hi peeps,
Im after something new to keep my brain ticking over....any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Im looking for cutting edge theories rather than the classics btw.

The Oxford Companion to Philosophy.

It covers most philosophical topics. Great reference book.

In terms of modern philosophy, what's your fancy? Modern philosophy books tend to be less general.

Im very interested in consciousness, ethics, and social theory
thanks :)

Why not read Heidegger's Being and Time.
Then you can tell me what the fuck this crazy German fuck is talking about.

haha ok, *googles on amazon*

Actually, don't.
I am determined to bulldoze my way through it eventually but the man is as tortuous as Kant.

A good read is Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. It deals with the use of language, but slips into all sorts of topics.

Hmmm.

Consciousness. Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is a must read on this topic.
Hockstadter is coming out with a new book soon (if it's not already published) entitled "I am a Strange Loop." This will likely be another mandatory tome for anyone interested in consciousness and the human mind.

I don't know how "cutting edge" she is, but my favorite is Ayn Rand. Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead. It's all good.

Invert NExus:

Godel, Escher, and Bach isn't really about consciousness. It's about math. There isn't much in the way of serious discussion of anything outside of A.I.

I'd read Searle and Dennet side by side. They tend to fall on opposite sides of the spectrum.

In regards to ethics/social theory, aside from the Ayn Rand books Madanthonywayne suggests, a good mixture of the two topics is Nozick's "Anarchy, State, and Utopia".

If you'd prefer a leftist approach, try John Rawls "A Theory of Justice".

The Book of Five Rings by Myamoto Mushashi.

Short on theory, or any explanation, it covers EVERYTHING.

It's a book on swordsmanship, Ogmios. I fail to see how that is philosophy?

A warrior without ideals is a broken sword. You can't have ideals without philosophy. The Book of Five Rings tries to teach you to become perfect warrior. Mushashi is not a broken sword.

Hence! (the inevitable consequence omited as too obvious)

IN ADDITION, all wars exists to refine ideas (ideals, whatever). To learn skills of war is to learn skills in refinement of ideas. And philosophy drives to uncover ideas, or am I wrong?

Thanks for all the suggestions, plenty to go on here :)

Btw prince james (or anyone else for that matter) have you ever read
Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity by Thomas Metzinger?

Heard several people raving about, know if its any good?
thanks

Found a good eFics book...
http://astore.amazon.co.uk/scientific-21/detail/0316728152


Just gonna check some of those suggestions for theories on consciousness..:cool:

Godel, Escher, and Bach isn't really about consciousness. It's about math. There isn't much in the way of serious discussion of anything outside of A.I.

Yes. It's about math. And it's about AI. But, it's also about consciousness. As in a theory of consciousness being this recursive self reference which he circles around and around and around.

The title to his new book, "I Am A Strange Loop" should also be a hint about his intent behind the work.

You might be surprised how often study of 'consciousness' arises in various fields by seemingly inconsequential (until followed) tangents.

Consciousness. Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is a must read on this topic.


That was the one I was going to suggest.


Hockstadter


Never heard of him. Are you perhaps referring to Hofstadter, the author of GEB? :D

Doh!
Must have been a strange loop. Veering away from Hof as I had recently looked up some information on David Hasselhoff (aka The Hoff.)

In human science forum, there is a thread about a dead mans brain. Someone lists a book about memory etc being stored/shared in a quantum field of sorts. Lynne McTaggart "The Field"

Hmm.
Could only be extremely hypothetical.

I recall a book on a similar subject from years ago entitled Star Wave or some such.
Something about how the memories might even be stored in the liquid in our brains, no real need for grey matter (or white.)

Most likely bullshit, of course. But interesting bullshit.

Im very interested in consciousness, ethics, and social theory
thanks :)

1. Power vs. Force
2. The Eye of the I: From which nothing is hidden

Both by Dr. David R. Hawkins.

Phoenomenology of Mind
Being and Nothingness

Another tortuous read. But not as bad as Heidegger. Sartre is difficult to read mostly because of nomenclature. Noema. Noesis. Epoche. Various latin terms. Greek. Blah blah blah.

In human science forum, there is a thread about a dead mans brain. Someone lists a book about memory etc being stored/shared in a quantum field of sorts. Lynne McTaggart "The Field"

Already got that one, never finished it sadly, although from what i read it was fairly well balanced, highly speculative of course but then thats how the advancement of knowledge progresses so no problem with that as such.

Thanks for the lattest suggestions btw, gonna look into those too.
I figure i'll leave the philosophical 'greats' be for the time being, when (if) i got to uni to study philosophy i figure i'll have more than enough time to get to know their theories then. :p

Ogmios:

The Book of Five Rings may require a "warrior with ideals", but its discussion of such is lacking almost entirely. Moreover, philosophy is associated with "ideas", but swordsmanship is more a techne (craft) than a sophia (wisdom).

Invert Nexus:

This might be the case, but its focus barely touches on the importance of consciousness. That is to say, it's not a book on consciousness, even if it includes some aspects of it.

The Book of Five Rings is more inspirational and helpful on a self-fullfilment level. If you were to take martial philosophy to the task proposed by the OP(original poster), I'd recommend The Art of War.

For the broad topics mentioned by the OP, i'd recommend Plato, Confucious, some other eastern stuff(just getting into this stuff myself), Hobbes, Enlightenment A-Z...in that order...then pick up "Beyond Good and Evil", "The Birth of Tragedy","Human, All Too Human", "Ecce Homo", well everything Nietzsche quite frankly.

Then end off with the paper "Will to Power". Read that 3-4 times. ahh hell let's continue with the samurai theme here and bang the rest of the philosophies over and over folding them up by alternating the readings(in public if possible - if Christians can evangalize so can we) ...of "Thus Spake Zarathustra" and "Will to Power". That will remove all carbons and impurities from the "mettle" of the other philosophies.

I bought...

''Moral Minds: The Science of Temptation and Control" - Marc Hauser

"Radical Nature: Rediscovering the Soul of Matter" - Christian De Quincey


Both look set to be interesting reading :cool: I'll keep all the other books in mind for my next purchase : )

Nietzschefan:

The guy asked for contemporary philosophy.