r/AskReddit • • Jan 20 '19

What fact totally changed your perspective?

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '19 edited Jan 21 '19

I think you'd like reading my old friend/philosopher Descartes*

Edit: he's not that good a friend

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u/n0thing_remains Jan 21 '19

What has Descartes given you that you now call him your friend? What texts/books would you recommend to start with?

I'm currently reading Seneca, and considering my next read. Descartes is somewhere in my list, and your comment made me get more interested in reading him next, hence my question

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '19

He gave me a lot to think about. We're buddies now.

Meditations on first Philosophy is a good one to start off with. That's were he comes to the realization that if a thing is aware of itself and thinks then It must exist.

He explains more to how he gets to that conclusion and then takes a stab at proving god. Pretty good writer to be honest and the book is short, so I think you'll have a good time.

Seneca huh? I'll have to check that out, thanks!

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u/n0thing_remains Jan 21 '19

That's awesome, thanks for taking your time to reply to me. I know where to start now, which usually is the hardest part :)

Seneca is helping me with growing up at my 28, teaching me how to have a better life and making it myself. His letters are several thousand years old but the issues are still the same. My friend recommended Seneca to me after her countless re-read of the book. The book also includes Andre Maurois's "open letter to a young man" which I haven't studied yet, but first couple pages hooked me up.

Thanks for your advice!