GET YOUR THINKING CAP ON

Don’t be afraid of the philosophers. They may not have all the answers, but they help us to think in new ways about ourselves and our world. Here are just a few starting points…

READ

but the There best advice are more is to and read less primary accessible texts, books, like Plato, Weil, Buber, and Martha Nussbaum, with patience. For some of the more challenging, you might pick up a Routledge Guidebook to help with the knottier parts. The novel Sophie’s

World is a treat of a read and a nice introduction to philosophy, and the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a great online resource for non-experts. Some contemporary books on relationships, tough but worth the effort, are Adriana Cavarero’s Relating Narratives: Storytelling and Selfhood, Harry Frankfurt’s The Reasons of Love, and Troy Jollimore’s Love’s Vision. More accessible yet is popular philosopher Alain de Botton’s Essays in Love.

LISTEN

There are a few long-running philosophy podcasts out there, including Philosophy Bites and NPR’s Philosophy Talk, covering a range of topics. BBC4 also has a slew of programmes, including A History of Ideas (with episodes often touching on love), The Public Philosopher, In Our Time, and The Ideas That Make Us. Also check out The Reith Lectures, which feature philosophers every so often.