What's the best self-help book, i.e. philosophy, psychology, etc., you've read that has changed your personal life, and career?
For me, it was Mastery by Robert Greene.In this book, Robert Greene shows us ways to find your purpose of life, how to learn and understand things at a deeper level and sustain your mastery in a chosen area of life. All of his point are marked by real-life examples, either known by their historical impact or still alive and working on it today.The book is split into 6 parts:Discover your calling: The life’s taskSubmit to reality: The real apprenticeshipAbsorb the Master’s power: The mentor dynamicSee people as they are: Social IntelligenceAwaken the dimensional mind: The creative-active phaseFuse the intuitive with the rational: MasteryIt is a tremendous book that just starts making sense after some time after you read it, yet has advice for every stage of mastering whatever it is you wish to master. I appreciate his writing style which is very eloquent for self-help books yet comprehensive.Reading his work is not as pushing and demanding as some other self-help books, where you are directly admonished for doing things wrong. It’s created to show things how they are, which makes it a blessing and a course at the same time:On one hand, this makes it an enjoyable read after work and does not include creating guilt on your side.On the other hand, it takes time to gain access to Greene’s view and to connect the dots between what is written in front of you and what happens around you. Admittedly, I’m just 20 years old and may lack the life experience to connect certain things yet.To sum it up, this book is a tool meant to accompany you on the mastery of your chosen object and of yourself, which is the ultimate form of mastery.
Are self help books more psychology or philosophy?
Thank you for the A2A. Definitely psychology. Self-help books were born from the "positive psychology" movement -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po... - which is most certainly a branch of Psychology that began with Abe Maslow. Check out a lit review on some of the current research done in positive psychology: http://uws.edu.au/__data/assets/...On emotions in positive psychology: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/...There's no parallel to this segment of Psychology in any branch of Philosophy. Maybe the Stoics? Anything to do with "What is the Good Life"? Philosophy doesn't usually utilize the scientific method. The up and coming field of experimental philosophy is most likely intertwined with positive psychology research in some way. This doesn't change the fact that many self help books suck (i.e. are written in a silly way), but they do come from a branch of Psychology that is backed by scientific understanding.
At what point does philosophy converge with modern psychology and science?
Any time those disciplines ask a question not susceptible to empirical testing, they’re doing philosophy. To ask what “psychology” and “science” are, is a philosophical undertaking. To ask what “scientific evidence” is, what “scientific method” is (or if there is such a thing), what the mind is, what generalisability is, to ask what, if any, psychological states are reducible to neurological states - these are all philosophical questions. Equally, there are obviously scientific questions which lie outside of philosophy, such as how gene transfer works, or what a covalent bond is.As to when science and philosophy converge, we can see that there are other questions which sit between science and philosophy, such as whether electrons, the Higgs Boson, or “the id” exists. At issue here involves both scientific work (in physics, for instance), as well as questions about the status of scientific entities. Are scientific entities - like electrons - merely pragmatically useful fictions that help us to predict certain experimental outcomes, or do they exist in the way that we think other things - like spoons or chairs or books - exist? Here, science and philosophy have the capacity to work together.Ultimately, science and philosophy require each other. To reject the relevance of science, as some philosophers say they do, is to effectively cut themselves off from one of the most profound modern sources of human knowledge. On the other hand, to reject philosophy, as some scientists have pretended to do, is just to practice philosophy at another level - and usually, very badly.
Should I take a course in Philosophy or psychology?
I think you should eventually take both if you have the chance! As a freshmen in high school, you can't really go wrong with your choice here, it's just whatever interests you. Philosophy covers a broad range of topics like ethics, morality, religion, etc. It really just gets you to think about things in new ways. I took it and it really opened my eyes to different view points about the world that I wouldn't have thought of before. And then of course you get the history of different philosophers and what they thought and stuff. Psychology is about how why we do the things we do. It's about the mind, the brain, behavior, mental disorders, all that good stuff. It really is just super interesting and teaches you a lot about yourself and others. I'm actually a psychology major, so I am a bit biased towards this class! You really can't choose wrong! So go with your interests and try and eventually take them both at some point!
How can you differentiate between philosophy and psychology?
Philosophy cares about sound reasoning. In philosophy before you make any claims you must learn how to reason, and how the "shape" of an argument makes it worth considering, or not, etc. You mostly argue about things you cannot test experimentally, but the training is supposed to keep you from going too far off track into absurdity. Philosophers pretty much argue with each other, and build off each others' ideas. However, they all tend to know how to do it right. In academic philosophy personal attacks are not going to be taken seriously. It's all about the worth of the idea.Going a little bit off topic because people have said that the study of the mind falls under psychology: there's actually something called philosophy of mind that argues about how we could possibly think, whether or not our minds and our brains are one and the same, etc. It's pretty cool because a lot of philosophers have offered up colorful thought experiments to illustrate their theories. Look up the "Chinese Nation" experiment as an example.Psychology developed from a mass of different social attitudes and trends (e.g., poststructuralism), and has a lot of conjecture and badly designed (sometimes unethical) studies in its past. By its nature it cannot be rigorous, especially in clinical settings, because you often have a single professional making judgment calls. While he or she may be very educated and sharp, there will be bias and other limitations.I hope that soon we will be able to rely more and more on neuroscience and brain imaging to study what we refer to as the human mind.Disclaimer: My answer is biased.
How do people who study psychology/philosophy stay sane?
nobody is sane.
How do I distinguish philosophy from self help?
Philosophy is like the lifestyle which prevents you falling ill. For example, if you eat healthy food, do some physical exercise, love yourself and love others; you prevent all types of diseases whether it is heart attack, cancer, blood pressure, diabetes or simple cold.In the same way, you have a sound philosophy of life, you are unlikely to face any problem in the world.Self-help is like medication once you have fallen ill. When a person is sick, he is desperate to become healthy. Self help is like reading a book and then taking medicine of his own. There is no standard medicine possible which can cure all illness. The medicine of diabetes is not going to help you cure your heart problem and vice versa. When you use right medicine for the wrong ailment, the results can be disastrous.Self-help formulas are specific which does not work on everyone. It also has a side effect and it can even cause harm if used wrongly. It may work to people who have already messed up their life but they don't want professional help.If the philosophy of life is right, you won’t need any self-help.