Humanities & Cultures

For a good look at a topic 98% overlook, check out Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. I'm obviously biased as a vegan, but I find it hard to believe that someone could read and understand just the first chapter (30 or so pages) and not agree with him.

The Einzelganger videos on YouTube are pretty nice imo.

If you want to learn how to read a primary philosophical text, there's no better place to start than Descartes's Meditations. Besides its historical importance, all the arguments are superbly structured and make a point of not assuming anything at all (about prior readings or about the existence of things in general).

A lot of the conclusions will come off as strange or just plain wrong, but figuring out why is also a great exercise.

Philosophy of the mind is a cool area to dive in to. I’ve enjoyed reading some of Daniel Dennett’s (spelling?) stuff but that was 15 yrs ago so I’m probably out of date.

I enjoy the Philosophize This podcast by Stephen West and The Grey Area with Sean Illing from Vox.

The Being in the Way podcast has been putting out official recordings by Alan Watts on a semi-regular basis for about two years now. I like listening to his lectures as his take on Taoism is fairly down to earth and practical, rather than esoteric or excessively religious.

I also second the recommendation of PhilosophyTube on YouTube. I've been a fan of that channel since nearly the start, and it's been cool to see the improvement over time in both the presentation and substance of her videos.

Philosophy Tube on YouTube is great! https://youtube.com/@PhilosophyTube

Partially Examined Life if you want rich but approachable discussion on academic philosophy. I cannot understate how good these guys are; the age of their podcast speaks for itself. Also, for what it’s worth, I have an actual undergraduate degree in philosophy and I recommend them whole heartedly.

Discourses of Epictetus

The Myth of Sisyphus

Massimo Pigliucci's Stoic Meditations podcast

Bit different from what I read when I was a philosophy student, but am currently reading Wendell Berry and he is a pretty interesting thinker. Talks a lot about the nature and purpose of agriculture and work and life and shit, very insightfult and prescient. He's a big fan of Albert Howard, who's considered a father of the organic movement.

Nietzsche is fun but kind of crazy. Kant is very cool but extremely obtuse. Being and Time by Heidegger is similarly obtuse but I found it paradigm-shifting personally. Phenomonology in general is really profound, was introduced to the concept by an anthropologist named Timothy Ingold.

I don't know how easy it is to find but one of my favourite philosophy books is The Authority of Reason by Jean E. Hampton. It's really complex and it's been a long time since I've read it, but she makes really compelling and sophisticated arguments in favour of Kantian style moral realism.

In terms of political stuff, John Stuart Mill had a big impact on me when I was younger. David Graeber is technically an anthropologist but I find his political theory to be extremely compelling. As mentioned in another comment, Camus' The Rebel is one of my favourite books.

I actually quite enjoy Plato, though I appreciate the controversies. Pretty accessible stuff as well. I'm not well versed in the Greek stuff but I understand folks like Epicurus are super cool (very much unlike Plato he welcomed women and slaves into his school).

I also recently read the Tao Te Ching, which I think would be fair to describe as philosophy. I'm certainly no expert but I found it really interesting, the translation I read included a bunch of commentary from ancient and modern taoist thinkers for each chapter which made a big difference.