| author | Alan Dipert
<alan@dipert.org> 2025-10-08 06:16:23 UTC |
| committer | Alan Dipert
<alan@dipert.org> 2025-10-08 06:16:23 UTC |
| parent | 095a430602034d93cba30cb2d59d998b25f43537 |
| md/WellReadUndergrad.md | +235 | -235 |
diff --git a/md/WellReadUndergrad.md b/md/WellReadUndergrad.md index 5d58706..0670acb 100644 --- a/md/WellReadUndergrad.md +++ b/md/WellReadUndergrad.md @@ -13,157 +13,157 @@ A well-read undergraduate should ideally have read, or at least be somewhat fami ### Novels and Other Literature with Philosophical Substance -- Aristophanes — <em>The Clouds</em> (satire of philosophy and Socrates) -- Alexander Pope — <span class="level-one"><em>Essay on Man</em></span> (long poem wrestling with religious metaphysics) -- Voltaire — <em>Candide</em> (parody of Leibniz) and shorter satires -- J.W. von Goethe — <em>Faust</em> -- Fyodor Dostoevsky — <span class="level-three"><em>Crime and Punishment</em></span> (or <span class="level-three"><em>Notes from the Underground</em></span>); <span class="level-three"><em>The Brothers Karamazov</em></span> (especially “The Grand Inquisitor”) -- Hermann Hesse — <span class="level-one"><em>Siddharta</em></span> (novella) -- Albert Camus — <span class="level-one"><em>The Stranger</em></span>; <em>The Plague</em>; <em>The Myth of Sisyphus</em> (essays on meaning and suicide) -- Ayn Rand — <em>The Fountainhead</em>; <em>Atlas Shrugged</em> -- Jean-Paul Sartre — <span class="level-two"><em>No Exit</em></span> (play) -- Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) — <span class="level-two"><em>Alice in Wonderland</em></span> (best revisited after studying logic); <em>Through the Looking-Glass</em> -- T.S. Eliot — <em>The Waste Land</em>; <em>Four Quartets</em> -- Robert Pirsig — <span class="level-three"><em>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance</em></span>; <em>Lila</em> -- Iris Murdoch — novels rich with philosophical dilemmas +- [Aristophanes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes) — [*The Clouds*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clouds) (satire of philosophy and Socrates) +- [Alexander Pope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope) — <span class="level-one">[*Essay on Man*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essay_on_Man)</span> (long poem wrestling with religious metaphysics) +- [Voltaire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire) — [*Candide*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candide) (parody of Leibniz) and shorter satires +- [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe) — [*Faust*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust) +- [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoevsky) — <span class="level-three">[*Crime and Punishment*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_and_Punishment)</span> (or <span class="level-three">[*Notes from Underground*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_from_Underground)</span>); <span class="level-three">[*The Brothers Karamazov*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov)</span> (especially “The Grand Inquisitor”) +- [Hermann Hesse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse) — <span class="level-one">[*Siddhartha*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_(novel))</span> (novella) +- [Albert Camus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus) — <span class="level-one">[*The Stranger*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranger_(Camus_novel))</span>; [*The Plague*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plague); [*The Myth of Sisyphus*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus) (essays on meaning and suicide) +- [Ayn Rand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand) — [*The Fountainhead*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead); [*Atlas Shrugged*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged) +- [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre) — <span class="level-two">[*No Exit*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Exit)</span> (play) +- [Lewis Carroll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll) — <span class="level-two">[*Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland)</span> (best revisited after studying logic); [*Through the Looking-Glass*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_the_Looking-Glass) +- [T.S. Eliot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot) — [*The Waste Land*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waste_Land); [*Four Quartets*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Quartets) +- [Robert M. Pirsig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig) — <span class="level-three">[*Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance)</span>; [*Lila: An Inquiry into Morals*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lila:_An_Inquiry_into_Morals) +- [Iris Murdoch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Murdoch) — novels rich with philosophical dilemmas ### Semi-Popular or Not Strictly Philosophical Essays -- Michel de Montaigne — <span class="level-one"><em>Essays</em></span> (“That to Philosophize is to Learn to Die,” “Of Friendship,” “Of Cannibals,” “Of Custom…,” “Our Feelings Reach Beyond Us”) -- Immanuel Kant — “Perpetual Peace”; “What Is Enlightenment?” -- Ralph Waldo Emerson — <em>Essays</em> (“Friendship,” “Nature,” “Self-Reliance”) -- Henry David Thoreau — <span class="level-one"><em>Walden</em></span>; <span class="level-one"><em>Essay on Civil Disobedience</em></span> -- C.S. Peirce — “The Fixation of Belief”; “How to Make Our Ideas Clear” -- W.K. Clifford — <span class="level-two">“The Ethics of Belief”</span> -- William James — <span class="level-two">“The Will to Believe”</span>; <em>Pragmatism</em>; “The Moral Equivalent of War”; “The Pragmatic Theory of Truth” -- Sigmund Freud — <em>The