Sources of Philosophical Inspration

Permit me to answer the question perhaps indirectly but with some relevance, and without providing a reading recommendation. If there be a single influence in my understanding of what philosophizing is, and my continued choices to undertake doing it, I would have to point to the works and life of Nietzsche as this source of "inspiration."

I use the word "works" because his was not a thinking that distilled itself in one particular work; in fact, one can see the growth and transformation of many of his fundamental viewpoints and positions if one reads his works sequentially and with sympathy.

I use the word "works" also because it was not the particular answers he sometimes proposed that influenced me, but that he risked so much in the questions he asked---and, when I first read him, that such questions could be asked at all.

From reading him, I was lead to something like a "perspectivalist" position, certainly towards my grounding my own philosophy in what would commonly be called "existentialism," where Nietzsche's thought has been so fundamental.

Thanks Jg,

I'm with ya... He was one of my original 'tweekers' that fascinated me into study; and I'd agree with your observations completely on the sequential revelations that seem to creep in...

No specific works? If by chance you do come across something noteworthy, I hope you'd let me know. I have copies of: Letters to his Sister (compilation), Notes (1870-1875 and 1880-1881), as well as "Homer's Contest", "Human, All-Too-Human", "Mixed Opinions and Maxims". "The Wanderer and his Shadow", "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", "The Dawn", "The Gay Science" and notes on "The Wagner Case", "Twilight of the Idols", "The Antichrist", "Ecce Homo" and a compilation of various letters to Gast, Jacom Burckhardt and Overbeck.

Thank you!!

Beyond Good and Evil
Geneology of Morals

It is good to read that I am not alone in admiring Nietzsche, so I thank YOU.
I have been reading Nr. 11 in the Stanford Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche, a monumental set currently in various stages of publication. It contains the "unpublished writings from the period of Unfashionable Observerations" (1973-4). But the GM and BG&E are really indispensable, and are his most philosophical efforts.
Regards,
John

"News" button/add on for stumble upon.

1984 of course

I actually haven't read much philosophical works yet. Gotta go to the book store and pick up some.

Though not a philosophy book in the strictest sense of the word, "The Myth of Freedom" by Chogyam Trungpa marked a real turning point in my outlook on life. Amazon.com: The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation (Shambhala Pocket Classics): Chogyam Trungpa: Books

And though not a book, the movie "Waking Life" also offers some interesting diversions of a philosophical nature. Existential scholar Robert Solomon has an interesting bit in it. Worth checking out in my opinion.

I've added the video, Waking Life - Full Movie to the Philosophy Videos section. It's 98 minutes in length. Enjoy!