd say is similar in terms of having quite a lot of deep themes to his writing would be Steinbeck - the Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden are really worth reading.

If you're into that sort of literature, I heavily recommend The Magus by John Fowles. One of the most thought-provokingly confusing books I have ever read, I absolutely loved it. Honestly, it'll probably be one of the most interesting books you'll ever read, I still find myself thinking about it.

One thing I would say about the philosophers who write novels is that I've read or had a stab at reading a few of them and they're mostly quite dire. The Stranger (Camus), Beyond Good and Evil (Nietzsche), Nausea (Sartre), Candide (Voltaire) - all of them painful reads (except for Candide which is somewhat amusing) and even though I knew a decent amount about their thoughts previous to reading the novels, I didn't really feel like they enlightened me or demonstrated much! Actually I didn't even manage to finish Nausea, it was so boring. Which is odd because I find Sartre and his ideas fascinating. IMO read the philosophy of philosophers -- and read the literature of authors :P One lot can think and the other lot can write such that it makes you think. Reading the condensed ideas of various people on wikipedia was definitely the most accessible and interesting way for me to get an idea of philosophy.

I don't know if anybody else will back me up on this or not, but I actually find the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett to be strangely deep. It sounds ridiculous but by poking fun at everyone and everything, he really turns your ideas around and makes you question what the value of things are. Plus they're quite fun to read ;)

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People have already said clever things so I'll suggest watching Richard Dawkins on youtube (militant atheist, pretty amusing)

There is a really good debate between Dawkins and a Catholic cardinal/Theologian on an Australian talk show called QandA, there are a few versions on youtube, look it up.

As well there is a good discussion between Dawkins and a theistic chemical biologist, who as far as I recall is Alistair ___________ Sorry i can't remember his last name.

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There is a really good debate between Dawkins and a Catholic cardinal/Theologian on an Australian talk show called QandA, there are a few versions on youtube, look it up.

As well there is a good discussion between Dawkins and a theistic chemical biologist, who as far as I recall is Alistair ___________ Sorry i can't remember his last name.

Alister McGrath. I've watched the discussion myself but a long time ago and I can't remember much of it. However, If should say that anyone is going to watch him, be critical of his arguments. While he's decent at discussing religion, there are many that are much better than him and he should stick to evolutionary biology imo,

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There is a really good debate between Dawkins and a Catholic cardinal/Theologian on an Australian talk show called QandA, there are a few versions on youtube, look it up.

As well there is a good discussion between Dawkins and a theistic chemical biologist, who as far as I recall is Alistair ___________ Sorry i can't remember his last name.

Alister McGrath. I've watched the discussion myself but a long time ago and I can't remember much of it. However, If should say that anyone is going to watch him, be critical of his arguments. While he's decent at discussing religion, there are many that are much better than him and he should stick to evolutionary biology imo,

I'd be critical of anyone's arguments, Dawkins or McGrath, I find people to think Dawkins be the end all and be all of the truth to existence to put it mildly. Every been on r/atheism? This is true though what you say, Dawkins is devoted to the theological discussions, McGrath less so.

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I'd be critical of anyone's arguments, Dawkins or McGrath, I find people to think Dawkins be the end all and be all of the truth to existence to put it mildly. Every been on r/atheism? This is true though what you say, Dawkins is devoted to the theological discussions, McGrath less so.

LOOOL damn, r/atheism is so stupid. But then, what default sub isn't?

Anyway, as for an interesting personality, I'd say Michio Kaku. He is excellent.

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A girl at uni I know who's majoring in philosophy recommended it to me, so I figured why not...

I'm going to be reading The Communist Manifesto this summer, by Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels... Let me know if you end up reading this and maybe we could discuss?

Why are you doing that?

Why not?

It's quite long.... and tedious.

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A girl at uni I know who's majoring in philosophy recommended it to me, so I figured why not...

I'm going to be reading The Communist Manifesto this summer, by Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels... Let me know if you end up reading this and maybe we could discuss?

Why are you doing that?

Why not?

It's quite long.... and tedious.

I think we may be thinking of different books because the ebook version is only about 33 pages, if that's the correct one?

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