Philosophy

[ramblingrose]

First I'm sorry about the rubbishness of this thread title but I've had some codeine and I'm feeling weird. Anyway.
I'm very interested in philosophy but I've never studied it (oh god I bet you can't tell), and I'd like to learn more about it but I don't know where to start. Can anyone recommend any suitable reading please? Nothing too brainmelting please, I'm quite stupid.
ta.

[Herr Lipp]

philosophy holds no practical uses in society. I think you'd be better off picking up a copy of Take A Break.

[Narcissistic Nihilist]

Originally posted by ramblingrose
First I'm sorry about the rubbishness of this thread title but I've had some codeine and I'm feeling weird. Anyway.
I'm very interested in philosophy but I've never studied it (oh god I bet you can't tell), and I'd like to learn more about it but I don't know where to start. Can anyone recommend any suitable reading please? Nothing too brainmelting please, I'm quite stupid.
ta.
Excellent idea. Philosophy is the basis of everything in life.

I'd recommend starting with Plato's Republic. Its written almost like a novel, so its very easy to get into. Same goes for Satre's Nausea.

[ramblingrose]

I'll put that on my list, my friend is doing an MA in cultural studies or something and she's going to lend me some stuff.
Honestly though, everyone should read Take a Break, all human life is there.

[Herr Lipp]

It's heart-warming, crushingly sad and shocking emotions all wrapped into one convenient magazine. With crosswords too!

[ramblingrose]

Damn right! Me and Ruth have this longstanding ritual where we buy Take a Break, Chat and That's Life every Thursday, and we read them all cover to cover and then do the puzzles. We will then have a conference about what made us cry, and our favourite bit is the baby names column in Chat - I think the best ever name was Savelon, chosen because the child's mother "used a lot of Savlon during her pregnancy and thought it was a pretty name", but put an e in to make it "different".

[Herr Lipp]

ha ha. I love the "Handy Tips" page, where people have stupid shit like "I just used an old bread bag to create a wind sock so my pigeon-fancier husband knew which direction the wind was blowing"

[ramblingrose]

One of the all-time greats was a few years ago, this old biddy sent in the tale of how she and her husband were on some pensioner's jolly to Majorca or somewhere and he got "holiday tummy", so she made him some incontinence pants out of a supermarket carrier bag. There was a photo of him giving a thumbs up with his nether regions swaddled in a Morrisons bag, it was so sweet.

[ramblingrose]

ps Ruth actually sent in a tip and she got £50 for it! I don't know where the laminated page has gone or I would have tried to scan it in. We spent the money on gin.

[Herr Lipp]

I want a wife that'll make home made nappies for me. Anyway....please carry on with your philosophy reading material quest!

But P.S. why arent you back at work yet? Theres sick people out there that you are letting down :D

[ramblingrose]

I should be back in January. And I've had three whole consecutive days of not feeling dizzy, but I think I've messed it up by taking that codeine last night, my tolerance is just rubbish. My eyesight went all blurred and I couldn't stop shaking, plus I felt incredibly sick, and despite being relaxed to the point of stupor, I couldn't sleep, and now I feel dizzy again. Bof.

[Herr Lipp]

Codeine's potent. I love Co-codamol when I'm feeling poorly (my mum had a stash of them from when she had a hysterectomy).

[ramblingrose]

Back on topic slightly - my friend has just emailed to say she's going to lend me an introduction to cultural studies and some Derrida, plus she sent me a link to an introduction to philosophy that she reckons is good so I've bought it.

[Narcissistic Nihilist]

There is always the infamous "Sophie's World" if you want an overall view of philosophy in novel form.

[ramblingrose]

My mum bought me that one Christmas but I've never read it because I thought the title was so crap. I might read it at the weekend then.

[Nak Nak]

Originally posted by Narcissistic Nihilist
There is always the infamous "Sophie's World" if you want an overall view of philosophy in novel form.

I was about to recommend that.
Its limitation is that it covers so many different philosophers/philosophies that it can't supply a huge amount of detail. It's a good starting point though.