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The Best Philosophy Books of All-Time

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“What are the best Philosophy books of all-time?” We looked at 24 lists and 248 different books, aggregating the 27 titles appearing multiple times so we could find out which book really is the “best”.

What can be found in a “Best Philosophy Book” Listicles:

  • Lots and lots of men
  • Lots and lots of very old books
  • Everything or nothing
  • Talking points for your freshman year of college

 

The Top 27 Philosophy Books of All Time

27) After Virtue by Alisdair McIntyre

Appears On: 2 Lists
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After Virtue by Alasdair MAcIntyre

26) Candide by Voltaire

Appears On: 2 Lists
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Candide by Voltaire

25) Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life by Sissela Bok

Appears On: 2 Lists
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Lying- Moral Choice In Public And Private Life by Sissela Bok

24) Metaphysics by Aristotle

Appears On: 2 Lists
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Metaphysics Aristotle

23) Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Appears On: 2 Lists
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Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

22) The Central Question of Philosophy by A.J. Ayer

Appears On: 2 Lists
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The Central Questions of Philosophy by A.J. Ayer

21) The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

Appears On: 2 Lists
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The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

20) The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Appears On: 2 Lists
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The Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau

19) The World as Will and Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer

Appears On: 2 Lists
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The World as Will and Representation – Arthur Schopenhauer

18) Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous by George Berkeley

Appears On: 2 Lists
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Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous George Berkeley

17) A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

Appears On: 3 Lists
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A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

16) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Appears On: 3 Lists
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Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

15) Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

Appears On: 3 Lists
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Beyond Good and Evil – Friedrich Nietzsche

14) Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

Appears On: 3 Lists
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Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

13) On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

Appears On: 3 Lists
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On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

12) The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

Appears On: 3 Lists
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The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

11) What Does It All Mean? by Thomas Nagel

Appears On: 3 Lists
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What Does It All Mean? by Thomas Nagel

10) A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

Appears On: 4 Lists
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A History of Western Philosophy – Bertrand Russell

9) Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Appears On: 4 Lists
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Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

8) Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas

Appears On: 4 Lists
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Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas

7) Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche

Appears On: 4 Lists
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Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche

6) Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes

Appears On: 5 Lists
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Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes

5) Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder

Appears On: 5 Lists
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Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder

4) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

Appears On: 5 Lists
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance- An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig

3) Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Appears On: 6 Lists
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Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

2) Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

Appears On: 6 Lists
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Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

1) The Republic by Plato

Appears On: 7 Lists
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The Republic by Plato

The 221 Additional Philosophy Books Appearing on a Single List

 

