Recommend a philosophy/ideology book

[Impaled Nazarene]

Alright, aside from history my favorite thing to study in the world is philosophy and different ideologies both those political and those not necessarily political. As such I love adding books to my collection and reading queue that because of my bad ADD/ADHD will sadly likely never get to.
As for how this works you name a (or multiple) piece of literature you enjoy that fits the ideology or philosophy requirement, and a brief reason why you recommend it.
Next rule. No arguing. The nature of ideology and philosophy means that the only thing people agree on is to agree to disagree. That and it's distracting to those who want to find recommendations.
Religious texts are allowed
If the text is available online for free and on a virus free website then by all means link it please.
Might add some details later.

I will obviously go first and I'll keep it simple:

I recommend Plato's The Republic because despite the slow start to the first few books it picks up heavily and begins constructing the familiar Plato ideology through world building and Fake Socrates. As seen in many of Plato' works involving Socrates the meaning of the word justice lies at the core of text. The Republic goes beyond a simple debate and into an attempt to create a utopia by creating such an ideal city that it is complete just. The biggest plus for me is that it's the best read of all of Plato's works despite its length.

[Shanowinn]

I recommend the Norse Havamal, because it has some interesting snippets on things like wisdom and living life. It is also pretty short, being made up of those snippets.

[Thalasus]

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Whether or not you agree with her Objectivist ideology, it provides a useful parable about the constant struggle between capitalism and the welfare state (albeit in a kind of political cartoon-ish way).

[Impaled Nazarene]

If it's not too much to ask. May I have some more details? Not trying to be picky but both are interesting and I would love to hear more about them.

[Brusia]

If you're interested in the philosophy of science, I'd recommend Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

[Shanowinn]

If it's not too much to ask. May I have some more details? Not trying to be picky but both are interesting and I would love to hear more about them.

As for the Hávamál, it is collection of I think 165 poems or so, attributed to Odin, which as wiki says present "advice for living, proper conduct, and living." Some may or may not be as applicable anymore, but it seems to me like there's a mix of practical, or if you will "concrete" advice/proper conduct for the time as well as that which is more timeless wisdom.

One of my favorite snippets/poems goes roughly like: "a foolish man thinks he knows everything, but he knows not what to answer if he is put to the test." There is one oft quoted Hávamál poem that I like and has inspired a little Norse-themed poetry of mine: "cattle die, kindred die, we ourselves also die. But I know one thing that does not; a man's fair reputation never dies."

You can probably see that there is still a very timeless quality in some of these!



Edit: also how much of Plato have you read? Aristotle? My favs of Plato are probably Phaedo and Theaetetus. Parmenides was kind of awful(ly difficult), we recently did it in school, although Philebus is kinda cool. That's the last one we did.

[Impaled Nazarene]

If it's not too much to ask. May I have some more details? Not trying to be picky but both are interesting and I would love to hear more about them.

As for the Hávamál, it is collection of I think 165 poems or so, attributed to Odin, which as wiki says present "advice for living, proper conduct, and living." Some may or may not be as applicable anymore, but it seems to me like there's a mix of practical, or if you will "concrete" advice/proper conduct for the time as well as that which is more timeless wisdom.

One of my favorite snippets/poems goes roughly like: "a foolish man thinks he knows everything, but he knows not what to answer if he is put to the test." There is one oft quoted Hávamál poem that I like and has inspired a little Norse-themed poetry of mine: "cattle die, kindred die, we ourselves also die. But I know one thing that does not; a man's fair reputation never dies."

You can probably see that there is still a very timeless quality in some of these!



Edit: also how much of Plato have you read? Aristotle? My favs of Plato are probably Phaedo and Theaetetus. Parmenides was kind of awful(ly difficult), we recently did it in school, although Philebus is kinda cool. That's the last one we did.

I've read about a handful of his works. Most of them were from when Socrates was actually alive as opposed to Platocrates like we see in The Republic. To actually be able to tolerate most of Plato's works I feel you actually need someone to discuss it with as with most greek literature it can be incredibly boring unless you are interested in the subject. From what I remember of Aristotle is that his works are quite boring even for
people who like ancient greek literature.

Anyways, Hávamál sounds very interesting and I will be sure to find a copy or see if i can find it online.

[Shanowinn]

As for the Hávamál, it is collection of I think 165 poems or so, attributed to Odin, which as wiki says present "advice for living, proper conduct, and living." Some may or may not be as applicable anymore, but it seems to me like there's a mix of practical, or if you will "concrete" advice/proper conduct for the time as well as that which is more timeless wisdom.

