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
or added to philosophical knowledge significantly
Influence – A publication which has significantly
influenced the world or has had a massive
impact on the teaching of philosophy.
== Historical philosophical texts ==
=== European and Islamic philosophy ===
==== Ancient philosophy ====
Parmenides, On Nature
Plato, Protagoras
Plato, Cratylus
Plato, Phaedrus
Plato, Symposium
Plato, Meno
Plato, Euthyphro
Plato, Apology
Plato, Crito
Plato, Phaedo
Plato, Gorgias
Plato, The Republic
Plato, Timaeus
Plato, Theaetetus
Plato, Parmenides
Plato, Laws
Aristotle, Organon
Aristotle, Physics
Aristotle, Metaphysics
Aristotle, On the Soul
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle, Politics
Aristotle, Rhetoric
Aristotle, Poetics
Lucretius, On the Nature of Things
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Plotinus, Enneads
Epictetus, Enchiridion
==== Medieval philosophy ====
Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, c. AD 397
Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, early
5th century
Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, c. 500
Avicenna, The Book of Healing
Avicenna, Proof of the Truthful
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
==== Early modern philosophy ====
Desiderius Erasmus, The Praise of Folly, 1509
(printed 1511)
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, 1513 (printed
1532)
Sir Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, 1620
Hugo Grotius, De iure belli ac pacis, 1625
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method , 1637
René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy,
1641
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651
Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1670
Baruch Spinoza, Ethics, 1677
Baruch Spinoza, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus,
1677
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, 1689
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,
1689
Gottfried Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics,
1686
Gottfried Leibniz, New Essays Concerning Human
Understanding, 1704 (printed 1765)
Gottfried Leibniz, Théodicée, 1710
Gottfried Leibniz, Monadology, 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, 1750
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile: or, On Education,
1762
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract,
1762
Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments,
1759
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, 1781
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysic
of Morals, 1785
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason,
1788
Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles
of Morals and Legislation, 1789
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgement, 1790
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the
Rights of Women, 1792
Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Foundations of the
Science of Knowledge, 1794
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Phenomenology
of Spirit , 1807
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Science of
Logic, 1812–1817
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Philosophy
of Right, 1820
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Philosophy
of History, printed 1837
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and
Representation, 1819–1859
Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, 1843
Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, 1843
Søren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety,
1844
Max Stirner, The Ego and Its Own, 1844
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, 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
Henry Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics, 1874
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra,
1883–1891
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil,
1886
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals,
1887
Henri Bergson, Matter and Memory, 1896
=== Asian philosophy ===
==== Indian philosophy ====
The Upanishads
The Bhagavad Gita ("The Song of God")
Samkhya school:
Isvarakrsna, Sankhya Karika
Nyaya school:
Aksapada Gautama, Nyaya Sutras
Vaisheshika school:
Kanada, Vaisheshika Sutra
Yoga school:
Patañjali, Yoga Sutras
Swami Swatamarama, Hatha Yoga Pradipika
Vedanta school:
Vyasa, Brahma Sutras
Tamil,
Thiruvalluvar,Thirukkural
==== Chinese philosophy ====
===== Zhou Dynasty =====
Kongzi, Analects (likely written later by
followers)
Kongzi, Five Classics (compiled)
Sunzi, Art of War
Laozi, Dao De Jing
===== Warring States =====
Mengzi, [The] Mengzi
Han Fei, [The] Han Feizi
===== Song Dynasty =====
Zhou Dunyi, The Taiji Tushuo
Zhu Xi, Four Books [compiled]
Zhu Xi, Reflections on Things at Hand, 1175
==== Japanese philosophy ====
===== Pre-Meiji Buddhism =====
Kukai, Attaining Enlightenment in this Very
Existence, 817
Honen, One-Sheet Document, 1212
Shinran, Kyogyoshinsho, 1224
Dogen Zenji, Shōbōgenzō, 1231-1253
Hakuin Ekaku, Wild Ivy
===== Early modern =====
Zeami Motokiyo, Style and Flower, approx.
