Which are the best philosophers discussing philosophy of life/value of life?

Obviously, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

See also Diogenes. Kierkegaard might be interesting. Nietzche, Marx, Camus, Sartre.

I recommend beginning with Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Then, to jump forward quite a bit, maybe try Immanuel Kant’s Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics – it’s like Critique of Pure Reason (his great work), but condensed.

These two are a good start, and will take you a bit to get through. If you’re really ambitious and ok with writing that is not straightforward (to put it mildly), my favorite book on your topic is Jacques Derrida’s The Animal That Therefore I Am.

@the100thmonkey You engage in a common mistake: Socrates never wrote a word – or if he did, we have none today. Plato wrote about Socrates in his Socratic Dialogues. Also, I disagree with your recommendation of both Camus and Sartre – the latter wrote much more of an actual discussion of existentialism, the former illustrated it in his novels. Sartre’s Being and Nothingness is probably sufficient for the OP’s purposes; no need to go reading The Stranger for more info. Though it’s a great read in its own right.

Above are great recommendations, to which I’d add the Bhagavad Gita. The author of that is unclear but it maps out some fundamentals of how to understand one’s purpose and duty.

As a good starting point, I recommend Michael Sandel’s book Justice He covers the views of Aristotle, utilitarians, libertarians, Kant and the more recent philosopher John Rawls. What is nice is that the book is very conversational, with discussions of many contemporary topics, some of which touch on the ones you mention, like stem cell research. You can also look at the lectures that the book is based on.

Thank you very much! Your recommendations are much appreciated.

Robert Pirsig, Deleuze & Guattari, Karen Barad

@wildpotato – there’s no need to read Camus?

You are dead to me.