One of my favorite snippets/poems goes roughly like: "a foolish man thinks he knows everything, but he knows not what to answer if he is put to the test." There is one oft quoted Hávamál poem that I like and has inspired a little Norse-themed poetry of mine: "cattle die, kindred die, we ourselves also die. But I know one thing that does not; a man's fair reputation never dies."

You can probably see that there is still a very timeless quality in some of these!



Edit: also how much of Plato have you read? Aristotle? My favs of Plato are probably Phaedo and Theaetetus. Parmenides was kind of awful(ly difficult), we recently did it in school, although Philebus is kinda cool. That's the last one we did.

I've read about a handful of his works. Most of them were from when Socrates was actually alive as opposed to Platocrates like we see in The Republic. To actually be able to tolerate most of Plato's works I feel you actually need someone to discuss it with as with most greek literature it can be incredibly boring unless you are interested in the subject. From what I remember of Aristotle is that his works are quite boring even for
people who like ancient greek literature.

Anyways, Hávamál sounds very interesting and I will be sure to find a copy or see if i can find it online.

Oh yes I forgot to link the Havamal online--I read a little online but decided to get a nifty pocket sized book on amazon.

I've been able to discuss Plato with the rest of the class, so that can certainly help. Part of the reason I like the Phaedo and Theaetetus is because our particular discussion group and professor then was quite good. I can agree about Aristotle...but I seem to remember Ethics being a bit better than some of his other essays.

[Even Less of Mackonia]

[The New Sea Territory]

The Right to Be Greedy by "For Ourselves". It's necessary to understand Hegel, Marx and Stirner before really digging into that book, but it's the most complete explanation of egoist-communism.

I like Nietzche's The Birth of Tragedy, Stirner's The Ego and Its Own. Also, what I'm reading right now is pretty good: The Society of the Spectacle by Debord, The Rebel by Camus, Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morals and Absolute Recoil by Slavoj Zizek.

There are certain sections of Alain de Benoist's On Being a Pagan that I've read and liked, although a lot of that book seems to be incoherent rambling or shady politics. Also, The Poetic Edda, while not explicitly philosophical, definitely deals with some philosophical themes.

[Anollasia]

The most philosophical book I read was probably Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. It was pretty good and not that long too, I read it in a night. Just goes to show that good/deep books don't have to be long.

[Simoney]

Stoicism - Epictetus and Seneca's Letters from a Stoic.
Epictetus' lectures share many similarities with cognitive behavioral therapy and most self-help books today.

Aristotle's Rhetoric.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development.

[HazMat444]

What I would recommend reading is a generic book which you'd study philosophy or politics from to know what there even are. Some from my shelf that I'd recommend are "The Satanic Bible" by Anton LaVey, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" by Friedrich Nietzsche, "Utopia" by Thomas More and "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli. If you want anarchism 101, read Emma Goldman's "Anarchism and other essays" or go to http://theanarchistlibrary.org/special/index with various FAQs and most anarchist literature available free of charge. Marxist literature can be found at https://www.marxists.org/archive/index.htm and classical liberal and right-libertarian literature at http://mises.org/library/books/.

The Right to Be Greedy by "For Ourselves". It's necessary to understand Hegel, Marx and Stirner before really digging into that book, but it's the most complete explanation of egoist-communism.

Have to get around to reading that as well as "The Right to Be Lazy" by Paul Lafargue. Gotta know your rights!

The most philosophical book I read was probably Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. It was pretty good and not that long too, I read it in a night. Just goes to show that good/deep books don't have to be long.

No way! Read that and believe me, I had to read it again and again. Loved it and couldn't recommend it enough.

[Meryuma]

essential Meryuma-core:
Oscar Wilde - The Soul of Man Under Socialism (Oscar Wilde beautifully argues for individualism and socialism as near-synonyms, each mutually requiring the other.)
David Graeber - Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology (The intersection of anarchist theory and anthropology presented quite accessibly by a former Yale professor.)
Kevin Carson - The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand (a look at the ways that state collusion and coercion shaped the emergence of "laissez-faire" capitalism.)
Ran Prieur - Beyond Civilized and Primitive (A challenge to both the common narrative of progress and the primitivist narrative of doom. Beautiful and mind-expanding.)

[Chessmistress]

"Porn Inc. - exposing the harms of the global pornography industry" by Melinda Tankard Reist.

"Pornland - how porn has hijacked our sexuality" by Gail Dines.

The whole opera of Sheila Jeffreys, but especially "The industrial vagina - the political economy of the global sex trade".

I particularly recommend those three books because I think they are suitable even for men.