The history of thought seems to me to be something that every school should teach from elementary level onwards. Instead it gets relegated to a few classrooms in some out of the way university building. Makes no sense.
Is there a school of thought that particularly enjoyed? Any books you would recommend to a relative neophyte?
Yeah, I agree completely. I wish it had a stronger bond with the average person/citizen. But we tend to worship the almighty dollar and thus philosophy gets relegated to the darkened corners of academia.
My focus is in analytic philosophy, i.e. no Nietzsche, Sartre, Schopenhauer.
First, I would recommend a good survey book. B. Russell's History of Western Philosophy is excellent. W.V. Quine is great. And a nice little coffee shop read, The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten by Juilian Baggini is a real thought provoker.
Then once you determine what you're interested in, (ethics, epistemology, religion,etc.) search for the most lucid thinker in that field. All the post-modern, continental writers are too muddled with mysticism and bullshit. Look for writers practicing inside the halls of western universities.
A neophyte or not, it doesn't take years of technical college to be an interested thinker.
