4 Philosophy Books You Can Read (and Understand) Without Needing a Degree
By: Kai M
Tags: Knowledge, Books, Existentialism, Religion, Philosophy

Philosophy is generally considered to be an elitist field, and for good reason. The academic world has done very little to reach out and engage with the public. Philosophy is a tough subject to study, and this is not just because of the content, it is also because there are few people who are willing to make it open.

Additionally, most philosophical texts are tough to read. They often contain a ton of jargon and deeply specific language. Some texts are written in a dialectical format, where the authors (such as Hegel, Heidegger, and to some extent Kierkegaard) argue for and against several points. This can be a very off-putting style for many, even those such as myself who are academically trained. Some philosophers also include equations in their texts (such as Godel, and G.E. Moore), which are sure to alienate most people who are not accustomed to them.

Honestly, I understand why this happens. Many philosophical ideas are excessively hard to explain, and so they require very precise and complex language. A great deal of philosophy simply does not translate well to the written word, and so some concepts need pages-upon-pages of convoluted words. I am not saying that every philosopher should endeavor to have their work understandable to non-academic individuals, but I do think that the field as a whole should work on being more welcoming and open.

So, with this in mind, I have decided to collect a short list of philosophy texts which I believe can be read and comprehended without needing a degree in philosophy, or any academic training whatsoever. These are books that use clear language, and explain their ideas as simply as possible.

Meditations on First Philosophy — Rene Descartes (1641)

Descartes’ most important book marks the very early beginnings of the Age of Enlightenment, as well as the end of Medieval religious thinking. Meditations is a book about the philosophical concept of “rationalism”, which is the idea that we can come to know everything through our ability to apply reason to any situation. Under rationalism, all knowledge is believed to be attainable via reason alone. Descartes was essentially the leader of this movement.

The book is separated into six distinct chapters (or meditations), in which Descartes tries to answer the question “how can we know anything?” Each chapter gets more complex than the last, but I would say Meditations 1,2, and 3 are extremely easy to understand. Meditations 4 and 5 are not too hard either, although the final Meditation can be tricky.

As a word of caution for non-religious folks, Descartes is a Christian philosopher, and his thoughts on God become a major focus of the later Meditations. However, you do not need to be religious to appreciate the work in this book. The vast majority of the people I studied alongside (including myself) were non-religious, or agnostic, yet still enjoyed it.

The Stranger — Albert Camus (1942)

Camus’ novella is a fantastic introduction to his notion of “absurdism”, which can be summed up as the idea that despite human’s desire for knowledge, life evades meaning at every turn. This is a book that contains very little philosophical jargon; it gets its point across through artful storytelling and character development.

The Stranger also acts as a reasonable introduction to the idea of “existentialism”, which is the philosophical sub-field of looking at the world through a deeply human-centric lens (however, note that Camus did not actually consider himself to be an existentialist, but despite this, absurdism and existentialism are sort of like siblings in the philosophy world).

If you are looking for something more topical for this day and age, then I would suggest reading Camus’ The Plague (1947) instead. It is not his most popular novel, but it also gets his idea of absurdism across.

What Does it All Mean — Thomas Nagel (1989)

Nagel’s extremely short book is an amazing introduction to many philosophical concepts, explained in such a way that you could possibly teach it to primary/elementary school children. It covers a range of topics, such as “do we have free-will?”, “what is justice?”, “do other people think like us?”, “what is the meaning of life?”, and many others. The book provides no clear conclusions to these (possibly) unanswerable questions, but it gives a great outlining of what makes these questions so philosophically rich.

Thomas Nagel is primarily an analytic philosopher, which is a philosophical discipline where precision and clarity within language is paramount, so keep this in mind when reading his work. Analytic philosophers tend to avoid lofty topics like God, souls, or existence, and instead opt for topics like personal identity, consciousness, and logic.

A Case For Irony — Johnathan Lear (2012)

This fantastic book combines the thoughts of Socrates and Soren Kierkegaard (a favourite philosopher of mine) to explain how relating to life with a certain irony can yield significant revelations within one’s life. It is a book about what it means to be human, and how a person should go about living as a human.

What I love about this book is that you do not need any prior knowledge of either Socrates or Kierkegaard to understand and enjoy it. Lear does an amazing job of explaining the ideas that these two philosophers bring to the table without requiring any additional reading.

I must say, however, that the second half of this book is significantly harder than the first half, but that’s okay because the first half is better and richer anyway.

Conclusion

These books are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to easy-to-read philosophical texts. I will be writing a part 2 to this, where I will include essays and papers which can also be read without needing a philosophy degree.

For further critical discussions on philosophy, check out my website. I am currently crafting a magazine comprised of topics just like this one!

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