Welcome relearning (aka Jenn)!

If you consider yourself mediocre in philosophy than you know more about philosophy than the rest of us. I'm always coming across new philosophers and philosophers I know about but just avoid reading about. I would have loved to have taken more courses in Literature when I was at school, so I hope you can find a way to incorporate your love of literature and philosophy. I am a die-hard Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte fan myself.

But anywho, welcome and I hope you enjoy the forum. Is there any area of philosophy you are particularly interested in?

Welcome to the forum Jenn! I am a philosophy student as well studying my upper level courses in philosophy. As I often tell people that think they do not have a deep background in philosophy is that it is not very important to know who said what in philosophy (no matter what some professors may say), but it is important to know good ideas. Enjoy the forum!

I didn't mean that I don't perpetually come across philosophers that I don't know. I meant that I'm mediocre at writing philosophy papers and general philosophical argumentation. It is not something I've become accustomed to, yet.

As far as a specialization, I haven't decided yet. I study French as well. So, it is likely I will find something or someone in French philosophy to pick on (not Descartes :perplexed:).

I have actually seen an MA which is an integration of philosophy and literature, which sounds interesting. The existentialists seemed rather fond of creating not simply non-fiction argumentative works, but literature as well. Do you think this is due to the influence of phenomenology?

I perpetually come across philosophers I don't know... well, really philosophers I know about but choose to forget. LOL! But you would be surprised how many philosophers have fallen through the popularity crack, or have been kidnapped and adopted to serve other scientific doctrines. Economics took Adam Smith from us.

As to French philosophy, I'm sorry you don't care for Descartes. I admit, I hated him when I was studying Meditations and Principles. But I really got into him and other rationalists later on. I suppose it is the way they teach Descartes. I have never come across a teacher that really explained Descartes is a nut shell. But you might be interested in Rousseau. Social Contract is a very interesting read. Michel Foucault is another good french philosopher, but I think he was too absorbed with Nietzsche to be too engaging.

As to a combination of philosophy and literature, to tell the truth I find that the best way of extending philosophy to those who would not really pick up a treatise or compendium. Speaking of existentialism, black existentialism has especially picked up on this note and there are some wonderful books dealing with racial existentialism in literary format. Toni Morrison's "the bluest eye" and anything by Chinua Achebe like "no longer at ease" are some good examples using a very styled subjective prose.

I think Albert Camus wrote one of the best philosophy texts in French. The Rebel was easily one of my favorite books I have read in the last few years. Of course, Camus is more known for his literature and plays, but the his two major nonfiction works--The Myth of Sisyphus and the Rebel are some of the finest pieces of existential philosophy you can find.

Two other French philosphers I am familiar with are Jean Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir. I found Sartre's major work Being and Nothingness to be so frustrating I did not make it far, but I found Beauvoir's Ethics of Ambiguity to be an outstanding work.

The Rebel and Sarte with Nausea. I enjoyed the book, which is essentially about the main character Antoine's crisis with rationalism due to an overpowering sense of uncertainty about reality and his place in it. I wonder if the two share similar prose?

Simone De Beauvoir is definitely a great philosopher to read. Have not read Ethics of Ambiguity though. I have read her book The Second Sex, which was phenomenal. Quite a change from the typical account of philosophical and political issues about women that preceded her. And she is definitely in a whole different class compared to post modern feminist like Tong and Irigaray.

Beauvoir is not popular among many feminists. She is often accused of throwing women under the bus. I just remember reading the Ethics of Ambiguity and being completely dumbfounded. It was the last required reading before the final in an existential philosophy class, and I remember it causing me to question much of my thinking on ethics at the time and arguing against most of my best thoughts up to that point in the class. I think because of that experience, it made me want to be a philosopher as my profession. Since it is out of print, I am happy to provide this link to the outstanding Ethics of Ambiguity.

http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/philosophy/existentialism/debeauvoir/ambiguity.html

I forgot to mention yesterday that even though Descartes was French, he wrote in Latin.

Welcome relearning, start relearning!

I look forward to your contributions.