Re: Good philosophical works
I agree, a truly superb read.
Some of my favorites are Milan Kundera’s works. He writes about the most trivial components of life, but so eloquently.
Re: Good philosophical works
Recently I read a very good book on time-travel by Richard Gott III: Time Travel in Einstein's Universe.
A very comprehensible book, easily readible and going quite deep into the matter. Also for beginners
Re: Good philosophical works
Any of the Upanishads; The Gita; Experiments with Truth; Pinocchio
Re: Good philosophical works
Dear Muslim Queen,
I have read a couple of Hannala Arendt's works...
Perhaps evil is banal.
And I suppose the idea has some merit.
The banality of evil.
How could the evils she referred to.... be banal?
That is what is most disturbing to me....
Thought I suppose those who take part in banal endeavors could never be disturbed by them... and that is twice as disturbing.
What is even more disturbing is the word commonplace in the following definition.
What disturbs me most is that evil is so commonplace in the world.
- Websters *
Banality. Banal.
Main Entry: ba·nal
Pronunciation: b&-'nal, ba-, -'n[a']l; bA-'nal; 'bA-n&l
Function: adjective
Etymology: French, from Middle French, of compulsory feudal service, possessed in common, commonplace, from ban
: lacking originality, freshness, or novelty : TRITE
synonym see INSIPID (devoid of qualities that make for spirit and character)
banality
Function: noun
Text: Synonyms COMMONPLACE, bromide, cliché, platitude, prosaicism, prosaism, rubber stamp, shibboleth, tag, truism
banal
Function: adjective
Text: Synonyms INSIPID 3, bland, flat, milk-and-water, namby-pamby, sapless, vapid, waterish, watery, wishy-washy
Related Word hackneyed, pedestrian, trite, warmed-over; bromidic, commonplace, corny, platitudinous, stock; bewhiskered, hoary, old; asinine, fatuous, silly, simple..
Re: Good philosophical works
Sophie's world by jostein gaarder
is a book which give a basic account of western philosophers from Plato, aristotle etc up to the modern day. its written as part of a story ....the narrater educating the reader as the plot unfolds.
It is simply written and easy to understand, not a chore to read.
Re: Good philosophical works
Doors of Perception by Aldoux Huxley.
Re: Good philosophical works
For Fictional reads - existentialism kind of stuff -
Books by Camus:
Erm, I thought Stranger, and The Plague were really good ones. He writes really simple - and it always leaves you with a hybrid of these smilies → :o and 
Re: Good philosophical works
I haven’t much of Freud, but of late I read this article of his on ‘the forgetting of proper names’, in which he argues that along with normal forgetting, there is a special kind of repressive forgetting associated with proper names.
An interesting article which in the end is a bit too speculative :k:
Re: Good philosophical works
Qur'an....Y'll should try it...will open your eyes..
Re: Good philosophical works
Stranger left me mor e:-/
Re: Good philosophical works
"ZAAVIA 1 & 2 " by ashfaq ahmed....dunno whther to call it a philosophical book or not ..but it does give a dynamic insight into a simple routined life explaining very small things that we normally neglect..certainly an eye opner for me !
Re: Good philosophical works
Providence and the Problem of Evil by Richard Swinburne.-Its real gud.
The Puzzle of God by P.vardy-Real gud2
Re: Good philosophical works
*lol. :) *
Re: Good philosophical works
I am a newcomer.
*After Virtue *by Alasdair MacIntyre is my favourite book.
Donot read it if you are a liberal modernist because the book is a merciless attack on your strong but unargued set of beliefs.
MacIntyre contends that the contemporary liberal modernist culture is in many ways an outcome of what is called as "the Enlightenment Project" - a project of descartes, Jume, Kant and many other modern philosophers to find a rational grounds for secular morality by giving up teleological mode of traditional morality as in Classical, Muslim, Christian, Hindu societies. Since the project was a failure and the failure was announced very loudly by Nietzsche, the contemporary modern culture turns out to be Darkness and Ignorance.
After repudiating liberal-modern moral theories and values, MacIntyre informs us that we are left with only two choices - Nietzsche or Aristotle. On one had, we can reject morality altogather, appealing only to natural passions and derives, some idiosyncratic and capricious, some social and universal bvut wild. This is the alternative to which Nietzsche point out. On the other hand we can undertake the arduous task of reevaluating and ultimately modifying the modernists' turn against teleology and attempt to reconceive morality along lines similar to Aristotle's, Thomas Aquians' and Averros'.
