This is a list of important publications in philosophy , organized by field.
Some reasons why a particular publication might be regarded as important:
Topic creator – A publication that created a new topic
Breakthrough – A publication that changed scientific knowledge significantly
Influence – A publication which has significantly influenced the world or has had a massive impact on the teaching of philosophy .
Historical texts [ edit ]
Western philosophy [ edit ]
Ancient philosophy [ edit ]
Plato , Charmides
Plato, Lysis
Plato, Laches
Plato, Protagoras
Plato, Euthydemus
Plato, Cratylus
Plato, Phaedrus
Plato, Ion
Plato, Symposium
Plato, Meno
Plato, Euthyphro
Plato, Apology
Plato, Crito
Plato, Phaedo
Plato, Gorgias
Plato, The Republic
Plato, Timaeus
Plato, Critias
Plato, Parmenides
Plato, Theaetetus
Plato, Sophist
Plato, Statesman
Plato, Philebus
Plato, Laws
Aristotle , Organon :
Aristotle, Physics
Aristotle, On the Heavens
Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption
Aristotle, Meteorology
Aristotle, Metaphysics
Aristotle, On the Soul
Aristotle, Parva Naturalia :
Aristotle, On Breath
Aristotle, History of Animals
Aristotle, Parts of Animals
Aristotle, Movement of Animals
Aristotle, Progression of Animals
Aristotle, Generation of Animals
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle, Politics
Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians
Aristotle, Rhetoric
Aristotle, Poetics
Lucretius , On the Nature of Things
Epictetus , Discourses , AD 101
Epictetus, Enchiridion , AD 135
Marcus Aurelius , Meditations
Plotinus , Enneads
Parmenides , Ontological Poem
Medieval philosophy [ edit ]
Augustine of Hippo , Enchiridion
Augustine of Hippo, Confessions , c. AD 397
Augustine of Hippo, The City of God , early 5th century
Boethius , Consolation of Philosophy , c. 500
Maimonides , Guide for the Perplexed
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah
Yehuda Halevi , Kuzari
Saadia Gaon , Emunoth ve-Deoth
Al-Ghazali , The Incoherence of the Philosophers
Averroes , The Incoherence of the Incoherence
Thomas Aquinas , Summa contra Gentiles , c. 1260
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae
Anselm , Proslogion
Other medieval philosophers who wrote important works include Avicenna , Peter Abelard , Albert the Great , Pseudo-Dionysius , Johannes Scotus Eriugena , Duns Scotus , William of Ockham .
Modern philosophy [ edit ]
Title page of
Advancement of Learning by Francis Bacon
Niccolò Machiavelli , The Prince (De Principatibus / Il Principe) , 1513 (printed 1532)
Sir Francis Bacon , Advancement of Learning , 1605
Sir Francis Bacon, Novum Organum , 1620
René Descartes , Discourse on Method (Discours de la méthode) , 1637
René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (Meditationes de prima philosophia) , 1641
Thomas Hobbes , Leviathan , 1651
Blaise Pascal , Provincial Letters (Lettres provinciales) , 1656/57
Blaise Pascal, Pensées , 1670
Baruch Spinoza , Ethics (Ethica, ordine geometrico demonstrata) , 1677
John Locke , Two Treatises of Government , 1689
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding , 1689
Gottfried Leibniz , Discourse on Metaphysics (Discours de métaphysique) , 1686
Gottfried Leibniz, New Essays Concerning Human Understanding (Nouveaux essais sur l'entendement humain) , 1704 (printed 1765)
Gottfried Leibniz, Théodicée , 1710
Gottfried Leibniz, Monadology (Eclaircissement sur les Monades; Lehrsätze über die Monadologie) , 1714 (printed 1720)
George Berkeley , Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge , 1710
David Hume , A Treatise of Human Nature , 1738–1740
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding , 1748
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals , 1751
Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (Discours sur les sciences et les arts) , 1750
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile: or, On Education (Émile, ou De l’éducation) , 1762
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique) , 1762
Adam Smith , The Theory of Moral Sentiments , 1759
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations , 1776
Immanuel Kant , Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft) , 1781
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten) , 1785
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason (Kritik der praktischen Vernunft) , 1788
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgement (Kritik der Urteilskraft) , 1790
Mary Wollstonecraft , A Vindication of the Rights of Women , 1792
Johann Gottlieb Fichte , Foundations of the Science of Knowledge (Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre) , 1794
