Question Would you professional philosophers advise that us--rather uninitiated--students begin tackling philosophers and philosophical perspectives through series such as the "A Very Short Introduction" collection? I am a senior international relations/development studies undergrad and have been recently taking courses on what kinds of ethical relations we have to others, in general,"global justice". I have read key pieces from Rawls, Pogge (I enjoy his cosmopolitan institutionalist perspective!), Sen, David Held, Habermas, Nagel, some Charles Taylor, and several others. One constant problem I have encountered was that many of these authors are writing amidst the background of other thinkers such as Hegel, Rousseau, Locke, Mill, Kant and so on. To return to my initial question, would you recommend "intro" readings for many of these authors so one can understand--very basically--where contemporary scholars derive their ideas, or do I need to take the plunge directly into Hegel (I know one day I will) et al? Could you recommend any other good texts on international relations/ ethics that can provide a general overview? Thank you for your consideration.

Accepted:
August 2, 2012

Comments

There are lots of resources available for people who would like to gain entry into the world of academic philosophy. I suggest that you find out what texts are used in introductory philosophy courses in the areas in which you are interested. There are two obvious ways to do this: one, if you live near a college or university, check out the campus or area bookstores for lists of the required or recommended books for the courses that interest you. You might even visit a professor during his or her office hours (these may be posted on the web, or you may be able to get them by calling the department office) to ask for recommendations.

Alternatively, or in addition, you can surf the web for course syllabi. Many instructors post these to publicly accessible sites, and the syllabi usually list the books required or recommended for the course.

There are at least two good encyclopedias of philosophy that I can recommend. There is a print encyclopedia, published by Routledge. It is very expensive to buy, but local libraries or college libraries might carry it. There is also the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ( plato.stanford.edu ) Both of these resources are meant to be useful for professional philosophers, so they may presuppose more expertise than you have. But many entries are quite accessible, and even if the content is a little beyond you (at this point), the references may be helpful.

Finally, don't forget to exploit this website. Search by the philosopher or topic you are interested in. We panelists all write with people like you in mind, so you might find a lot of what you're looking for right here.

Enjoy!