Five books for understanding life’s biggest philosophical questions
Do humans have free will? What constitutes a meaningful life? Why do we exist at all? More than just the ruminative focus of a sleepless night, these questions have been the center of rigorous philosophical debate and analysis for centuries.
Dmitri Gallow, associate professor of philosophy, teaches “PHIL 100G: Central Problems of Philosophy” at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He provides a guided tour of books that can get you closer to answering these queries for yourself.
Riddles of Existence: A Guided Tour of Metaphysics by Earl Conee and Theodore Sider.
If watching the Apple TV show Severance has gotten you puzzled about whether “innies” and “outies” are the same people, read the first chapter of Riddles of Existence, on personal identity. If reflecting on the seemingly predetermined evolution of the universe makes you feel that there’s no room left in the world for human free will, read chapter six on free will and determinism.
Other chapters wrestle with the nature of time, the existence of God, and the question of why anything exists at all. This book gives an accessible and entertaining presentation of some of the deepest questions about the nature of reality and our place within it.
Meaning in Life and Why it Matters by Susan Wolf.
Many of us are thirsty for meaning; we chase after things like money, comfort, fame or career success, but none of these things seem to scratch the itch.
If you want to lead a meaningful life, step one is to figure out what makes a life meaningful; and there’s no better guide to these questions than Susan Wolf. She argues that we have reason to want our lives to be meaningful, and she gives a compelling theory of what makes life meaningful.
Mortal Questions by Thomas Nagel
Should we fear death? Are our lives meaningless? How does mind fit into a world of matter? Is it always up to us whether we’re good or bad people — or can it be a matter of luck whether we are good or bad? And what is sexual perversion? Nagel takes on big questions and answers them with characteristic verve. A philosophical page-turner.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume.
A concise and rich philosophical classic. If you’ve ever wondered about how — or, indeed, whether — we can come to know things about distant galaxies or the distant past and future, Hume is a must-read.