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , Phenomenology of Spirit (Phänomenologie des Geistes) , 1807
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Science of Logic (Wissenschaft der Logik) , 1812–1817
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Philosophy of Right (Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts) , 1820
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Philosophy of History (Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte) , (printed 1837)
Arthur Schopenhauer , The World as Will and Representation (Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung) , 1819–1859
Søren Kierkegaard , Either/Or (Enten – Eller. Et Livs-Fragment) , 1843
Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling (Frygt og Bæven) , 1843
Søren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety (Begrebet Angest) , 1844
Max Stirner , The Ego and Its Own (Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum) , 1844
Karl Marx , The Communist Manifesto (Manifest der kommunistischen Partei) , 1848
Karl Marx, Das Kapital , 1867–1894
John Stuart Mill , On Liberty , 1859
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism , 1861–1863
John Stuart Mill, Harriet Taylor Mill , The Subjection of Women , 1869
Friedrich Nietzsche , Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Also sprach Zarathustra) , 1883–1891
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (Jenseits von Gut und Böse) , 1886
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (Zur Genealogie der Moral) , 1887
Other modern authors who wrote significant philosophical works include Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling , Henri Bergson , Nicolas Malebranche , Thomas Reid , Marsilio Ficino , Ludwig Feuerbach , Auguste Comte , Charles Sanders Peirce .
Eastern philosophy [ edit ]
Buddhist philosophy [ edit ]
Confucianism [ edit ]
Hindu philosophy [ edit ]
Chinese Legalism [ edit ]
Contemporary philosophy [ edit ]
Epistemology [ edit ]
Bertrand Russell , The Problems of Philosophy (1912)
G.E. Moore , A Defence of Common Sense (1925)
Edmund Gettier , Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? (1963)
Richard Rorty , Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979)
Alain Badiou , Being and Event (1988)
Roderick Chisholm , A Theory of Knowing
Alvin Goldman , Epistemology and Cognition
John McDowell , Mind and World
Susan Haack , Evidence and Enquiry
Laurence Bonjour , The Structure of Empirical Knowledge.
Stephen Stich , The Fragmentation of Reason
Timothy Williamson , Knowledge and its Limits
Keith DeRose , The Case for Contextualism
Jason Stanley , Knowledge and Practical Interest
Hilary Kornblith , Knowledge and its Place in Nature
Jonathan Kvanvig , The Value of Knowledge and the Pursuit of Understanding.
David K. Lewis , 'Elusive Knowledge'
Willard van Orman Quine, 'Epistemology Naturalized'
Metaphysics [ edit ]
John Dewey , Experience and Nature , 1929
William James , Pragmatism
G. E. Moore , The Refutation of Idealism , 1903
Ludwig Wittgenstein , Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (a.k.a. The Tractatus )
Alfred North Whitehead , Process and Reality
Martin Heidegger , Being and Time
A. J. Ayer , Language, Truth, and Logic
Rudolf Carnap , Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology
D.M. Armstrong , Universals and Scientific Realism
W.V.O. Quine , Two Dogmas of Empiricism
W.V.O. Quine, On What There Is
Saul Kripke , Naming and Necessity
Derek Parfit , Reasons and Persons
David Kellogg Lewis , On the Plurality of Worlds
Gilles Deleuze , Difference and Repetition
Alain Badiou , Being and Event
John McDowell , Mind and World
Quentin Meillassoux , After Finitude.
Graham Harman , The Quadruple Object
Timothy Williamson , Modal Logic as Metaphysics
Stephen Mumford , Dispositions.
Theodore Sider , Writing the Book of the World.
David Chalmers , Constructing the World.
Philosophy of biology [ edit ]
Philosophy of chemistry [ edit ]
Philosophy of mind [ edit ]
David Chalmers , The Conscious Mind and The Character of Consciousness
Daniel Dennett , Consciousness Explained
Edmund Husserl , Ideas , 1913
Edmund Husserl , Logical Investigations , 1900-1901
Thomas Nagel , What Is it Like to Be a Bat?
Hilary Putnam , The Meaning of Meaning
Gilbert Ryle , The Concept of Mind , 1949
Wilfrid Sellars , Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind , 1956
John Searle , Intentionality
Roger Penrose , The Emperor's New Mind
Ruth Millikan , Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories.