Interpretation of Dreams</em>; <em>The Future of an Illusion</em>; <em>Civilization and Its Discontents</em>; <em>Beyond the Pleasure Principle</em> -- Bertrand Russell — “A Free Man’s Worship”; selections from <em>Why I Am Not a Christian</em> -- Isaiah Berlin — essays such as “The Hedgehog and the Fox” (in <em>Russian Thinkers</em>) -- Ayn Rand — <em>The Virtue of Selfishness</em>; <em>Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology</em>; John Galt’s speech in <em>Atlas Shrugged</em> +- [Michel de Montaigne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne) — <span class="level-one">[*Essays*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essays_(Montaigne))</span> (“That to Philosophize is to Learn to Die,” “Of Friendship,” “Of Cannibals,” “Of Custom…,” “Our Feelings Reach Beyond Us”) +- [Immanuel Kant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant) — [“Perpetual Peace”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_Peace); [“What Is Enlightenment?”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Enlightenment%3F) +- [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson) — [*Essays: First Series*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essays:_First_Series) (“Friendship,” “Nature,” “Self-Reliance”) +- [Henry David Thoreau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau) — <span class="level-one">[*Walden*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden)</span>; <span class="level-one">[*Civil Disobedience*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau))</span> +- [Charles Sanders Peirce](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sanders_Peirce) — [“The Fixation of Belief”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fixation_of_Belief); [“How to Make Our Ideas Clear”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Make_Our_Ideas_Clear) +- [William Kingdon Clifford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kingdon_Clifford) — <span class="level-two">[“The Ethics of Belief”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ethics_of_Belief)</span> +- [William James](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James) — <span class="level-two">[“The Will to Believe”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Will_to_Believe)</span>; [*Pragmatism*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism_(book)); [“The Moral Equivalent of War”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moral_Equivalent_of_War); [“The Pragmatic Theory of Truth”](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth-pragmatic/) +- [Sigmund Freud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud) — [*The Interpretation of Dreams*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Interpretation_of_Dreams); [*The Future of an Illusion*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future_of_an_Illusion); [*Civilization and Its Discontents*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_and_Its_Discontents); [*Beyond the Pleasure Principle*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Pleasure_Principle) +- [Bertrand Russell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell) — [“A Free Man’s Worship”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Free_Man%27s_Worship); selections from [*Why I Am Not a Christian*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_I_Am_Not_a_Christian) +- [Isaiah Berlin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Berlin) — essays such as [“The Hedgehog and the Fox”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hedgehog_and_the_Fox) (in [*Russian Thinkers*](https://archive.org/details/russianthinkers00beri)) +- [Ayn Rand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand) — [*The Virtue of Selfishness*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtue_of_Selfishness); [*Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Objectivist_Epistemology); John Galt’s speech in [*Atlas Shrugged*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged) ### History of Philosophy #### Ancient & Medieval -- Plato — <span class="level-one"><em>Apology</em></span>; <em>Crito</em>; <em>Phaedo</em>; <span class="level-three"><em>Republic</em></span>; <em>Symposium</em>; <em>Phaedrus</em>; <em>Meno</em>; for majors: <em>Euthyphro</em>; <em>Theaetetus</em> -- Aristotle — <span class="level-three"><em>Nicomachean Ethics</em></span>; <span class="level-two"><em>Poetics</em></span>; key portions of the treatises for majors -- Epictetus — <span class="level-two"><em>Enchiridion</em></span> -- Augustine — selections on free will and time; portions of <em>Confessions</em> -- Anselm — <em>Proslogion</em> -- Thomas Aquinas — portions of <em>Summa Theologiae</em> (especially the Five Ways) +- [Plato](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato) — <span class="level-one">[*Apology*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apology_(Plato_dialogue))</span>; [*Crito*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crito); [*Phaedo*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedo); <span class="level-three">[*Republic*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_(Plato))</span>; [*Symposium*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symposium_(Plato)); [*Phaedrus*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus_(dialogue)); [*Meno*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meno); for majors: [*Euthyphro*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthyphro); [*Theaetetus*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theaetetus_(dialogue)) +- [Aristotle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle) — <span class="level-three">[*Nicomachean Ethics*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicomachean_Ethics)</span>; <span class="level-two">[*Poetics*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetics_(Aristotle))</span>; key portions of the treatises for