Introductions to Philosophy
The three best books for the beginner
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Links to all books are at the end of this article.
The history of philosophy is, of course, a history of books. No matter how many books one reads, there are always a hundred more that would equally deserve to be read and that could make our lives better, richer and happier. But it is not easy to find the best introductions to philosophy among hundreds of books that come up on an Internet search.
An added difficulty is that one’s tastes and needs regarding philosophy change throughout one’s life. The philosophical interests of a teenager are different from those of a man of fifty or a woman of seventy. And then, we all are also rooted in different cultures, follow different religions, are more conservative or more revolutionary in our political preferences, and all these factors will also determine which books will most likely appeal to us.
But the impossibility of reading all the valuable philosophy books should not keep us from starting to read at least some of them. So here is, in instalments, my personal list of what I would, at this moment in my own life, recommend to someone who’s interested in finding actual wisdom in philosophy (rather than only intellectual entertainment) and applying the insights of philosophy to their everyday lives. The books below and in the future posts in this series cover a wide spectrum of what could be considered “philosophy”. From formal introductions to the history of philosophy to the diary of a fictional motorcycle trip in the 70s, it’s all there. For me, these are some the most precious books that capture that elusive spark of wisdom and the greatness of the human spirit.
And today we begin with the more basic introductions to the history of philosophy. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks!
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The best introductions
If you are just beginning to be interested in philosophy, most philosophy books can look too big and too professional. You don’t want to spend four years reading a college-level introduction. You just want to get an idea of what the history of philosophy is about, and perhaps see if you’d like to read more. If this describes you, I would recommend the attractively styled and mercifully short but still impressively comprehensive “Philosophy. 100 Essential Thinkers”. This is not a scholarly work. It is a coffee-table book, but it does that job well. It is easy to read and the short chapters (about 2 pages for every philosopher) make it inviting to just leave it lie close to the sofa and read a chapter now and then while waiting for the chicken to come out of the oven. One can read the chapters in any order, and in time, one will get an appreciation of the basic ideas in the history of philosophy and one will begin to remember the names and problems discussed. And then, perhaps, one will want to look at a more comprehensive and systematic book. But as an introduction, I find this one great:
This one is easy to read and the short chapters (about 2 pages for every philosopher) make it inviting to just leave it lie close to the sofa and read a chapter now and then...
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For a more scholarly and systematic introduction to the whole of Western Philosophy, look no further than to the classic volume of Bertrand Russell (whom we already talked a lot about in this blog!) “A History of Western Philosophy.”
What I love about this book is the conversational tone Russell uses. The reader feels as if the great man was talking directly to them over a cup of tea...
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The book is from 1945 and a bit opinionated (Russell, after all, was himself a philosopher with strong opinions about what was valuable in philosophy and what wasn’t). Also, as the title says, it discusses only Western philosophy and does not even attempt to mention any of the great Eastern traditions. But there are other good books for that (and we will discuss them later on). What I love about this book is the conversational tone Russell uses. The reader feels as if the great man was talking directly to them over a cup of tea, or perhaps a glass of sherry, giving short lectures on whatever caught his fancy in the long history of thought. This does add up to quite a door-stopping volume, but it provides an excellent introduction to most of Western philosophy up to the beginning of the 20th century. Of course, much is also missing: there is no mention of the continental and postmodern thinkers of the later 20th century, and Russell is generally biased towards the analytic tradition. But still, it is a great and engaging introduction if one keeps these few limitations in mind.
The next one in our list is the ultimate philosophical door-stopper, but is also an immensely valuable resource for the philosophy enthusiast: Cooper and Fosl, Philosophy: The Classic Readings. It is a collection of the classics from the history of philosophy, ordered by area of philosophy and thinker. So if you wanted to get an idea of the main authors and debates, say, in the history of ethics, you would go to that chapter and find a selection of original extracts from the ancient times to today. The book is such a wonderful source for the classics, which all come with the writing style of each individual author, and the book therefore never gets old or boring. One can always turn the page and be captivated by the voice of another thinker from yet another time, adding their own ideas to the big building of human thought.
The book covers the main areas of philosophy: Ethics, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion and Political Philosophy, and there’s a companion volume that specialises only on Ethics. In order to get the maximum enjoyment and value out of this book, one should already have a rough idea about the philosophers who are represented in this book. Since these are original writings, each one will only talk about one philosopher’s own ideas and not cover their historical connection to other thinkers. For that, you will need an overview like one of the two books presented above.
What I find invaluable in this volume is that by buying just one book, you get dozens and dozens of writings from the whole of philosophy’s history that you would probably never otherwise read. It’s only a few pages of each work, but still, you get a good idea of what the individual books look like and how they present their arguments. Who would go and buy dozens of books on Epistemology and Metaphysics, just to get an overview of the main works in the field? By buying this one book, you get a best-of selection and you can say “I have read Kant,” or “I have read John Stuart Mill” (if only three pages of each one). But there is a lot of value and entertainment in that.
This book covers the main areas of philosophy: Ethics, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion and Political Philosophy...
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Note that there are various editions of this collection and the hardcover tends to be very pricey. Look around Amazon or your other bookseller of choice, and you will find a paperback version that is much cheaper.
Thanks for reading! These are some of the books that I keep reading again and again throughout much of my life. I hope that you will too find some value and enjoyment in these books, as I did.
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