I haven't read philosophy since college, and I would like to start over again. Can you help?

As you know, there are a lot of works out there, and it depends on what you want to get stuck into, and to what extent your willing to get yourself into it.

I would start off with something simple to get you rolling. Hesiod's "theogany" and "works and days" is a short and straightforward book on ethics and implied cosmology (at least thats what I got from it), which would be a good starting point. Aristotle's "The Nichomachean ethics" is also a good solid piece of philosophy to read.

If you want to get into some heavier stuff, then Plato's "Timaeus and Critias" is certainly worth the read. It is also fairly short, but explores a great deal of cosmology, as well as containing the Atlantis myth. This is one of my favourite books.

Other works by Plato worth reading are "The Republic" and "The Symposium". The Republic sets out the kind of society that would be ideal for fostering philosophic thought. It contains many things about human nature, and on metaphysics. The simile of the cave is a very famous reference of the human to the metaphysic cosmos. The symposium is a discoarse on what "love" is, and I found it to be pretty interesting.

Getting away from the Greeks, I found the Tao Te Ching to be quick, yet very challenging - probably not something to try and comprehend without a bit of wider reading. The Bhagavad-Gita is what I am about to start reading. I'm expecting to get some insight on ethics, cosmology and, hopefully, some similar themse to that of Plato and Hesiod.

ONe very engaging way to reintroduce yourself to philosophy is by looking for some works that illustrate how philosophy can be applied to everyday life. Not only might this be very enlightening but it might also be a good transition back into philosophy without jumping into something very difficult right off like Being & Time by Martin Heidegger. Obviously, the best answer to this question will begin with thinking about what your specific interests in philosophy are; metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, ethics, aesthetics.

Here are some very good recent works on applied philosophy:

Plato not Prozac! by Lou Marinoff. He is a practicing philosophical counselor and clearly illustrates how to apply the wisdom of an eclectic mix of philosophers to everyday problems. This book introduced me to the philosophical counseling movement and inspired me to become one myself!

The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton. Similar to Marinoff's but with more specific chapters covering Seneca, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Epicurs, Socrates, and Montaigne. Again, a good entry into deeper study of each of these philosophers.

Socrates Cafe by Christopher Phillips. Another suggestion is to form a reading group or Socrates Cafe (he describes his experiences with this in the book). After all, reading philosophy is enjoyable but discussing it is where things really come to life.

The Stoic Art of Living by Tom Morris. A more focused work dealing with the Stoics such as Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. If applied philosophy is your thing the Stoics are a good resources including of course Epictetus' Discourses and Seneca's letters.

Philosophy as a Way of Life by Pierre Hadot. A more academic work exploring just how to integrate philosophy into your own life by appealing to how some of the greats did this including Socrates and Marcus Aurelius.

Each of these can be seen as a doorway to further reading and discussion. Once you discover where you want to focus you can easily broaden and deepen your reading to include some of the classics like The Republic, Descartes' Meditations, and Heidegger's Being & Time!

Well, my Senior year project in my Jesuit High School was to read the Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Acquinas, in it's original Latin... then write a lengthy report on it for extra credit.

You can also go to Plato's Republic as a good place to start since that has been translated into English.

I suggest you go to google and type in What is philosophy and search. From there select the simplest and start slowly. then you can select the philosopher you would like to focus. Give a try.

i started reading philosophy in high school,a book called philosophy,psychology and poetry...it had a good eclectic mix of different types of philosphy w/detailed descriptions on each branch,very interesting. wish i could find a copy fpr my kids. i did introduce them via a set of books titled the volume library published by the southwestern co. many years ago,that has reference at a college level for many subjects. i have found them in used book stores for a few bucks and got copies for nieces,nephews etc. they are a good start.if you cant find them any good reference book on general philosophy will be good to get background.when you find the ones that best suit you ,then go more in depth.an excellent read(in my opinion) was mans search for meaning by victor frankel....read it As a young psychology student,mixes both psych and philosophy. who was your favorite in college? GOOD LUCK!

Please buy the book entitled: The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant. It covers the following Philosophers:

Aristotle,James,Nietzsche,

Russel,Bergson,Spencer,

Locke,Plato,Croce.Bacon,

Voltaire,Santayana,Spinoza,

Kant<Dewey<Schopenhauer.

This is about the lives and opinions of the world's greatest philosophers.

I would advise you start with a general book like Simon Blackburn's Think: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Compelling-Introduct...

It's a good way of getting familiar with the subject again, and contains lots of recommendations for further books to read.

This book is also good: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philosophy-Very-Short-Intr... and also contains lots of recommendations for further readings. There's also other books in this series, on more specific aspects of philosophy.

A friend of my bought a book of Nostradamus.

I forgot the autor, but it's really nice.

It's not really philosophy, but you can spend days thinking about what that man said.

It's nice!

This is the person i like to study about -

http://thebigview.com/tao-te-ching/

is all philosophers its only him

and religions is differents story