1400 AD
Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings,
approx. 1600 AD
== Contemporary philosophical texts ==
=== Phenomenology and existentialism ===
Edmund Husserl, Logical Investigations (1900/1901)
Edmund Husserl, Ideas Pertaining to a Pure
Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy
(1913)
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (1927)
Edmund Husserl, Cartesian Meditations (1931)
Albert Camus, Myth of Sisyphus (1942)
Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness (1943)
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception
(1945)
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949)
Jean-Paul Sartre, Critique of Dialectical
Reason (1960)
=== Hermeneutics and deconstruction ===
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method (1960)
Paul Ricœur, Freud and Philosophy: An Essay
on Interpretation (1965)
Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology (1967)
=== Structuralism and post-structuralism ===
Michel Foucault, The Order of Things (1966)
Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition
(1968)
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Capitalism
and Schizophrenia (1972-1980)
Luce Irigaray, Speculum of the Other Woman
(1974)
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (1975)
=== Critical theory and Marxism ===
Georg Lukacs, "History and Class Consciousness"
(1923)
Herbert Marcuse, Reason and Revolution (1941)
Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, Dialectic
of Enlightenment (1944)
Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization (1945)
Louis Althusser, Reading Capital (1965)
Theodor Adorno, Negative Dialectics (1966)
Jürgen Habermas, Theory of Communicative
Action (1981)
Alain Badiou, Being and Event (1988)
=== Epistemology ===
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)
Stanley Cavell,The Claim of Reason: Wittgenstein,
Skepticism, Morality, and Tragedy (1979,1999)
Roderick Chisholm, A Theory of Knowing
Alvin Goldman, Epistemology and Cognition
Alvin Goldman, "What is Justified Belief?"
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"
Peter Unger, Ignorance: A Case for Scepticism
=== Metaphysics ===
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
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
John McDowell, Mind and World
Timothy Williamson, Modal Logic as Metaphysics
Stephen Mumford, Dispositions
Theodore Sider, Writing the Book of the World
David Chalmers, Constructing the World
James Ladyman, Don Ross, David Spurrett, John
Collier, Every Thing Must Go: Metaphysics
Naturalized
=== Philosophy of biology ===
Elliott Sober, The Nature of Selection
Erwin Schrödinger, What is Life? The Physical
Aspect of the Living Cell, 1945
Ruth Garrett Millikan, Language, Thought,
and Other Biological Categories
Daniel C. Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea
=== Philosophy of chemistry ===
J. van Brakel, Philosophy of Chemistry, Leuven
University Press, 2000.
=== Philosophy of mind ===
David Chalmers, The Conscious Mind and The
Character of Consciousness
Daniel Dennett, Consciousness Explained
Thomas Nagel, "What Is it Like to Be a Bat?"
Thomas Nagel, The View From Nowhere
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
=== Philosophy of physics ===
Hans Reichenbach, The Philosophy of Space
and Time
John Stuart Bell, On the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen
Paradox, 1964
=== Philosophy of psychology ===
William James, The Principles of Psychology
Donald Davidson, The Very Idea of a Conceptual
Scheme
=== Philosophy of religion ===
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
Dewi Zephaniah Phillips, 'Religion Without
Explanation'
J. L. Schellenberg, Divine Hiddenness and
Human Reason, 1993
William Rowe, 'The Evidential Argument from
Evil: A Second Look', 1996
=== Philosophy of science ===
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
David K. Lewis, 'How to Define Theoretical
Terms', 1970.
