Everything by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. Try THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV or THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH, respectively. Caveat: Tolstoy is very different from Dostoyevsky in tone (I would say gentler), but his novella THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH, which was written towards the end of his writing career, is probably most Dostoyevsky-like out of his works as he was himself reading that earlier author before writing it.
Also, much of the best science fiction is philosophical in nature, or specifically examines topics from an epistemological lens in trying to make distinctions between opinions and beliefs.
Try Stanislaw Lem’s SOLARIS for a philosophical look at what makes intelligence and cognition that is non-human in origin, and whether it is even possible to understand it (whether fundamental human assumptions can even apply when attempting to understand it).
And for two classic modern philosophical novels that are coming-of-age reads for most teenagers between 15-18 (at least, when I was in school): Hesse’s SIDDHARTHA and Pirsig’s ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS.
And for something with a much more adventurous flavour, the Japanese historical novel MUSASHI by Yoshikawa, which I find to be warmly written. It follows an itinerant swordsman in his quest to gain greater strength, but while the quest is initially physical in nature, it incrementally shifts to a mental and psychological quest for understanding and enlightenment. Obviously, it has a Zen perspective and looks into the minutiae of the Samurai Bushido code.
How advanced? “Sophie’s World” is good.
Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (FSG Classics) Paperback – March 20, 2007
by Jostein Gaarder
Everything by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. Try THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV or THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH, respectively. Caveat: Tolstoy is very different from Dostoyevsky in tone (I would say gentler), but his novella THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH, which was written towards the end of his writing career, is probably most Dostoyevsky-like out of his works as he was himself reading that earlier author before writing it.
Also, much of the best science fiction is philosophical in nature, or specifically examines topics from an epistemological lens in trying to make distinctions between opinions and beliefs.
Try Stanislaw Lem’s SOLARIS for a philosophical look at what makes intelligence and cognition that is non-human in origin, and whether it is even possible to understand it (whether fundamental human assumptions can even apply when attempting to understand it).
And for two classic modern philosophical novels that are coming-of-age reads for most teenagers between 15-18 (at least, when I was in school): Hesse’s SIDDHARTHA and Pirsig’s ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS.
And for something with a much more adventurous flavour, the Japanese historical novel MUSASHI by Yoshikawa, which I find to be warmly written. It follows an itinerant swordsman in his quest to gain greater strength, but while the quest is initially physical in nature, it incrementally shifts to a mental and psychological quest for understanding and enlightenment. Obviously, it has a Zen perspective and looks into the minutiae of the Samurai Bushido code.
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaardiner.
I second that.
Franny and Zooey has a fair bit of philosophy.
Anything by Hannah Arendt. Eichmann in Jerusalem is particularly excellent.
Why don’t you a bit old school and read The Symposium by Plato, or the Republic?
Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar.
What Dreams May Come, by Richard Matheson
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl – not actually a novel but an amazing story
The Alchemist
Siddartha or Demian
Anything by Albert Camus. I recommend the stranger
Notes from Underground almost goes without saying. It’s a mainstay.
Walker Percy.