Jerry Fodor , The Language of Thought
Jerry Fodor , The Modularity of Mind
Andy Clark , Supersizing the Mind
Tyler Burge , 'Anti-Individualism and the Mental'
Paul Churchland , 'Eliminative Materialism and Propositional Attitudes'
Stephen Stich , From Folk Psychology to Cognitive Science
David K. Lewis , ‘An Argument for the Identity Theory’.
DAvid Armstrong, 'A Materialist Theory of The Mind'
Philosophy of physics [ edit ]
Philosophy of psychology [ edit ]
Philosophy of religion [ edit ]
Alvin Plantinga , God and Other Minds , 1967
Alvin Plantinga, 'Is Belief in God Properly Basic', 1981
Richard Swinburne , The Existence of God , 1979
William Lane Craig , The Kalam Cosmological Argument , 1979
J. L. Mackie , The Miracle of Theism , 1982
Jordan Howard Sobel , Logic and Theism , 2004
Norman Malcolm, 'The Groundlessness of Religious Belief'
Dewi Zephaniah Phillips, 'Religion Without Explanation'
William Rowe, 'The Evidential Argument from Evil: A Second Look', 1996
Philosophy of science [ edit ]
Karl Pearson , The Grammar of Science , 1892
Nelson Goodman , Fact, Fiction, and Forecast , 1954
Karl Popper , The Logic of Scientific Discovery , 1959
Thomas Samuel Kuhn , The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , 1962
Hans Reichenbach , The Rise of Scientific Philosophy
Paul Feyerabend , Against Method : Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge , 1975
Bas C. van Fraassen , The Scientific Image , 1980
David K. Lewis , 'How to Define Theoretical Terms', 1970.
Larry Laudan, 'The Demise of the Demarcation Problem', 1983
Ethics, value, and social philosophy [ edit ]
Aesthetics [ edit ]
G. E. M. Anscombe , Modern Moral Philosophy
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari , Capitalism and Schizophrenia
Philippa Foot , Virtues and Vices and Natural Goodness
David Gauthier , Morals by Agreement
Alan Gewirth , Reason and Morality
Allan Gibbard , Thinking How to Live
Susan Hurley , Natural Reasons
Shelly Kagan , The Limits of Morality
Christine Korsgaard , The Sources of Normativity
John McDowell , Values as Secondary Qualities
Alasdair MacIntyre , After Virtue
J. L. Mackie , Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong
G. E. Moore , Principia Ethica
Martha Nussbaum , The Fragility of Goodness
Derek Parfit , Reasons and Persons
Derek Parfit , On What Matters
Peter Railton , Facts, Values, and Norms
W. D. Ross , The Right and the Good
Thomas M. Scanlon , What We Owe to Each Other
Samuel Scheffler , The Rejection of Consequentialism
Peter Singer , Practical Ethics
Michael A. Smith , The Moral Problem
Bernard Williams , Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
Jeremy Bentham , The Principles of Morals and Legislation
Freedom and responsibility [ edit ]
Bioethics [ edit ]
Business ethics [ edit ]
Tibor R. Machan , The Morality of Business: A Profession for Human Wealthcare (2007)
Feminism [ edit ]
Existentialism [ edit ]
Philosophy of economics [ edit ]
Philosophy of education [ edit ]
Philosophy of history [ edit ]
Philosophy of law [ edit ]
Political philosophy [ edit ]
Postcolonialism [ edit ]
Logic, language, and mathematics [ edit ]
Logic and philosophy of logic [ edit ]
Charles Sanders Peirce , "How to Make Our Ideas Clear "
Gottlob Frege , Begriffsschrift
Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead , Principia Mathematica , 1910-1913
Kurt Gödel , "On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems ", 1931
Saul Kripke , "Semantical Considerations on Modal Logic "
Alfred Tarski , "The Concept of Truth "
Hans Georg Gadamer , Truth and Method
Donald Davidson , "Truth and Meaning "
Philosophy of language [ edit ]
Gottlob Frege , "Sense and Reference "
Bertrand Russell , "On Denoting "
Ludwig Wittgenstein , Philosophical Investigations
J. L. Austin , "A Plea for Excuses "
Saul Kripke , Naming and Necessity
H. P. Grice , "Logic and Conversation "
Michael Dummett , Frege: Philosophy of Language
Jacques Derrida , Of Grammatology
Robert Brandom , Making it Explicit
David K. Lewis , 'General Semantics'
David Chalmers , 'Two Dimensional Semantics'
Philosophy of mathematics [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Natural science
Social science
Related
Traditional
Philosophy of