MacIntyre opts for Aristotle and eventually Thomas Aquinas.
MacIntyre's attack on liberalism is so severe that there is harldy any contemporary philosopher that so far has been able to defend it, not even Rorty. Descartes rejected "tradition" but MacIntyre revives it in a way that Descartes & Co. appears helpless.
Re: Good philosophical works
I am a newcomer.
After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre is my favourite book.
Donot read it if you are a liberal modernist because the book is a merciless attack on your strong but unargued set of beliefs.
MacIntyre contends that the contemporary liberal modernist culture is in many ways an outcome of what is called as "the Enlightenment Project" - a project of descartes, Jume, Kant and many other modern philosophers to find a rational grounds for secular morality by giving up teleological mode of traditional morality as in Classical, Muslim, Christian, Hindu societies. Since the project was a failure and the failure was announced very loudly by Nietzsche, the contemporary modern culture turns out to be Darkness and Ignorance.
After repudiating liberal-modern moral theories and values, MacIntyre informs us that we are left with only two choices - Nietzsche or Aristotle. On one had, we can reject morality altogather, appealing only to natural passions and derives, some idiosyncratic and capricious, some social and universal bvut wild. This is the alternative to which Nietzsche point out. On the other hand we can undertake the arduous task of reevaluating and ultimately modifying the modernists' turn against teleology and attempt to reconceive morality along lines similar to Aristotle's, Thomas Aquians' and Averros'.
MacIntyre opts for Aristotle and eventually Thomas Aquinas.
MacIntyre's attack on liberalism is so severe that there is harldy any contemporary philosopher that so far been able to defend it again, not even Rorty. Descartes rejected "tradition" but MacIntyre revives it in a way that Descartes & Co. appears helpless.
Re: Good philosophical works
Specially share Electronic Books if u hav
In whatever format but if it is in PDF format
that will be more appropriate...
Re: good philosophical works
Following are some of the books which have verygood philosophical chapters related to the focus topics of these books, as their titles indicate:
Current systems in psychology : history, theory, research, and applications
Exploring consciousness
Handbook of diagnostic and structured interviewing
Handbook of psycho educational assessment : ability, achievement, and behavior in children
Intoxicating minds : how drugs work
Islam and modernity : Muslim intellectuals respond
Liberal Islam : a source book
Pakistan : eye of the storm
Pakistan : founder's aspirations and today's realities
Real-life math : everyday use of mathematical concepts
Risk stratification : a practical guide for clinicians
Women claim Islam : creating Islamic feminism through literature
Women in Muslim societies : diversity within unity
Do share your favourite books/works/sites that are worth a read. It may be original works or commentaries, classical or modern, historical or utopian.... do add a few words on your own thoughts as well.
I'd be very interested to know what others read and I'm sure others will profit much from it as well. :)
Re: Good philosophical works
http://www.icsfp.com/Media/Newsletter/Islamica-AugSep2005.pdf
Re: Good philosophical works
The Divine Comedy, written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321.
The Divine Comedy is composed of three *sections](Canticle - Wikipedia) *Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise), composed respectively of 34, 33, and 33 cantos](Canto - Wikipedia). The first cantica, Inferno, is by far the most famous of the three, and is often published separately under the title Dante’s Inferno. As a part of the whole literary work, the first canto serves as an introduction to the entire Divine Comedy, making each of the cantiche 33 canti long. The number 3 is prominent in the work, represented here by the length of each *cantica. *Also, that they add up to 100 canti is not accidental. The verse scheme used, terza rima](Terza rima - Wikipedia), is the hendecasyllable (line of eleven syllables), with the lines composing tercets according to the rhyme scheme ABA BCB CDC . . . YZY Z.
The poet tells in the first person his travel through the three realms of the dead, lasting during Holy Week in the spring of 1300. His guide through Hell and Purgatory is the Latin poet Virgil, author of The Aeneid](Aeneid - Wikipedia), and the guide through Paradise is Beatrice, Dante’s ideal of a perfect woman. Beatrice was a real Florentine woman whom he met in childhood and admired from afar in the mode of the then-fashionable courtly love tradition.
An excellent read.