  • 101 Philosophy Problems Martin Cohen
  • A Clockwork Orange
  • A Cyborg Manifesto
  • A Guide for the Perplexed
  • A New Dictionary of Christian Ethics Edited by John Macquarie and James Childress
  • A REASON FOR LIVING (the way to fulfillment against great odds)
  • A TREATISE CONCERNING THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE
  • A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
  • A Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin
  • Aknowledge
  • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
  • An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding David Hume
  • An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
  • Analects of Confucius by Confucius
  • Analysis and Metaphysics
  • ANTHEM
  • APOLOGY
  • Arguments for the Existence of God (Hick)
  • Basic Writings of Nietzsche
  • Beast and Man by Mary Midgley
  • Being and Nothingness
  • Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
  • Being Good Simon Blackburn
  • Brave New World
  • Causing Death and Saving Lives
  • Communist Manifesto
  • Complete Works by Plato
  • Concerning Human Understanding
  • Corpus Aristotelicum by Aristotle
  • Crime and Punishment
  • CRITIQUE OF JUDGMENT
  • CRITO
  • Darwin’s Pharmacy
  • DIALOGUES CONCERNING NATURAL RELIGION
  • Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
  • DISCOURSE ON METHOD
  • Doing Philosophy
  • Education of Henry Adams, The
  • Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
  • Eksistensie en Gestalte
  • Enchiridion by Epictetus
  • Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
  • ENQUIRY CONCERNING THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING
  • ESSAY CONCERNING THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING, SECOND TREATISE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT
  • Essays and Aphorisms by Arthur Schopenhauer
  • Essays by Montaigne
  • Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Ethical Studies (Bowie)
  • Ethics: A Very Short Introduction
  • EUTHYPHRO
  • Existentialism and Human Emotions by Jean-Paul Sartre
  • Exploring Philosophy
  • Fahrenheit 451
  • Falling in Love: Why We Choose the Lovers We Choose
  • Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard
  • Fight Club
  • Flatland
  • For your own good?
  • FOUNDATIONS OF THE METAPHYSICS OF MORALS
  • Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed – See more at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/naturalwonderers/12-
    best-philosophical-books/#sthash.MakEbM3R.dpuf
  • Fragments by Heraclitus
  • Frederick by Leo Lionni
  • Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel
  • George MacDonald Ross, and Danielle Lamb Doing Philosophy a Practical Guide for Students
  • Gnosis A Philosophical Psychology concerning the Emergence of Individuated Holistic Intelligence
  • GORGIAS
  • Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant
  • Gulliver’s Travels
  • Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
  • Heart Blossoms A commentary and Analysis of the Exalted Mahayana Sutra on the Profound Perfection of Wisdom called the Heart Sutra
  • How Free Are You? Ted Honderich
  • How to Be a Philosopher — or How to Be Almost Certain that Almost Nothing is Certain
  • How to Read Wittgenstein‘ by Ray Monk
  • If Aristotle Ran General Motors
  • Immersion Into Noise
  • Individuals by PF Strawson
  • Intention
  • Introducing Persons
  • INTRODUCTION TO THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS AND LEGISLATION
  • Invisible Man
  • Invitation to Philosophy
  • Issues in Philosophy
  • Jokes: Philosophical Thoughts on Joking Matters Ted Cohen
  • JS Mill On…
  • Justice by Michael Sandel
  • Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
  • Lancelot’s Brother – A Champion’s Chronicle
  • Language, Truth and Logic
  • Lao Tsu: Tao Te Ching – Laozi
  • Lectures on the Philosophy of History by G.W.F. Hegel
  • Let Us Now Praise Famous Men : 3 Tenant Families
  • Let’s Do Nothing by Tony Fucile
  • Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
  • Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung
  • Man’s Search for Meaningby Viktor Frankl
  • Manual for Living by Epictetus
  • Mastering Philosophy
  • MINI CHEAP
  • Modern Philosophy
  • MONADOLOGY
  • Morality
  • Morris the Moose by B. Wiseman
  • Mysticism and Logic Bertrand Russell
  • Nature and Selected Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • New Materialism: Interviews & Cartographies
  • Nietzsche and Zen
  • Of Grammatology by Jacques Derrida
  • OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
  • On Becoming a Person by Carl Rogers
  • On the Genealogy of Morality
  • On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
  • On the Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  • Penumbr(a)
  • Phaedo
  • Phenomenology of Spirit
  • Philosophical Investigations
  • Philosophical Propositions
  • Philosophy Goes to the Movies, An Introduction to Philosophy
  • Philosophy Matters
  • Philosophy of Religion for A-Level (Jordan, Lockyer and Tate)
  • Philosophy: A Beginner’s Guide
  • Philosophy: A Guide Through the Subject
  • Philosophy: The Basics
  • PHYSICS
  • Plato and A Platypus Walk into A Bar
  • Principles of Human Knowledge
  • Psymbols- Logos for the Mind
  • Reaching Out
  • Reading Philosophy
  • Released Into The Wild
  • Religion and Darwinism
  • Religious Schools – The Case Against
  • Right to Object? Conscientious Objection and Religious Conviction
  • Second Treatise of Government
  • Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation
  • Secretum by Petrarch
  • Seeds Of Violence
  • Sense and Sensibilia by JL Austin
  • Siddhartha
  • Six Questions of Socrates
  • Slaughterhouse-Five
  • Solaris
  • SOPHIST
  • Stellaluna by Jannell Cannon
  • The Age of Reason
  • The Art of War by Sun Tzu
  • The Awakening
  • The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Manus Pinkwater
  • The Blue and Brown Books
  • The Bounds of Sense by PF Strawson
  • The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • The Case for Secularism
  • The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
  • The Concept of Mind by Gilbert Ryle
  • The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
  • The Critique of Pure Reason
  • The Death of Vishnu
  • The Democracy of Objects
  • The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance Anthony Gottlieb
  • The Elegance of the Hedgehog
  • The Essential Epicurus by Epicurus
  • The Ethics of Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah
  • The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche
  • The Grasshopper by Bernard Suits
  • The Handmaid’s Tale
  • The Incoherence of the Incoherence by Abu I-Walid Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Rushd
  • The Intentional Stance
  • The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer
  • The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
  • The Logic of Scientific Discovery
  • The Metamorphosis
  • The Metaphysics of the Healing by Abu Ali ibn Sina
  • The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus
  • The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
  • The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
  • The Object of Morality by GJ Warnock
  • The Order of Things by Michel Foucault
  • The origins of the modern world, Robert B. Marks
  • The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
  • The Perennial Philosophy
  • The Philosopher at the End of the Universe
  • The Philosopher’s Habitat
  • The Philosophy Book
  • The Philosophy Files Stephen Law
  • The Philosophy Shop: Ideas, Activites and Questions to Get People, Young and Old, Thinking Philosophy
  • The Plague
  • The Presocratic Philosophers
  • The Prison Notebooks
  • The Problems of Philosophy Bertrand Russell
  • The Questions of Life — An Invitation to Philosophy
  • the reason of things
  • The Roads to Freedom trilogy by Jean-Paul Sartre
  • The Simpsons and Philosophy Edited by William Irwin, Mark T. Conrad and Aeon J. Skoble
  • The Sovereignty of Good by Iris Murdoch
  • The Speculative Turn: Continental Materialism and Realism
  • The Spell of the Sensuous
  • The Spirit of Creativity
  • the spiritual practices of jellaludin rumi
  • The Stranger
  • The Three Questions by Jon Muth
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Being
  • The Young Marx
  • THEATETUS
  • Things Fall Apart
  • Think Simon Blackburn
  • Think Outside The Box
  • Thinking About Death
  • Thinking Philosophically: an introduction to critical reflection and rational dialogue
  • Thought Probes
  • Through The Looking Glass
  • Treatise on the Art of Philosophising Soberly and Accurately by Anton Wilhelm Amo
  • Truth and Method by Hans-Georg Gadamer
  • Under the Net
  • Utilitarianism
  • UTILITARIANISM
  • Utopia
  • Walden; Or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau
  • What is Humanism?
  • where was GOD when i needed him most
  • Why? by Lindsay Camp and Tony Ross
  • You Must Change Your Life
The 24 “Best Philosophy” Book Lists Consulted

 

 

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