majors +- [Epictetus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epictetus) — <span class="level-two">[*Enchiridion*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchiridion_of_Epictetus)</span> +- [Augustine of Hippo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo) — selections on free will and time; portions of [*Confessions*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_(Augustine)) +- [Anselm of Canterbury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anselm_of_Canterbury) — [*Proslogion*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proslogion) +- [Thomas Aquinas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas) — portions of [*Summa Theologiae*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Theologica) (especially the Five Ways) #### Modern -- René Descartes — <span class="level-one"><em>Meditations</em></span>; <em>Discourse on Method</em>; <em>Principles of Philosophy</em> -- Thomas Hobbes — <em>Leviathan</em> -- Blaise Pascal — selections (including the Wager) -- John Locke — <em>Essay Concerning Human Understanding</em> (portions); <span class="level-two"><em>Second Treatise of Government</em></span> -- Baruch Spinoza — <em>Ethics</em> (presented geometrically) -- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz — <em>Discourse on Metaphysics</em> -- George Berkeley — <em>Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous</em>; <em>Principles of Human Knowledge</em> -- David Hume — <em>An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding</em> (parts); <span class="level-two"><em>Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion</em></span> -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau — <em>The Social Contract</em> -- Immanuel Kant — <span class="level-two"><em>Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals</em></span>; “Perpetual Peace”; “What Is Enlightenment?”; <span class="level-two"><em>Critique of Pure Reason</em></span> (or <em>Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics</em>) -- John Stuart Mill — <span class="level-one"><em>On Liberty</em></span>; <span class="level-two"><em>Utilitarianism</em></span> -- Karl Marx — key selections summarizing major views -- Søren Kierkegaard — signature works (e.g., <em>Fear and Trembling</em>) -- William James — <span class="level-two"><em>The Varieties of Religious Experience</em></span> (especially “Mysticism”) -- Friedrich Nietzsche — <span class="level-two"><em>Beyond Good and Evil</em></span> and other mature works -- Bertrand Russell — <span class="level-one"><em>The Problems of Philosophy</em></span>; <em>Logic and Knowledge</em> +- [René Descartes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes) — <span class="level-one">[*Meditations on First Philosophy*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditations_on_First_Philosophy)</span>; [*Discourse on the Method*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_the_Method); [*Principles of Philosophy*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principia_Philosophiae) +- [Thomas Hobbes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes) — [*Leviathan*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(Hobbes_book)) +- [Blaise Pascal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal) — selections (including [Pascal's wager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager)) +- [John Locke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke) — [*An Essay Concerning Human Understanding*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essay_Concerning_Human_Understanding) (portions); <span class="level-two">[*Second Treatise of Government*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Treatise_of_Government)</span> +- [Baruch Spinoza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza) — [*Ethics*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_(Spinoza)) +- [Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz) — [*Discourse on Metaphysics*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_Metaphysics) +- [George Berkeley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley) — [*Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Dialogues_between_Hylas_and_Phlonous); [*A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Treatise_Concerning_the_Principles_of_Human_Knowledge) +- [David Hume](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume) — [*An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Enquiry_Concerning_Human_Understanding) (parts); <span class="level-two">[*Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogues_Concerning_Natural_Religion)</span> +- [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau) — [*The Social Contract*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Contract) +- [Immanuel Kant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant) — <span class="level-two">[*Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundwork_of_the_Metaphysics_of_Morals)</span>; [“Perpetual Peace”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_Peace); [“What Is Enlightenment?”