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Ask HN: Philosophical Reading Recommendations

by DapperZoom on 9/9/21, 5:48 PM with 5 comments

Hello HN. I have an undergrad in philosophy, and another in (computer) science, and I often read popular science books. I really enjoy the passages that deal with more abstract concepts and take a more philosophical approach.

For example, in Richard Dawkin's book the Ancestors Tale, there is a section I really enjoyed towards the end where he speculated on what would happen if evolution would be "re-run" on Earth from a certain point in the past. For example, if evolution were executed many times from the point where the first multicellular organism arose, what should be the distribution of the results? He goes on to say that there were many "good ideas" in evolution that would likely occur every time; such as bilateral symmetry, sensors that take in EM radiation (eyes) and so on. He also discusses things that would be unlikely to arise. He also speculated on evolution on other planets with, for example, stronger or weaker gravity than that found on Earth.

Not a book, but I also recently listened to Dan Dennett on Sean Carrol's Mindscape podcast. The conversation was very philosophical, but had a good basis in science.

I'm not looking to read any more Dawkins or Dennett, and want to branch out a bit in my reading. Any suggestions that may fit the above criteria?

  • by new_guy on 9/9/21, 6:04 PM

    I'm pretty sure you'll be familiar with this already and it's not really philosophy but check out Von Neumann's work on cellular automata if you haven't already.

    I think revisiting his work with the computing power we have available now would give valuable insights, it'd let us replay evolution many times over.

  • by pfortuny on 9/9/21, 5:56 PM

    Nichomachean Ethics, by Aristotle. Plain and simple search for the meaning of “happiness” and “full life”.

  • by PaulHoule on 9/9/21, 5:52 PM

    I liked Either/Or by Søren Kierkegaard also have been reading Baudrillard again -- some people find him hard to understand but he gives me a feeling of Deja Vu. (e.g. what happened to me because I spent years playing video games, what is happening now because it changed me)

  • by MeteorMarc on 9/9/21, 6:16 PM

    Works of Roger Scruton. You may not share his opinions, but his writing is exceptionally clear.