This is a summary of my beginner's guide to philosophy. The
guidance is mainly based on my university's curriculum and of course my
own experience. It is intented for anyone interested in studying
philosophy on their own, or in addition to courses they may take. It is
basically a list of recommended books and a suggested order in which to
read the books.
Notes:
Step 0 is something to be read along
with everything else. It is not actually philosophy, but very useful
anyway, and usually entertaining to read.
Step 1 is in many ways
the most important part of your philosophy studies. It is a step you
should always keep coming back to. I recommend coming back to it
especially every time after finishing a segment ("Major Area") in step
2.
The steps:
Step 0 - General Education
(Science
popularizations, Scientific Skepticism and general European and World
History)
Step 1 - Introduction to Philosophy in General and
the History of Philosophy
Step 2 - Introduction to
the Major Areas of Philosophy
1. Ethics
2.
Logic and Argumentation
3. Contemporary Philosophy
4.
Epistemology
5. Philosophy of science
6.
Metaphysics
Step 3 - Aspects of Philosophy
All aspects:
History and Classics
I - Theoretical Philosophy
1. Advaced Logic and Argumentation
Bradley &
Swartz: "Possible Worlds", Chellas: "Modal Logic", Engel: "The Norm of
Truth", Fisher: "The Logic of Real Arguments", Fogelin: "Understanding
Arguments", Hughes & Cresswell: "An Introduction to Modal Logic",
Loux: "The Possible and the Actual", Suppes: "Introduction to Logic",
Konyndyk: "Introductory Modal Logic"; books on rhetoric might be useful
too
2. The history of logic (and math)
Kneale &
Kneale: "The Development of Logic", perhaps Smith: "History of
Mathematics"
3. Classics of Logic and the Philosophy of Language Works by
Frege, Russell, Whitehead...
4. Metaphysics and Ontology
Loux: "Metaphysics",
Kim & Sosa (eds.): "A Companion to Metaphysics"
5. Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive
Science
Bechtel: "Philosophy of Mind", Searle: "Minds, Brains
and Science", Dennett: "Consciousness Explained", Seager: "Theories of
Consciousness", Damasio: "The Feeling of What Happens", Guttenplan (ed.):
"A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind", Bechtel & Graham (eds.): "A
Companion to Cognitive Science"
6. Epistemology
Audi: "Epistemology", BonJour: "The
Structure of Empirical Knowledge", Goldman: "Epistemology and Cognition",
Pietersma: "Phenomenal Epistemology", Pollock: "Contemporary Theories of
Knowledge", Dancy & Sosa (eds.): "A Companion to Epistemology"
7. Philosophy and History of Science
Suppe: "The
Structure of Scientific Theories", Rosenberg: "A Philosophy of Social
Science", Giere: "Explaining Science", von Wright: "Explanation and
Understanding", Bernstein: "Beyond Objectivism and Relativism", Bird:
"Philosophy of Science", Popper: "Conjectures and Refutations", Kuhn: "The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions", see also II.7
II - Practical Philosophy
1.
Contemporary Practical Philosophy
Taylor: "Ethics of
Authenticity", Lloyd: "The Man of Reason. ...", Bourdieu, Habermas
2. Moral Philosophy and Social Theory
Rawls:
"Theory of Justice" (or "Justice as Fairplay" or what? Can't remember),
von Wright: "Varieties of Goodness", MacIntyre: "After Virtue", Graham:
"Comporary Social Philosophy"
3. Philosophy of Social Sciences
Some in I.7
plus:
Kincaid: "Philosophical Foundations of Social Sciences",
Henderson: "Interpretation and Explanation in the Human Sciences", Ruben:
"The Metaphysics of the Social World", Root: "Philosophy of Social
Science"
4. History of Social Sciences
5. Rhetoric
6. Worldviews and Philosophy of Religion
Kurtz:
"Scepticism and Humanism", Mackie: "The Miracle of Theism. Arguments for
and Against the Existence of God", Smith: "Atheism: The Case Against God",
Martin: "Atheism: A Philosophical Justification", Martin: "The Case
Against Christianity", Russell: "Why I am not a Christian", Sagan: "The
Demon-Haunted World", Goode: "Paranormal Beliefs", Shermer: "Why People
Believe Weird Things", Randi: "The Faith Healers"
7. Miscellany (Pop-science etc)
Osserman: "Poetry
of the Universe", Klein: "Conversations with the Sphinx" ("Conversations
Avec Le Sphinx"), Maddox: "What Remains to Be Discovered", Dawkins: "The
Selfish Gene" (SECOND EDITION! 1989), Heisenberg: "Physics and
Philosophy"
III - Philosophy of Art and
Aesthetics
1. History of Aesthetics and
Art
Beardsley: "Aesthetics from Classical Greece to the
Present", Kivy (ed.): "Essays on the History of Aesthetics", Dickie:
"Aesthetics", Aldrich: "Philosophy of Art"
2. Ontology of Art
Ingarden: "Selected Papers in
Aesthetics", Danto: "The Transfiguration of the Commonplace", Margolis:
"Art and Philosophy", Hapala: "What is a Work of Literature" (?),
Wolterstorff: "Works and Worlds of Art"
3. Philosophy of Perception
Arnheim: "Visual
Thinking", Gombrich: "Art and Illusion", Johnson & Smith (eds.): "The
Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader"
4. Philosophy of Interpretation
Bleicher:
"Contemporary Hermeneutics", Juhl: "Interpretation: An Essay in the
Philosophy of Literary Criticism", Bernasconi (ed.) & Gadamer: "The
Relevance of the Beautiful and Other Essays"
5. Foundations of Semiotics
Barthes: "Elements of
Semiology", Eco: "Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language", Langer:
"Philosophy in a New Key", Tejera: "Semiotics from Peirce to Barthes",
Liszka: "A General Introduction to the Semiotic of Charles Sanders
Peirce", Sebeok: "A Sign is Just a Sign", Sebeok: "Signs. An Introduction
to Semiotics", Deely: "Basics of Semiotics"
Step 4 -
Practice
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