Bas C. van Fraassen, The Scientific Image,
1980
Larry Laudan, 'The Demise of the Demarcation
Problem', 1983
=== Ethics and value theory ===
==== Aesthetics ====
R.G. Collingwood, The Principles of Art
Nelson Goodman, Languages of Art: An Approach
to a Theory of Symbols, 1968
Arthur C. Danto, After the End of Art
Theodor Adorno, Aesthetic Theory
==== Ethics ====
G. E. M. Anscombe, Modern Moral Philosophy
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 and 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
==== Meta-ethics ====
P. F. Strawson, Freedom and Resentment
==== Bioethics ====
Don Marquis, "Why Abortion is Immoral"
Paul Ramsey, The Patient as a Person
Paul Ramsey, Fabricated Man
Judith Jarvis Thomson, "A Defense of Abortion"
==== Business ethics ====
Tibor R. Machan, The Morality of Business:
A Profession for Human Wealthcare (2007)
==== Identity ====
Judith Butler, 'Performative Acts and Gender
Constitution', (1988)
Edward Said, Orientalism
=== Social philosophy ===
==== Philosophy of economics ====
Kenneth Arrow, Social Choice and Individual
Values
Ludwig von Mises, The Ultimate Foundation
of Economic Science
Elizabeth S. Anderson, Value in Ethics and
Economics
==== Philosophy of education ====
B.F. Skinner, Walden Two
John Dewey, Democracy and Education
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
==== Philosophy of history ====
R.G. Collingwood, The Idea of History
Karl Löwith, Meaning in History: The Theological
Implications of the Philosophy of History
==== Philosophy of law ====
John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights
H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law, 1994
Lon L. Fuller, The Morality of Law
Ronald Dworkin, Law's Empire
==== Political philosophy ====
Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, 1971
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia
Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty
Michael Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits
of Justice
=== Logic, language, and mathematics ===
==== Logic and philosophy of logic ====
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"
Donald Davidson, "Truth and Meaning"
==== Philosophy of language ====
Gottlob Frege, "On Sense and Reference"
Bertrand Russell, "On Denoting"
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations
Willard Van Orman Quine, Word and Object
J. L. Austin, "A Plea for Excuses"
J. L. Austin, "How To Do Things With Words"
Saul Kripke, Naming and Necessity
H. P. Grice, "Logic and Conversation"
Michael Dummett, Frege: Philosophy of Language
Stanley Cavell, Must We Mean What We Say?
(1969)
John Searle, Speech Acts
Cora Diamond, What Nonsense Might Be
Robert Brandom, Making it Explicit
David K. Lewis, 'General Semantics'
David Chalmers, 'Two Dimensional Semantics'
==== Philosophy of mathematics ====
Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell,
Principia Mathematica
Paul Benacerraf What Numbers Could not Be
Paul Benacerraf, Mathematical Truth
Paul Benacerraf and Hilary Putnam, Philosophy
of Mathematics: Selected Readings
George Boolos, Logic, Logic and Logic
Imre Lakatos, Proofs and Refutations
Penelope Maddy, Second Philosophy.
Hartry Field, Science without Numbers: The
Defence of Nominalism.
=== Chinese and Japanese thought ===
Feng Youlan, A History of Chinese Philosophy,
1934
Feng Youlan, New Rational Philosophy, 1939
Kitaro Nishida, An Inquiry into the Good,
1911
Kitaro Nishida, From the Acting to the Seeing,
1923–27
Suzuki Daisetsu Teitaro, An Introduction to
Zen Buddhism, 1934
Nishitani Keiji, Religion and Nothingness,
1961
== See also ==
List of years in philosophy
== Notes ==
== References ==
Irvine, Andrew David. "Bertrand Russell".
In Zalta, Edward N. Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy.
== Further reading ==
What Are the Modern Classics? The Baruch Poll
of Great Philosophy in the Twentieth Century,
Douglas P. Lackey, Philosophical Forum 30(4):
329-346 (1999).
American Philosophical Association
Epistemology Research Guide
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Annotated
Bibliography on Analysis
Contemporary Philosophy of Mind: An Annotated
Bibliography
London Philosophy Study Guide
