Social philosophy books, where to start?

[zk4586]

What would you recommend?

 

[steppenwolf]

the dune series by frank herbert, if i correctly understood the idea of social philosophy, but they are brilliant books never the less.

 

[RageSk8]

What type of social philosophy? Political? Economic? Anthropological? Something else?

 

[wuliheron]

Not to mention what kind of social philosophy, eastern or western, idealistic, modern or classical, etc. I don't know of any single work that includes them all.

 

[zk4586]

Things along the lines of Richard Rorty's Philosophy and Social Hope, John Rawls' A Theory of Justice, and Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish and Madness and Civilization.

 

[steppenwolf]

montaigne was a politician as well as a philospher so thought a lot about social philosophy, I'm thinking in particular of essays like 'on cannibals' but there are a lot.

 

[zimbo]

Most philosophers deal with social issues in addition to 'ivory-tower-topics' such as formal logic or metaphysics.

Things written by Socrates, Plato, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Kant, Mills, Russell (not Principia Mathematica!), Dewey, Chomsky . . . the list goes on.

It's better if you could say what particular topics you are interested in (eg relationship between citizen and state? social justice? democracy?) so that others can then direct you to the relevant literature.

 

[zk4586]

ah, endless specification. I'd say topics like the relationship between citizen and state, the nature of mass movements and revolutions, ect.

 

[Kerrie]

start with a good dictionary...

 

[TENYEARS]

If you need to read for school that is one thing, if you want to read for the sake of not watching TV that is another, but if reality is your destination, disolve your questions with an endless attack. What will result will not need to be questioned.

If you need to read go with the american indians, they don't leave a lot of room for carp unless it is smoked of course.

 

[selfAdjoint]

Here is A review of several political philosophy textbooks . Scroll down to Wednesday March 26, 2003.

 

[Adam]

"The Condition Of Man" by Lewis Mumford.

"Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein.

 

[roeighty]

to totoro (the other thread):

what is it you're interested in?
what kind of approach might suit you:
- religious (Buddhism, Asian Philosophy, Yin Yang, God and universe)?
- scientific (big bang, origin of universe, consistency of matter, energy spacetime, relativity, uncertainty)?
- ethic, moral (is it right/wrong to clone, warfare in specific situation, kill animals for e.g. cosmetics, fur, be vegetarian, euthanasia)?
- cognitive (can man understand the whole by knowledge, how much we depend on perception)?
- metaphysical (anything about unknown world, "beyond", "being")
- methodical (what's the right way to approach 'truth' or the unknown, logic, ignore the seeming-likely and find systematic true statements)?
- .. ?

i got into it all by looking up things in the dictionnary and the net: scientific terms (bigbang, uncertainty, relativity, aso.), 'general' terms (being, universe, world, knowledge, perception, truth, nature, reality), specific philosophical terms (existentialism, dualism, monism, dialectics, cartesianism), or great names. you'll be into it soon (if you aren't already:)

everyone's a philosopher (who wonders about world or anything..)

 

[totoro]

roeighty, I'm interested in all the thing that you ask me but i think the kind that suit me are scientific, metaphysical and methodical.

i'm want to ask you all something. what kind of attitudes do a philosopher or a scientist need? someone say to me that i should think freely and dare to question anything that you feel not right. what do you think or you have any different idea?

 

[roeighty]

..curiosity.
..admit for the unsuspected.
..astonishment.
..get into and learn new, interesting things.
..weigh words well, if i can. (not only my words..)
..forget about all, i know. (be ostentatively naive, in order to get to basics)

..but that's, like, my way, ..i'm sure you do have an own way.

 

[Njorl]

"The Worldly Philosophers" by Heilbroner gives a well rounded basis for many differing economic and socio-economic philosophies, and the philosophers behind them.

Njorl