![]() | Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder
Buy used from: $0.01 Start here if you're new to reading non-fiction as well as philosophy.
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![]() | Looking At Philosophy: The Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter by Donald Palmer
Buy used from: $0.68 Palmer is accurate, entertaining and easy to read. If you have to pick just one, pick this one.
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![]() | Does the Center Hold?: An Introduction to Western Philosophy by Donald Palmer
Buy used from: $0.35 What Looking at Philosophy is to the history of personalities and ideas approach, this is to the problem analysis and solving approach. If you can only have two, take this as your second choice.
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![]() | The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
Buy new: $10.19 / Used from: $2.25 A classic in the problem analysis and solving approach. Very readable, concise and informative.
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![]() | Guide to Philosophy by C. E. M. Joad
Buy new: $14.95 / Used from: $0.11 Not as comprehensive as you might guess based on its bulk , Joad provides clear insight into a number of stances that may otherwise perplex you as you move further into the subject.
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![]() | Methods of Logic: Fourth Edition by W. V. Quine
Buy new: $23.94 / Used from: $4.95 If you're serious about philosophy, you'll need some formal logic. You need it anyway to reason soundly. Quine's books are among the best and this one is my favorite for students.
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![]() | Blackwell Companion to Philosophy (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy)
Buy used from: $2.23 Presented as a series of articles on the basic fields of philosophy, this one will tell you most of the concerns/problems that contemporary philosophers grapple with in their research.
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![]() | Philosophy 1: A Guide through the Subject (Vol 1)
Buy new: $40.50 / Used from: $4.15 Similar to the Blackwell book above, this presents in depth surveys of the core subdisciplines of philosophy--epistemology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, etc. Used at the University of London.
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![]() | Philosophy 2: Further through the Subject (Vol 2)
Buy new: $53.00 / Used from: $19.99 Similar to Grayling's Philosophy 1, but shorter pieces on the more "fringe subdisciplines" such as philosophy of psychology, religion, politics, mathematics, etc. Also used at the University of London
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![]() | Plato Complete Works by Plato
Buy new: $46.22 / Used from: $39.99 You don't know philosophy if you don't know Plato. This is hefty and expensive, but really a bargain, providing excellent translations of _all_ of Plato's works. Not recommended subway reading.
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![]() | Complete Works of Aristotle, Vol. 1 by Aristotle
Buy new: $35.64 / Used from: $23.99 You also don't know philosophy if you don't know Aristotle. Everything I said above about the complete Plato applies here. Don't forget to pick up both volumes.
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![]() | Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy: With Selections from the Objections and Replies (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) by Rene Descartes
Buy new: $10.01 / Used from: $3.62 Why are modern philosophers so obsessed with what we can know, what mind is, etc.? This is the source--the birth of modern philosophy. This first of many essential modern texts.
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![]() | A Companion to Continental Philosophy (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy)
Buy new: $38.16 / Used from: $34.02 Philosophy has a sort-of cleavage between analytic and continental traditions. You need to know both. This is the best introduction to continentalism by far.
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![]() | Fifty Eastern Thinkers (Routledge Key Guides) by Diane Collinson
Buy new: $35.95 / Used from: $14.76 You also need to know non-Western philosophy. While this just skims the surface, it's fairly comprehensive in doing that.
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