Question by Marco4: Great Books of “Modern” Western Philosophy that are generally Applicable to living?
I find recent western philosophy to be so abstract and academic, that it usually does not have alot of directly applicable principles. For example Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, and more recenly John Rawls, I don’t find people finding these works helpfull in everyday life. I’m somewhat disillusioned with more recent western philosophy.
I guess my question is, do others find themselves in the same situation, and if not what works have you read that you find to be very down to earth, that people in everyday life could use.
That ancient image of the philosopher shut in, in his ivory tower, I once hated that image, I still do, yet I’m finding it to be more and more true.
Best answer:
Answer by Crazy M
ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand.
It is rated by the Library of Congress as the second most influential book in North America after the bible.
Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism is the only philosophy in history which advocates rational self-interest through logic. It is the only philosophy compatible with living selfishly.
In my college years I followed Marx, Kant, Comte and many others but like yourself, I found them inadequate to apply to everyday life as those philosophies advocate self-sacrifice or sacrificing others.
If you are truly interesting discovering a philosophy for living then I highly recommend that you research Objectivism.
“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” – Ayn Rand
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