Você pode usar um
LEFT OUTER JOIN
por esta:SELECT c1.id,
c1.parent_id,
c1.title,
c2.title as `parent_title`
FROM categories c1
left outer join categories c2 on c1.parent_id = c2.id
LEFT OUTER JOIN
por esta:SELECT c1.id,
c1.parent_id,
c1.title,
c2.title as `parent_title`
FROM categories c1
left outer join categories c2 on c1.parent_id = c2.id