independent study suggestions plz

[JaBlue]

cross-posted bc noone in OOT responded /images/graemlins/mad.gif


Hi I'm 17, senior in high school, only tyaking 3 classes at school, need one more to graduate so I'm doing IS.

I would like to do something philosophy related where I read some books and write some papers on my own. I am a reasonably bright kid but stuff will still fly over my head. For this reason I am choosing not to study Nietsczhe although I've been told that deciding this after only having read Thus Spake Zarathustra kind of dumb I think I probably need a knowledgable guider for Nietsczhe. I really like him but it is very tough to think about and I don't want to do it on my own right now.

Anyway, I was thinking of doing a themed existential thing where I pick a few great authors and comment on their plays and boks. I like Sartre and Camus so far. French authors and philosophers rock. Maybe I should do a French lit course? I do not speak french.

Anyway, make suggestions for topics and books I should read within those topics... if I don't find one that I like, I'll just end up reading sartre, camus, kafka, etc. and writing papers on them.

edit: i am not interested in reading dense or technical philosophy right now so don't suggest Kant or anything


Also topics for papers that I can write or think about after reading the material will help to as this is all self-guided and I won't have anyone telling me what to write about

thanks!

[purnell]

I suggest you study free will. It might make you crazy, though, so be careful.

[oneeye13]

have you ever thought about trying to raise the dead?

[atrifix]

Read Descartes and Hume if you haven't yet.

Not sure what to say without knowing what your interests are (politics? ethics? religion? epistemology?)...if you're only interested in French existentialism, then obviously Camus/Sartre are the way to go. Other big names are in the existentialist tradition (besides Nietzsche) are de Beauvoir, Kaufmann, Heidegger, and Kierkagaard.