# Philosophy...



## Darkshine (Sep 12, 2003)

Just curious, do any of you read philosophy and if you do who are your favorites? I just started _Beyond Good and Evil_ by Nietzche and I have always liked him in the past. I also like Lao Tzu, Kant, and alot of Robert Pirsig (_Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence_). Anyways, just wondering... 8)


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## Arden1528 (Sep 12, 2003)

I used to read a little Kant, but not really anything latley. The last book that I read dealing with philosphy was "The Simpsons and Philosophy". It was more or less a couple of essays some people wrote. They did things like compare Bart to Nietzche and other illusions. It was pretty funny
.


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## Witchblade (Sep 13, 2003)

I actually took a Philosophy class last year because I was so interested in it. During the class we read a book called Sohpie's World which practically summarizes the whole history of Philosophy in like 500 pages, plus gives you discriptions and the ideas of all the Philosophers out there to a certain point in time. It was rather interesting and I do have to say that I am very interested in Philosophy, but with my scheduel at school and home, I don't have the time to read up on Philosophers and sit there and dig through their ideas and things like that, though once I do have the time I shall, especially Nietzche, he seems pretty fascinating from what he learned of him.

*points to her sig*

You can tell I like him 




~Sweet Dreams


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## Darkshine (Sep 14, 2003)

Yeah, it's hard to have time for philosophy. I've always tried to take classes on it and such, but even then it's hard to delve through all the difficult language to find the meanings. I personally love writing philosophical stuff, but it's hard...and discouraging usually, I keep at it though!  :wink: 

Arden- Try checking out some hedonist stuff, they're a lot closer to Bart than Nietzche!

Witchblade- My favorite Nietzche quote: "What? A great man? I always see merely the play-actor of his own ideal."

Good stuff!


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## swisstony (Feb 28, 2004)

I'm a keen philosopher, mostly Philosophy of Mind, part of my degree was Writing, the other was Philosophy, so the two, while strange bedfellows, I pursue with relish.

Wittgenstein, Parfit, Dennett, Ryle, Nozick and Nagel are one's that stick out at this moment in time


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## Pawn (Feb 29, 2004)

I did philosophy at college for a while, it was the only but of the curriculum I enjoyed. Unfortunately, I find most people incapable of actually holding a debate (maybe my class were just all retarded), so it wasn't that great. Since quitting I've had much more time to read, and am currently engaged in the works of Sartre and Foucault, with Camus in the pipeline. Philosophy is wonderful.


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## Dragonscales (May 21, 2004)

I also like writing with a philosophical theme when the mood takes me, I also have trouble finding people to have a decent debate with as well. No matter how far Mankind progresses intellectually, it never ceases to amaze me just how dumb some people can really be.


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## Mark Question (Jun 2, 2004)

Camus - an early exponent of what has become the modern day cinematic twist (see all M.Night Shymalan for influences)

Nietchze - Super, smashing, brilliant. If you've tried Beyond Good and Evil, I suggest Thus Spake Zarathustra. My favourite quote about Nietchze is by the comedian Bill Bailey "I was playing Monopooly and I picked up a Chance card. It said 'You are Nietchze. Your entire philosophy was espoused by the Nazis and cynically manipulated to suit their own diabolical means resulting in the death of six million people in the holocaust. Miss a go.'

The Simpsons and Philosophy is quite a good book but has approached pop-philosophy in the wrong way IMHO. It seemed to me that they just used The Simpsons family as a way to sell the book. Eg - Homer is a bit lazy...and thats like something that Aristotle once said.

The Matrix is probably the best recent example of the successful marketing of philosophy and has introduced a lot of people to it who wouldn't normally read philosophy.


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## sleeplesscrusader (Jun 7, 2004)

I enjoy Nietzsche... 

I own "human all to human"

Kant is different, I have not read much but i don't know if i enjoyed what i read too much. 

I like Aristotle, cliche but...


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## Dragonscales (Jun 11, 2004)

nothing wrong with admitting to liking Aristotle sleeplesscrusader, he was one of the forefathers of modern day intellectuals.


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## eleutheromaniac (Jun 13, 2004)

I own just about every work by Nietzsche, except, what is perhaps his best work, Human, all too human.   I just haven't been able to find a copy of it.  If you enjoy Nietzsche, here are some other philosophers/writers you might like;
Dostoevsky
Kafka
Machievelli
La Rouchefoucauld
Turgenev (Nietzsche says he hated nihilist, but his views are very similar to the nihilist views of Turgenev)
and Kierkegaard (I doubt I spelled that right) offers a nice contrast to Nietzsche's philosophy.

Aristotle was a hack.  Everything he said was either derivative of Plato or Socrates, or was stolen from his students.  Plus, his philosophical teaching were one of the main things holding back the Age of Enlightenment.


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## Dragonscales (Jun 13, 2004)

Sure, alot of his stuff is similar to Plato, but he must've done something right, his name is still around these days, and alot of people still read and admire him.


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## eleutheromaniac (Jun 13, 2004)

His name is still around because everytime Plato and Socrates are mentioned, so is he.   In your earlier post you talk about how dumb people are (a sentiment I don't really agree with), and now you talk about people admiring Aristotle.  Perhaps the two are connected, no?


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## Dragonscales (Jun 14, 2004)

Depends on what they admire him for I guess. Regardless of the role model in question, I still think it is neccessary to have a role model in some shape or form. Admiration can lead to inspiration, which is a good thing; but perhaps something Aristotle may have put a little too literally to be healthy. About the dumb thing, I didn't mean people as a whole, just some (including most of the people who seem to be congregated around my town lol).


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## Dragoon (Jun 14, 2004)

I started reading philosophy a couple months ago because regular stories were starting to bore me, and I wanted something deeper. Here's what I've read:

Thus Spake Zarathustra
Beyond Good and Evil
Ecce Homo
The Geneology of Morals
Human, All Too Human
The Antichrist (Here and above are all by Friedrich Nietzsche)

Several books by Voltaire. I bought the Complete Works, so I don't really remember the names of them all off of the top of my head.

A few not-really-philosophy, but old and deep books that I've read are The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (The Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisio), Faust by Goethe, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew &lt;-- all by Shakespeare.


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