Philosophy Reading List
A curated collection of essential philosophical works
Welcome to my philosophy reading list. This collection includes works that have shaped the field of philosophy across different eras and traditions. It is a guide to some of the most influential ideas and thinkers, covering topics such as ethics, metaphysics, and the nature of knowledge.
This is an ever-growing list, updated regularly as I discover and explore new texts. I hope it serves as a helpful starting point for engaging with the questions and ideas that have inspired generations of thinkers.
Please note that all links to the books are through my Bookshop.org affiliation. By purchasing through these links, you’ll be financially supporting me and local independent bookstores at no extra cost to you.
Introduction to Philosophy
Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder
What Does It All Mean?: A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy by Thomas Nagel
Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy by Simon Blackburn
The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton
The Philosophy Book by DK
The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
Philosophy: The Basics by Nigel Warburton
Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by Edward Craig
History of Philosophy
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
The Great Philosophers: An Introduction to Western Philosophy by Bryan Magee
The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers by Will Durant
A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny
The Columbia History of Western Philosophy by Richard Popkin
A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton
Ethics
Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues by Steven M. Cahn & Peter Markie
Ethics: A Very Short Introduction by Simon Blackburn
Reason and Morality by Alan Gewirth
Practical Ethics by Peter Singer
The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant
Epistemology
Contemporary Epistemology: An Anthology by Ernest Sosa & Jeremy Fantl Matthew McGrath
Knowledge: A Very Short Introduction by Jennifer Nagel
Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes
Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge by Robert Audi
What Is This Thing Called Knowledge? by Duncan Pritchard
Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing by Miranda Fricker
The Structure of Empirical Knowledge by Laurence Bonjour
Ignorance: A Case for Scepticism by Peter Unger
Metaphysics
Metaphysics: A Very Short Introduction by Stephen Mumford
The Metaphysics by Aristotle
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume
Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction by Thomas M. Crisp & Michael J. Loux
Introduction to Metaphysics by Henri Bergson
Writing the Book of the World by Theodore Sider
Political Philosophy
Natural Right and History by Leo Strauss
Politics by Aristotle
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
An Introduction to Political Philosophy by Jonathan Wolff
The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt
A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick
Philosophy of Language
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Philosophical Investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction by William G. Lycan
Philosophy of Language by Scott Soames
Philosophy of Language: The Classics Explained by Colin McGinn
Syntactic Structures by Noam Chomsky
On Denoting by Bertrand Russell
Naming and Necessity by Saul Kripke
Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy of Mind: A Very Short Introduction by Barbara Gail Montero
Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings by David J. Chalmers
The Conscious Mind by David Chalmers
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
Philosophy of Science
The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper
Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction by Samir Okasha
Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science by Peter Godfrey-Smith
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn
Understanding Philosophy of Science by James Ladyman
Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings by Yuri Balashov & Alex Rosenberg
Philosophy of Love
The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm
Love: A Very Short Introduction by Ronald de Sousa
Philosophy of Love: A Partial Summing-Up by Irving Singer
The Routledge Handbook of Love in Philosophy by Adrienne M. Martin
All about Love: New Visions by bell hooks
In Praise of Love by Alain Badiou
The Symposium by Plato
Philosophy of Love in the Past, Present, and Future by André Grahle & Natasha McKeever & Joe Saunders
Love: A History by Simon May
Eros, Agape and Philia: Readings in the Philosophy of Love by Alan Soble
Existentialism and Romantic Love by Skye C. Cleary
The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis
Conditions of Love: The Philosophy of Intimacy by John Armstrong
What Love Is: And What It Could Be by Carrie Jenkins
Thank you for exploring this list of philosophical works. I hope these texts inspire you to engage with the big questions and ideas that have shaped human thought throughout history.
Remember, this is an ever-growing list, regularly updated as I continue to discover new texts and ideas. Please feel free to come back later for more additions and updates. Happy reading, and may your journey through philosophy be both enlightening and thought-provoking!
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Well, that's the weekend sorted :-)
Many thanks.
Some very heavy reading in this compilation, thanks for sharing