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Enlightenment%3F); <span class="level-two">[*Critique of Pure Reason*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critique_of_Pure_Reason)</span> (or [*Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolegomena_to_Any_Future_Metaphysics)) +- [John Stuart Mill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill) — <span class="level-one">[*On Liberty*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Liberty)</span>; <span class="level-two">[*Utilitarianism*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism_(book))</span> +- [Karl Marx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx) — key selections summarizing major views (e.g., the [*Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*](https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/preface.htm)) +- [Søren Kierkegaard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard) — signature works (e.g., [*Fear and Trembling*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling)) +- [William James](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James) — <span class="level-two">[*The Varieties of Religious Experience*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience)</span> (especially “Mysticism”) +- [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche) — <span class="level-two">[*Beyond Good and Evil*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Good_and_Evil)</span> and other mature works +- [Bertrand Russell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell) — <span class="level-one">[*The Problems of Philosophy*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Problems_of_Philosophy)</span>; [*Logic and Knowledge*](https://archive.org/details/logicandknowled00russ) #### General Histories -- Bertrand Russell — <em>History of Western Philosophy</em> (opinionated but readable) -- Frederick Copleston — multi-volume <em>History of Philosophy</em> -- W.T. Jones — multi-volume <em>History of Western Philosophy</em> -- William Matson — <em>A New History of Philosophy</em> (lively, two volumes) -- Roger Scruton — <em>A Short History of Modern Philosophy</em> -- D.W. Hamlyn — <em>The Penguin History of Philosophy</em> -- Robert C. Solomon & Kathleen Higgins — <em>A Passion for Wisdom</em> -- Robert C. Solomon et al. — <em>A Short History of Philosophy</em> -- Anthony Kenny — <em>The Oxford History of Western Philosophy</em>; <em>The Oxford Illustrated History of Western Philosophy</em> -- Samuel Stumpf — <em>Socrates to Sartre: A History of Philosophy</em> -- Matthew Stewart — <em>The Truth About Everything: An Irreverent History of Philosophy</em> -- Ben-Ami Sharfstein — <em>A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant</em> -- Mary Warnock — <em>Women Philosophers</em> (anthology) -- A.J. Ayer & Jane O’Grady — <em>A Dictionary of Philosophical Quotations</em> +- [Bertrand Russell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell) — [*History of Western Philosophy*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_Western_Philosophy) (opinionated but readable) +- [Frederick Copleston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Copleston) — multi-volume [*History of Philosophy*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copleston%27s_History_of_Philosophy) +- [W.T. Jones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_T._Jones) — multi-volume [*History of Western Philosophy*](https://archive.org/details/historyofwestern01will) +- [William Matson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Matson) — [*A New History of Philosophy*](https://archive.org/details/newhistoryofphil0001mats) (lively, two volumes) +- [Roger Scruton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Scruton) — [*A Short History of Modern Philosophy*](https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofmo0000scru) +- [D.W. Hamlyn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._W._Hamlyn) — [*The Penguin History of Philosophy*](https://archive.org/details/penguinhistoryof0000haml) +- [Robert C. Solomon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Solomon) & [Kathleen Higgins](https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/philosophy/faculty/kmh222) — [*A Passion for Wisdom*](https://archive.org/details/passionforwisdom00solo) +- [Robert C. Solomon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Solomon) et al. — [*A Short History of Philosophy*](https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofph00solo) +- [Anthony Kenny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Kenny) — [*The Oxford History of Western Philosophy*](https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofw0000unse) and [*The Oxford Illustrated History of Western Philosophy*](https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00anth) +- [Samuel Enoch Stumpf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Enoch_Stumpf) — [*Socrates to Sartre and Beyond*](https://archive.org/details/socratestosartre0000stum) +- [Matthew Stewart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Stewart_(philosopher)) — [*The Truth About Everything*](https://archive.org/details/truthabouteveryt00stew) +- [Ben-Ami Sharfstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Ami_Shafstein) — [*A Comparative History of World Philosophy*](https://archive.org/details/comparativehisto0000shar) +- [Mary Warnock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Warnock) — [*Women Philosophers*](https://archive.org/details/womenphilosopher0000warn) (anthology) +- [A.J. Ayer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._Ayer) & [Jane O’Grady](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_O%27Grady) — [*A Dictionary of Philosophical Quotations*](https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofphil0000ayer) ### Twentieth-Century Themes #### Ethics and Political Philosophy -- John Rawls — <span class="level-three"><em>Justice as Fairness</em></span> -- Martha Nussbaum — <em>The Fragility of Goodness</em> -- Robert Nozick — <em>Anarchy, State, and Utopia</em> -- Alasdair MacIntyre — <em>After Virtue</em> -- Richard Brandt — <span class="level-two"><em>Ethical Theory</em></span> (or comparable survey of metaethics and normative theory) +- [John Rawls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rawls) — <span class="level-three">[*Justice as Fairness*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_as_Fairness)</span> +- [Martha Nussbaum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Nussbaum) — [*The Fragility of Goodness*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fragility_of_Goodness) +- [Robert Nozick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Nozick) — [*Anarchy, State, and