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What does lit think about moby dick?
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a tremendous work with incredible depth that rivals the very oceans that moby dick swam in
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>>6117590
I just started my /lit/ journey so take from it what you will.
I like it so far, yet he goes on rants about the most boring shit and it just becomes dense and a drag to read.
You'll probably get a thread full or replies how you should read for prose and how gr8 it is.
Not bad though
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>>6117609
Some of the best prose in the English language, but the depth of the work is just as important of a reason to read it. You probably won't get it without having read a lot of philosophy.
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Dear /lit/
I've been reading philosophy for 6 or 7 years now, some years more than other, however today ive decided to follow the advice: start with the greeks.
I have read most of the big philosophers partially, some more than other, but now I want them to read in the order academia reads them, so I can get more out of it.
Can you provide me with some links, how to start with this project?
Or is there someone who studies philosophy here which can give me a overview of the order in which he read them?
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>>6092117
Damn, what philosophy 'have' you been reading then?
Anyway, skip the pre-socratics (>inb4hate) then:
Plato - Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, The Republic
Aristotle - Nichomachean Ethics, Politics, Physics, Metaphysics
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>>6092150
>skipping the presocratics
>no Symposium
>no Timaeus
>no Phaedrus
pure plebeology
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>>6092150
>Anyway, skip the pre-socratics
FUCK YOU
Without Heraclitus, Parmenides, Pythogoreans, and Sophists you won't understand where Plato's coming from.
Pre-socratics are important to read precisely because all our philosophy is based on Plato and Aristotle and not on them. They're a blind spot for most people. Even Aristotle didn't understand the Ionians anymore.
>2015
>still defending this fat fuck
Shiggy diggy
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/30/george-rr-martin-the-winds-of-winter-publication
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>>6073192
"there are no plans for the much-anticipated latest volume from his A Song of Ice and Fire series to appear in 2015. Instead, readers will have to comfort themselves with an illustrated edition of three previously anthologised novellas set in the world of Westeros."
What a cunt. It's because he is involved with the TV show, and that takes up most of his time. Remember, prior to this he wasn't famous, just some fat guy shitting out fantasy crap in his basement. So between the first few books and now, virtually every aspect of his life has changed - he has money, fame, a decent HBO job, fans, possibly some female attention; he doesn't spend all day lounging around in his undercrackers, scratching himself and masturbating to dragons anymore, and this is bound to impact his ability to write.
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In the wait for ADWD I already lost most of my interest in the series; by now I am completely over it. I wonder how many other original fans of the series' tastes have changed similarly in this last decade or so.
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Are there any novels that promote the nuclear family, fitness, beauty, strength, etc.. as desirable virtues? And associate ugliness with evil? Like LOTR?
Seems like all we get now are books with selfish protagonists. Stories about moral relativism, apathy, fat acceptance and how to kill yourself painlessly. What happened to old european virtues?
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>>6053570
>What happened to old european virtues?
Pretentious MGTOW fags like you.
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>>6053575
>nuclear family
>MGTOW
derp derp
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>>6053570
oh hey, it's my girlfriend
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ITT: create "pill" characters and reading lists
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>>6021277
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>>6021282
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You will never drag us down to the abyssal regions where /pol/ resides, OP.
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A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was...
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full.
They agreed it was...
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full.
The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'
The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed...
'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.
The sand is everything else---the small stuff.
'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Spend time with your children.
Spend time with your parents.
Visit with grandparents.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your spouse out to dinner.
Play another 18...
There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.
Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter.
Set your priorities.
The rest is just sand.
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented.
The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'
The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers with a friend.
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A young Canadian soldier was attending some college courses between assignments. He had also just completed a mission in Afghanistan.
One of the courses had a professor who was a vowed atheist. One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, 'God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes.'
The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.
Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, 'Here I am God. I'm still waiting.'
It got down to the last couple of minutes when the young soldier got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold. The young man went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.
The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the soldier and asked, 'What the hell is the matter with! YOU? Why did you do that?'
Came the reply, 'God was too busy today protecting our soldiers who are protecting your right to talk stupid and act like an idiot. So......He sent me.'
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Gee thanks for forwarding this email my way Grandpa!
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Capitalist economic theory seems pretty accessible, seeing as it's taught in schools and found in the business section of the local newspaper. It's pretty easy to be familiar with the models and theories, the curves and graphs and efficiency and all that.
