10 easy philosophy books you have to read
Q. What do you think is the essence of philosophy in our day to day living is there really one?
It belongs in the lives of everyone. It helps us solve our problems -mundane or abstract, and it helps us make better decisions by developing our critical thinking (very important in the age of disinformation). But it’s boring, you say. It’s hard to understand, you say.
Q. What philosophy book should I start with?
More Best Books on Philosophy to Start With!
- Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult: A Beginner’s Guide to Life’s Big Questions.
- Big Ideas: The Little Book of Philosophy.
- A New History of Western Philosophy.
- The Story of Philosophy.
- Idiot’s Guides: Philosophy.
- The Norton Introduction to Philosophy.
- Read: A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell.
- Read: Bertrand Russell’s The Problems of Philosophy.
- Read: Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity.
- Read: The Way of Zen by Alan Watts.
Q. What should I read to understand philosophy?
- Apology of Socrates by Plato.
- Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle.
- The discourse on method by Descartes.
- Candide or Optimism by Voltaire.
- Beyond good and evil by Nietzsche.
- Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky.
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera.
- Existentialism and Humanism by Sartre.
Q. Who is the easiest philosopher to write about?
Ayn Rand is very easy for anyone to understand and is quite often not regarded as a serious philosopher due to her ideas being based mainly on fictional narratives and seeming unrealistic to pull off. Plato and Aristotle are both accessible through good English translations and are not necessarily hard to read.
Q. Is reading philosophy good for you?
A study of philosophy will help you develop critical thinking skills. It will encourage you to understand the constraints you operate within when you make certain choices or even when you decide which goals you should pursue. You will be able to think intelligently of how you live and why you live that way.
Q. Why do we need to read philosophy?
It teaches critical thinking, close reading, clear writing, and logical analysis; it uses these to understand the language we use to describe the world, and our place within it. Different areas of philosophy are distinguished by the questions they ask.
Q. How is reading philosophy different from reading a novel?
Philosophical writings are dense and difficult. When reading, set realistic goals. While reading a page of a novel can take as little as thirty seconds, some pages in philosophy require at least ten minutes or even more.
