“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” -- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Philosophy gets a bad rap. Its purpose has never been one of airy speculation removed from reality. No, it focuses on just thought and justified action: how to live and for what. While these writers had philosophy explicitly in mind, their ideas are hardly nonsensical or even complex. Everyday life is their primary aim. For all time, people have looked inward for answers to life's problems. Philosophy is nothing more than the record of their conscious and focused effort toward a solution.
No one is immune to the issues that philosophers deal with. While there is a tendency to white-knuckle our own problems, everything you're dealing with has been dealt with before, countless times. Why not benefit from the hard-earned lessons of others? We are all struggling to figure it out, and no matter what you want to call it, their strategies for life's hardship matter--more than anything.
Philosophy is simply self-reflection, a personal meditation like writing, like cooking, like reading, like running. Written philosophy can take many forms, most more intimidating than others, but a select few beautifully simple and direct. The very best walk you through life's doubt and uncertainty, placing you at the beginning of the path of relief from hardship, ready and willing to handle anything that comes your way with grace.
While nearly anything that can be called knowledge originated within the domain of philosophy, what fuzzy questions that remain are those that have not been solved and probably never will be. Because of the natural process of differentiation among modes of thinking and their formalization into disciplines, philosophy has given birth to the self-contained spheres of politics, literature, religion, math, engineering, and science. Philosophy's own sphere of influence shrinks with each offshoot, inevitably resulting in a discipline whose scope is at once limited and grand. Thus, the poor contemporary opinion of what is rightly humankind's oldest and most valuable pursuit.
This was not always the case, and so long as we live and are concerned with doing it well, will never be the fate of philosophy. Although I believe philosophy is much broader than the Western canon, I've selected works only from it to illustrate my point: that practical wisdom is few and far between and even 'philosophy' has its fair share of gems hidden in complex text.
Note that I can only recommend books that I've actually read. In order of importance:
Meditations -- Marcus Aurelius (trans. Hays)
Not just the most practical and readable philosophical text, but the greatest book ever written. A true manual for how to live, or how to best deal with the all parts of life--especially the bad. Despite being the most powerful man in the world as the last good emperor of Rome, Aurelius humbled himself every night by reminding himself of how to control what he can, and how to best deal with what he can't control. He is an exemplar of virtue particularly the difficult ones such as humility, patience, and acceptance. Aurelius lived every breath of his short life and dealt with the harshest adversity as calmly as the greatest fortune. (Don't read anything other than the Hays translation!)
On Liberty -- John Stuart Mill
Mill believed the Stoics were the greatest product of the ancient mind, and it shows. His fierce emphasis on independence, humility, and personal honesty and responsibility culminate in a reassuring meditation on how to remain sane in society.
The Consolations of Philosophy -- Alain de Botton
Semi-historical essays about Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, all of which--despite the popular conception--were concerned not with speculation but with living well. Their theories uniquely color their lives and formal philosophies, but a common thread binds them. The author, de Botton, is unbearably French but tells a great story.
The Problems of Philosophy -- Bertrand Russell
There is no better introductory text, survey course, defense, or history of philosophy than this essay by the man himself. The last section argues in the same manner of Plato and Aristotle: that conscious, focused thought is the best way to spend one's time.
Letters from a Stoic -- Seneca (trans. Campbell)
It reads like a popularized, aphoristic version of Aurelius, because Seneca's thoughts were recorded in his writings to others instead of to himself (as Aurelius intended). Seneca also failed to live the patient, virtuous life he preached, often folding when it mattered most. While Aurelius, Epicurus, and Seneca all enjoyed great status in life, only the latter let it affect his being. These are the small differences between three very similar thinkers, and it does make a difference. However, Seneca's focus on coming to terms with death and his poetic approach to practical philosophy makes for great reading. He practically invented the essay format.
Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir -- Norman Malcolm
The author paints a picture of philosopher Wittgenstein as an eccentric, intense, and deeply caring individual through over 40 letters they shared after their time together at Cambridge. Wittgenstein has an intense dislike for any insincerity, imprecision, or lack of sophistication in everyday speech. He frowns even more upon insincere sophistication, fake precision, or misused jargon, which naturally makes him despise philosophers. Wittgenstein fought his whole life not to become an academic, but still philosophy was the only work that satisfied him. He is paranoid, especially about his own work, and extremely self-deprecating. Despite this, Wittgenstein lives in exact accordance with his personal ideals, chief among them being kindness, generosity, and honesty. It's bizarre but amazing. Malcolm often refers to his friendship as emotionally draining but deeply satisfying, and I imagine that's what it would be like to take absolutely no concessions in life. This memoir could very well be renamed "Wittgenstein's personal ethic". (Note: this is one of the few books Amazon doesn't have stocked cheaply, so be on the lookout).
On the Genealogy of Morality -- Nietzsche (trans. Diethe)
Nietzsche takes the Stoic idea of personal responsibility and a strong will and pushes it to its extreme, tracing questioning the very idea of strength and weakness in society.
If you didn't know any better, these two dialogues read as literature. They portray a version of the good life and, if you read closely, argue for it. Symposium deals with thought, knowledge, and love, while Phaedrus speaks of balance and truth in art, philosophy, and life. All with snappy Socrates and his fancy sandals.
Nichomachean Ethics -- Aristotle (trans. Reeve)
Prerequisite: patience, or a familiarity with Aristotle. Very rewarding and infinitely deep, but complicated and hard to get into. I need to revisit it.
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