I've long found myself agreeing with radical left critiques of capitalism (wage labour being bad, inequality being bad, corporate control of political decision-making, etc), but have been hesitant to move from progressive welfare liberalism to socialism because, unlike capitalist theory, which consists of models demonstrating how it maximizes efficiency, I am not familiar with any socialist models or theories that demonstrate that an optimal allocation of scarce goods is possible.
Von Mises seems to have demonstrated that central planning is doomed to fail because the lack of price signals means producers have no information about how much to produce. However, I've never been a fan of central planning or authoritarian socialism anyway, and have more anarchistic sympathies.
Is there literature on how decentralized socialism could work well? What should I read? I only have vague inkling about the existence of mutualists, syndicalists, the Parecon, etc., but I know nothing about the systems they advocate and how those meet the challenges of socialism. Any good texts?
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If you want to get into Socialism, read the Communist Manifesto if you haven't already. Socialism is a lower form or Communism. That will give you the most correct foundation. You need the philosophical foundation to give meaning to the economics.
From there I recommend reading Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. And finally Das Kapital (or just Capital, depending on your version) for the actual marxist economics.
Hypothetically you could skip Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, but Das Capital is not a beginners text (assuming you are a beginner). You can read it without Socialism or the Manifesto of course, but reading all three should yield the best understanding
Most important thing is that you read from the original sources, Marx and Engels. Everyone has their own interpretation, so get yours from the OG's
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>>6029172
I'm assuming he has already read The Wealth of Nations and Das Kapital if he's making a thread on economics, because if not, he's retarded.
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>>6029187
Most "casual" Marxists, and specifically Social Marxists (whom I dislike) generally haven't read any of the texts. Just pick it up listening to others. So at this point I have low expectations. But any interest in reading the texts is a great thing and should be nurtured
Anonymous
Philosophy of Science: Rec Texts and Questions? 2015-01-20 17:37:23 Post No.6028815
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Philosophy of Science: Rec Texts and Questions? 2015-01-20 17:37:23 Post No.6028815
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Philosophy of Science: Rec Texts and Questions?
Anonymous
2015-01-20 17:37:23
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So, I was wondering what some good books are that give an overview of movements in the philosophy of science. I only have a very general understanding about how positivism was critiqued and killed by Popper and the postpositivists, because verificationism leads to the problem of induction and all that.
However, being a student of the social sciences, I encounter a lot of fellow students critiquing "positivism" not on these terms, but with these postmodern/post-structuralists positions critical of the stance that authoritative belief comes from reason or empirical data. You know, the whole, "nothing is objective" and "lived experience is just as important as data" and "shit's all constructed."
To me, these complaints sound like people stamping their feet about the fact that they can't just say things and expect people to take them as true, and that they need these pesky things called "evidence" and whatnot. As someone on the left myself, I'm concerned about the fact that this sort of thinking is very prevalent amongst leftists. But perhaps I am oversimplifying it and don't understand their position. What should I read to better understand it?
TBC
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>>6028815
Oh well, you should look into the 'Positivismusstreit' the dispute between Popper and the Frankfurt School. The argument isn't that no objective truth exists, but that you can't observe society from a point of view that is neutral and unbiased, as you're part of it, and your research has a legitimizing function. Therefore, Sociology can't be done like a natural science.
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A good cheap text is Barker + Kitcher's "philosophy of science"
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>>6028815
While I find most charges of "scientism" just a vague snarl term used as a thought-terminating cliche to shut down any lack of automatic acceptance of nebulous, unfalsifiable claims, I do see what I would call "scientism" arising from scientists who seem not to understand philosophy, such as some of the "New Atheists" and pop scientists like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who proclaim that "science has killed philosophy" and absurdities of that kind, without realizing that science is an empirical method of acquiring knowledge and can do nothing to address questions that can't be settled empirically, but only through deduction and abstract reasoning. I mean, sure, some philosophical questions have been more-or-less settled by science. I feel that contemporary neuroscience has been the death knell of dualistic conceptions of qualia, for example. Core questions of epistemology and metaphysics, however? Science will likely never arrive at answers for those, because that isn't its purpose.
Still, I don't feel that the fact that science isn't the only source of knowledge means that the floodgates are open for all "other ways of knowing," which is usually bullshit for "I pulled this out of my ass."
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What are some good introductory texts to feminist theory?
>Inb4 "go back to Tumblr"
It's okay to read about things whether you agree with them or not, Anons.
Here is my list of books I intend to look at. What do you think of it? What should I add? Subtract?
