It has been a long week, but some Seneca is helping me relax today. I'm currently reading De Tranquillitate Animi (On the Tranquility of the Mind), and looking forward to De Brevitate Vitae (On the Shortness of Life) next. What are your favourite philosophy reads?
2 years ago
The only Philosophy book I'm reading now is 'The Logic of Scientific Discovery', by Karl Popper, and it's good for relaxing, believe me. ;) 路 2 years ago
@calgacus Appreciate all the info, thanks! 路 2 years ago
@martin So weirdly, for my case I came to understand Buddhism first through the lens of Vedic texts, so I read some of the Upanishads (specifically the Isha and Brihadaranyaka) and the Bhagavad Gita (the whole of the Mahabharata is great tbh, but insanely long). You could also read the Heart Sutra, Lankavatara Sutra, and Diamond Sutra. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse is also lovely. 路 2 years ago
@calgacus I've only read around the subject of Buddhism, but it seems to share lots of the same values and thinking. Is there any particular intro book you'd recommend as I'd love to learn more? 路 2 years ago
@martin Yeah he's great. He has these lovely books of aphorisms that I adore. I think if he lived nowadays he'd be a Poster, if you know what I mean. I do enjoy the Stoics as well, though! Have you ever read any Buddhist/Vedic stuff? I find there's a lot of overlap between them and the Stoics. 路 2 years ago
@calgacus I'm not familiar, but will check him out, thanks! 路 2 years ago
I've been on a big Cioran kick recently, think he's a wonderful writer and something about his nihilist pessimism just feels *right* for how the current moment is, you know? 路 2 years ago
i have very little knowledge of philosophy outside of a high school senior unit on absurdism 路 2 years ago
I'm huge fan of Albert Camus' ideas, actually, but his actual books are almost unreadable. No point in even trying if you don't know every single book he referes to - which is A LOT and most of them are older than printing press itself. 路 2 years ago
Straw Dogs by John Gray is quite good. I've not read it recently but I recall he looks at our condition through the lens of Schopenhauer to remind us all of our fundamental biological nature 路 2 years ago