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I finally picked up Martin Heidegger's "An Introduction to Metaphysics." He makes reference to his book "Being and Time" or Sein und Zeit. Have any of you read this book? Supposedly it is his magnum opus, and I like to read people's opus, if available.

Also, Cambridge has this project - perhaps still going - of publishing the entire collection of Emmanuel Kant's works. I have gotten through about half of his opus "Critique of Pure Reason," and it is perhaps the most careful philosophical work I ever came across, and it is obvious why Kant is considered the greatest of the modern philosophers. Anyway, the Cambridge editions translate from the original German into English in an almost brilliant fashion where one often gets the impression that it is not a translation. I have gotten a second Cambridge title from Kant called "Practical Philosophy," a collection of papers and topics he wrote on for a more general interest.

The interesting thing about these Cambridge editions is that there is plenty of introductory notes, and translation footnotes throughout the texts.

I was plowing through some of Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit (or Mind)." It is a very difficult and slow read, as everyone who has read Hegel says, but after reading a section, one feels like the mind has just been sent off on a journey far away, and in the process stretched and crushed like play doe.

So much for the German greats!

Now, I have never read any of the French Existentialists. Satre's reputation seems large enough to eventually read him some day. Anyone ever read Satre or any other Existentialist? I have heard that one cannot understand Existentialism without having some understanding of Hegel. I think the most famous Existentialist novel was Albert Camus's "The Stranger." Any read that? I picked up a Camus book once, and forgot the title, and put it down after about ten pages from boredom - maybe that was not one of his best books, or perhaps at the time I did not have the patience to read that style.

In the past I have read some of the British philosophers like Hobbes, Hume, Locke, and more recently, Russell. Actually, I do not recall reading Hume - maybe I did..or not. I enjoyed Locke when I was in college. I could not get too much beyond Hobbes' preliminaries. Russell strikes me as too simple and not nuanced enough, but perhaps I am so used to the Germans that he seems trivial in comparison. Actually, Russell and Ayn Rand strike me in the same way - straightforward, but without tolerance for serious complexity and nuance.

Before I forget, who can fail to mention George Santayana? I think he was a Spaniard who lived in American and wrote in English. He wrote the great novel "The Last Puritan." I have read some of his philosophical book "Skepticism and Animal Faith." Not bad for a short book, but I never finished it. But I do recommend that literate Americans read "The Last Puritan" to understand ourselves. It is not a philosophical work, and it is not hard to read. It is a literary work.

scribe2007 wrote:

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Lutherius wrote:

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I think the most famous Existentialist novel was Albert Camus's "The Stranger." Any read that? I picked up a Camus book once, and forgot the title, and put it down after about ten pages from boredom - maybe that was not one of his best books, or perhaps at the time I did not have the patience to read that style.

I did exactly the same thing with a Camus novel - I can't remember which one. As well as dull, I found it quite dark and bleak.

I looked on my bookshelf and found it; the title is "Exile and the Kingdom." I think I picked it up at the suggestion of a colleague when I was working in California near San Francisco. He recommended "The Stranger," but I could not find that title at the time, so I chose what the store had by Camus. I seem to recall what I read seemed pointless - like he was describing a scene for no reason.

agnosticostal wrote:

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Luth,
you ever heard of Alan Watts? he's my favorite philosopher...he was very influenced by Zen and Taoism, and had some great insight into Christianity as well. if you haven't read any of his stuff, I'd recommend starting with Tao: The Watercourse Way.

I haven't really read much in the way of Western philosophy, although I'm interested in Kierkegaard, Sartre, and Spinoza, among others...

Never read Alan Watts. The Wiki article about him suggests and interesting character. Perhaps if I have time, I may look into it.

I have one of Spinoza's books. I read a few chapters and put it down. I think the translation left me cold, and not the ideas. I think I have a book right next to this chair by Kierkegaard. I think it is on the subject of despair or something. Interesting take.

I have not yet gotten to Sartre. One of these says...