Philosophy Reading List

This reading list is for fairly serious philosophical self-study. For a more general reading list meant to dip your toes into the philosophical waters, see the Philosophy Resources & Further Reading page.

If you want to jump right in and do some university- and graduate-level reading, here are the reading lists from the University of Dallas for their Philosophy degrees:

• B.A. in Philosophy Reading List
• M.A. in Philosophy Reading List
• Ph. D. in Philosophy Reading List

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Secondary Source Introductory Philosophy Books

I think it is wise to start with some secondary sources to get a general lay-of-the-land before diving into primary texts.

• Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (544 pages). With over 30 million copies in print, many people who “stumble” across philosophy for the first time do it through this book. It does a pretty good job of engaging the reader and cultivating “wonder” that is necessary for true philosophical reflection. I would say this is written at a high school reading level. Some dismiss it as too elementary.
• The Cave and the Light: Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization (704 pages). This book isn’t a “history of philosophy” book in the strict sense, but it does serve as a great primer on philosophical thinking, especially of Plato and Aristotle, and how philosophical ideas have shaped the western world. A well-written and compelling read.
• A New History of Western Philosophy (1,088 pages). At this number of pages, this is a serious introduction to the history of philosophical thought. Any serious philosopher is covered in this large volume. The style is fairly dry and systematic.
• The History of Western Philosophy (895 pages). This is the classic introduction to philosophy text of the 20th century. This was the first philosophy book I really ever read, so it’s hard to judge how good of a book it was. I vaguely remember it being a more compelling read than the New History, above.

Primary Texts: General Philosophy

• Classics of Western Philosophy (1,424 pages). This single volume has almost any philosophical primary text you would ever want to read. It is unwieldy, though.
• Classical philosophy:
  • Plato: Five Dialogues (Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo) (168 pages). These are the five foundational dialogues for starting with Plato.
  • Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (368 pages). This is easily the most famous and important work of Aristotle.