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Some books to start in the subject

January 10th 2008 11:24
Just a selection of some philosophy books i would recommend for starters. In order:

1 - Apprendre a vivre, Luc Ferry
I don't know the title in english! but i think it must exist a translation for the book. I think this is maybe the worst title someone has ever chosen for a philosophy book, but anyway, it's what's inside that matters. A great, clear, and not too simplified introduction to the major ideas of western philosophy.

2 - Discourse on the method, René Descartes
A classic, not a long book, but not as simple as the other one. Still, a great strart for humanism.


3 - Twilight of the idols, Friedrich Nietzsche
This can be completely misunderstood if you read it before Ferry. The interpretation before and after is totaly different; the presentation may seem simple, the ideas behind are quite deep. It goes the same for all of Nietzsche's work. I had to read this book twice (before and after Apprendre a vivre) to really understand what the guy was saying...

4 - Kant, Luc Ferry
Why a book on Kant and not a book from Kant? Well, try reading Kant...this one is a very good presentation on Critique Of Pure Reason. It's a hard one, not for starters, but for people studing philosophy. Still, it's easier than Kant himself..if you want to try something from Kant, i suggest Metaphysics Of Morals, even though it's not on the same subject (this one is on ethics, the Critique of Pure Reason is mostly on Metaphysics)

5 - Existentialism is an humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre
Little presentation of his work, good to understand his ethics, and some influence of the Kierkegaard/Heideger influence.

With the exception of the 4th, these books are little and quite simple. Anyone can read and understand most of them. I had though to add a book on Kant, otherwise you would miss the most important guy of western philosophy...


Any suggestions or comments, feel free. The place for them is just under the post....hehe

cheers. Uula
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these books for managers...

September 21st 2007 03:55
When you go nowadays to book stores i'm sure that most of the times once you got in, there is a huge section just for "management books". I mean, books explaining how you can be a better leader, have more creativity, be better in your job and become the boss (at least of a little group of people).

I think this must sell a lot, because these ones tend to have nice covers, publicity around them, and plenty of people that think they will help them in their professional life.

These books are for "techniciens". Instead of learning how things work, these people are selling around some empirical rules that should help you in your job. But they do not let you get inside the root of things.

The best books for people to learn how to deal in life (including thus their professional life) are in another section. To be more specific, in the philosophy section. If you want to understand and learn how to be a good leader, try discovering what the concept of "pensée élargie" is.

Management schools should focus their studies in subjects deeper than just teaching pre-defined rules to their students. At least engineers have math classes to understand better the physics, and then technology. Management courses should teach philosophy, sociology, and them present some of these "rules".

Maybe that's why most of the times it is the engineer that gets the job of management. These MBAs are like techiniciens that work the day appling the rules they've learned in school. It would be a good thing to give these people Kant, Nietzsche and Foucault instead of books of monk and managers...

cheers.

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