>The Female Eunuch
>Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility
>The Whole Woman
>The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution
The Second Sex
>Sisterhood is Powerful
>Only Words
>Feminism Unmodified
>Sexual Politics
>The Feminine Mystique
>Gender Trouble
>Undoing Gender
>SCUM Manifesto
>Pornography: Men Possessing Women
>Intercourse
>Sex and Social Justice
>If Women Counted
Kind of looking to read things from across the spectrum, different views on issues. "Sex-positive" and "sex-critical"; gender-constructivist and essentialist/cultural forms. Liberal and radical. Etc.
Also, has any feminist proposed a liberation theory that includes turning into starfish?
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>>6029456
I've only read a handful of those, but I like "Three Guineas" by Virginia Woolf, which is a very well-written introduction to a lot of feminist ideas.
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When I was a child I read the book in OP's pic. One of the characters turned into a starfish and it got cut in half and both halves turned back into human and then one was evil and threatened to kill the character and maybe even her dog I think.
I cried and told my mother and should said I shouldn't be reading animorphs. The next day I was fine and I still cringe when I think about it.
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>>6029681
That actually sounds fucking terrifying why the fuck would they put that in a kids' book
>>6029462
I'll check that out. Only Woolf I've read is "A Room of Her Own." Seems more suitable to the context of the time she wrote it in, though I can see how it's applicable to today, to some extent (lots of studies are showing that achievement gaps between sexes are influenced by socialization and learning environments, and how the "stereotype threat" has an effect and all that jazz).
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I want to transition from anime to literature because anime sucks.
My favorite anime is Evangelion, please give me some recommendations.
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You're asking what the Evangelion of literature is?
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>>5997350
I just want something that fits my taste, I don't know a shit about literature
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Be more specific OP and then maybe we can help.
Anonymous
Deleuze -- Rhizomatics, Nomadology, Schizoanalysis etc 2015-01-15 00:37:37 Post No.6002059
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Deleuze -- Rhizomatics, Nomadology, Schizoanalysis etc
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2015-01-15 00:37:37
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What does /lit/ think of Deleuze?
I have been working through his corpus and think that, like Nietzsche, it is going to take quite some time for society to catch up to his work.
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Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus are both amazing. Starting with Bergsonism and Difference and Repetition is advised though
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>>6002059
I'm not well-versed enough to really understand his work on philosophy. His work with the other arts is pretty easy to read and often interesting, though you can feel him reaching hard to deviate from what was previously believed about certain writers. Sometimes it works, other times not.
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>>6002156
Don't forget Spinoza.
Spinoza-Nietzsche-Bergson (and later Kant) are Deleuze's homeboys.
Spinoza especially to the extent that Deleuze is rectifying Nietzsche's gross misrepresentation of Spinoza.
In fact, I'd say Spinoza is much more central to Deleuze than Nietzsche. He wrote his secondary thesis on Spinoza and lectured on him extensively.
Heyyyyyy /lit/....so uh, I heard you like, uh, booktubers, so I uh....
HNG!
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>>5991829
She's so confident, so charming.
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She doesn't wear any make up.
I'm falling /lit/, save me.
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>>5991829
>Another woman being an attention whore.
When will it end?
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Guys, she's accepting and waiting to receive your...books.
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link to wishlist?
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>>5991310
Fake ass bitch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMHx1xrrNIM
She also deleted her tumblr post telling us to fuck off, but when we start buying her books, well then, she's just a peach ain't she?
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Gift her Infinite Jest so that she feels obligated to read it all and review it. Also she'll probably identify with his wishy-washy sincerity bullshit anyway.
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Just finished Plato's Republic. Please ask me questions about it. Answering questions of things I've just read helps me jog my memory. Also, I read about the Presocratics, the Theban plays, and most of the Histories by Herodotus last year, so I'll answer some questions on those as well.
I think I'll reread Homer's epics and maybe the Metaphysics by Aristotle, and that's going to be wrap up my Greek readings for now. I want to move on to the Romans soon. I'm going to begin with the Aeneid. After that, what else should I read? Do you think I should tackle Livy's history of Rome or should I just read the Periochae?
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was it all a dream?
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Does ist have a happy ending?
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One bump before I go to bed in hopes I'll get some questions by tomorrow morning
Any recommended books for people getting over depression and starting to look forward again?
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>>5963860
Dazai and Mishima.
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The Art of Hapiness
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The Old Man and the Sea might be helpful