traptunderice wrote:
Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus kicked my ass but I need to return to it. I want to read Deleuze on Spinoza. Spinoza is the one modern philosopher I can get into besides Hume and I'm kinda burnt out on Hume. I don't know if Foucault ever directly engages Nietzsche but it always plays in the background so that's kinda a relation you would have to study simply through reading both of them a lot. Those two Nietzsche books are short but very direct, well direct as he ever gets. Easy to pick up and put down over time.
I read Emerson and Thoreau in high school. I like his take on nature. I have a a vague recollection and probably a simplistic understanding of it but the conception of nature as a system and ultimately self-sustaining as it is bountiful might be interested as I move into doing stuff on ecology. I feel like I may be conflating him with Rousseau possibly here; it having been several years since i read him. Perfect reading while in a row boat or under a tree or laying out in a field. It's a book you read to a lady friend during a post-picnic cuddle.
Yes... Spinoza is a philosopher I would like to know more about. I have his ethics but haven't gotten into it yet. He definitely has a very unique way of putting things and I totally agree with you on his modern way of thinking. I also agree that Hume's philosophy gets a bit exhausting after a while but I like Kant's continuation of Hume's philosophy in general but not his categorical imperative so much as it gets things unnecessarily complicated. Nietzsche's most diverse book is probably The Gay Science followed by his more ethical and moral approach on Untimely Meditations. But yes, the mentioned books (Twilight of Idols and The Anti-Christ) are his two most direct and easy reads.
I too find Emerson's view on nature very interesting as he tends to romanticize nature in a very elegant form. He also has a rather optimistic idea about human nature. Rousseau's point of view is also interesting in his famous phrase "man is free, but everywhere he is in chains." Most recently I have been more into esoteric text like Ghazali and Mulla Sadra and their take on Mysticism which interests me no end. Although, I have to admit it sometimes is hard to comprehend and a lot other times mind-expanding as with all esoteric texts.
If you are continuing with Ecology you should read Ken Wilber if you don't know him already.
