The Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations
10 best books like The Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations (Robert Nozick): The Elements of Style, Reasons and Persons, The Pastures of Heaven, The Reasons of Love, On the Plurality of Worlds, Three Rival Versions of Moral Inquiry: Encyclopedia, Genealogy, and Tradition, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation, Andy Catlett: Early Travels, Whose Justice? Which Rationality?, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work
| Author | William Strunk Jr. |
| ISBN | 0205313426 |
This book is good for the following things:
1. Propping up a short table leg
2. Lining a bird cage
3. Building a fire
4. Using as a coaster for cold drinks
I devoted some of my grammar thesis to criticizing this book, and it was time well spent.
Geoff...
Challenging, with several powerful arguments, some of our deepest beliefs about rationality, morality, and personal identity, Derek Parfit claims that we have a false view about our own nature. It is often rational to act against our own best interests, he argues, and most of us have moral views that...
| Author | John Steinbeck |
| ISBN | 0141186097 |
Each of these delightful interconnected tales is devoted to a family living in a fertile valley on the outskirts of Monterey, California, and the effects that one particular family has on them all. Steinbeck tackles two important literary traditions here; American naturalism, with its focus on the...
| Author | Harry G. Frankfurt |
| ISBN | 0691126240 |
This beautifully written book by one of the world's leading moral philosophers argues that the key to a fulfilled life is to pursue wholeheartedly what one cares about, that love is the most authoritative form of caring, and that the purest form of love is, in a complicated way, self-love.
...
| Author | David Kellogg Lewis |
| ISBN | 0631224262 |
against all odds, i am extremely fond of this book. modal realism doesn't really do any of the work that i care most about doing, or resolve any of the questions that i care most about resolving, but i'll give this to david lewis, he seems to have done a great job of resolving the questions that HE cares most...
| Author | Alasdair MacIntyre |
| ISBN | 0268018774 |
Alasdair MacIntyre—whom Newsweek has called "one of the foremost moral philosophers in the English-speaking world"—here presents his 1988 Gifford Lectures as an expansion of his earlier work Whose Justice? Which Rationality? He begins by considering the cultural and philosophical distance...
| Author | James K.A. Smith |
| ISBN | 0801035775 |
Malls, stadiums, and universities are actually liturgical structures that influence and shape our thoughts and affections. Humans–as Augustine noted–are "desiring agents," full of longings and passions; in brief, we are what we love.
James K. A. Smith focuses on the themes of liturgy...
Andy Catlett: Early Travels
| Author | Wendell Berry |
| ISBN | 1593761368 |
Berry opens this latest installment of the Port William series with young Andy Catlett preparing to visit a place he'd been to many times before, though this would be an adventure he will take very seriously. Nine years old, Andy embarks on the trip by bus, alone for the first time. He decides it will...
Whose Justice? Which Rationality?
| Author | Alasdair MacIntyre |
| ISBN | 0268019444 |
A very hard text, compared to his other works, but also that much more refined and focused. It gives an account of traditions of thought, their development, context, teaching as to describe their concepts of justice and rationality. The traditions discussed are platonic-aristotelian-augustinian-thomist...
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work
| Author | Matthew B. Crawford |
| ISBN | 1594202230 |
A philosopher/mechanic's wise (and sometimes funny) look at the challenges and pleasures of working with one's hands
Called "the sleeper hit of the publishing season" (The Boston Globe), Shop Class as Soulcraft became an instant bestseller, attracting readers with its radical (and timely)...
Bringing Sex Into Focus: The Quest for Sexual Integrity
| Author | Caroline J. Simon |
| ISBN | 0830836373 |
In a culture that includes sex in everything from advertising to climbing the corporate ladder, it's easy to feel fuzzy about the true purpose and place of sexuality. In this book philosopher and ethicist Caroline J. Simon identifies six "lenses" through which people understand sex and sexuality:...
The Household and the War for the Cosmos: Recovering a Christian Vision for the Family
Really good book which doesn't quite fit the genre, at least not as you probably anticipate. There's a very compelling comparison of Abraham and Aeneas in the first half, and the second half gives a good explanation of "household" (oikonomia) and a very interesting reading of Ephesians with that perspective....
The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Volume I
These two volumes provide a completely new translation of the philosophical works of Descartes, based on the best available Latin and French texts. They were intended to replace the only reasonably comprehensive selection of his works in English, by Haldane and Ross, first publsihed in 1911. All...