Utopia*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchy,_State,_and_Utopia) +- [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alasdair_MacIntyre) — [*After Virtue*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Virtue) +- [Richard B. Brandt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Brandt) — <span class="level-two">[*Ethical Theory*](https://archive.org/details/ethicaltheory00bran)</span> (or comparable survey of metaethics and normative theory) #### Existentialism and Continental Thought -- William Barrett — <em>Irrational Man</em> -- Robert C. Solomon — <em>The Passions</em>; <em>The Existentialists</em>; <em>Continental Philosophy Since 1750</em> -- L. Nathan Oaklander — <em>Existentialist Philosophy</em> -- Edmund Husserl — representative phenomenology -- Jean-Paul Sartre — selections from <em>Existentialism Is a Humanism</em> and <em>Being and Nothingness</em> -- Martin Heidegger — essays such as “What Is a Thing?” -- Michel Foucault — <em>The Foucault Reader</em> (ed. Paul Rabinow) -- David H. Richter (ed.) — <span class="level-two"><em>The Critical Tradition</em></span> +- [William Barrett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barrett_(author)) — [*Irrational Man*](https://archive.org/details/irrationalmanint00barr) +- [Robert C. Solomon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Solomon) — [*The Passions*](https://archive.org/details/passionsphilosop0000solo); [*The Existentialists*](https://archive.org/details/existentialists0000solo); [*Continental Philosophy Since 1750*](https://archive.org/details/continentalphilo0000solo) +- [L. Nathan Oaklander](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Nathan_Oaklander) — [*Existentialist Philosophy*](https://archive.org/details/existentialistph0000oakl) +- [Edmund Husserl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Husserl) — representative phenomenology (e.g., [*Ideas I*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideas:_General_Introduction_to_Pure_Phenomenology)) +- [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre) — selections from [*Existentialism Is a Humanism*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism_Is_a_Humanism) and [*Being and Nothingness*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_and_Nothingness) +- [Martin Heidegger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger) — essays such as “[What Is a Thing?](https://archive.org/details/whatisthingtr00heid)” +- [Michel Foucault](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault) — [*The Foucault Reader*](https://archive.org/details/foucaultreader0000fouc) (ed. Paul Rabinow) +- [David H. Richter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_H._Richter) (ed.) — <span class="level-two">[*The Critical Tradition*](https://archive.org/details/criticaltraditio0000unse)</span> #### Analytic Philosophy -- Gottlob Frege — <span class="level-three">“On Sense and Reference,” introduction to <em>Begriffsschrift</em>, “On Concept and Object,” “On Function and Concept,” “On Russell’s Paradox”</span> -- Bertrand Russell — “On Denoting”; essays on logical atomism in <em>Logic and Knowledge</em> -- G.E. Moore — <span class="level-two"><em>Principia Ethica</em></span> (chapter 1); “The Refutation of Idealism” -- A.J. Ayer — “The Principle of Verification”; “The Elimination of Metaphysics” -- Ludwig Wittgenstein — <em>Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus</em>; <em>Blue and Brown Books</em>; <em>Zettel</em>; <em>Philosophical Investigations</em>; <em>On Certainty</em> -- Gilbert Ryle — “Descartes’ Myth” -- J.L. Austin — “A Plea for Excuses”; “Other Minds” -- Alan Turing — <span class="level-one">“Computing Machinery and Intelligence”</span> -- Edmund Gettier — “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” -- W.V.O. Quine — “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”; “On What There Is” -- John Searle — “What Is a Speech Act?” -- Richard Rorty — <em>Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature</em> -- Thomas Nagel — <span class="level-one">“What Is It Like to Be a Bat?”</span> +- [Gottlob Frege](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottlob_Frege) — <span class="level-three">[“On Sense and Reference”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_reference), introduction to [*Begriffsschrift*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begriffsschrift), “On Concept and Object,” “On Function and Concept,” “On Russell’s Paradox”</span> +- [Bertrand Russell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell) — [“On Denoting”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Denoting); essays on logical atomism in [*Logic and Knowledge*](https://archive.org/details/logicandknowled00russ) +- [G.E. Moore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._E._Moore) — <span class="level-two">[*Principia Ethica*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principia_Ethica)</span> (chapter 1); [“The Refutation of Idealism”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Refutation_of_Idealism) +- [A.J. Ayer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._Ayer) — [“The Principle of Verification”](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/verificationism/); [“The Elimination of Metaphysics”](https://iep.utm.edu/verificationism/#SH5a) +- [Ludwig Wittgenstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein) — [*Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractatus_Logico-Philosophicus); [*Blue and Brown Books*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_and_Brown_Books); [*Zettel*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettel_(Wittgenstein)); [*Philosophical Investigations*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Investigations); [*On Certainty*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Certainty) +- [Gilbert Ryle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Ryle) — [“Descartes’ Myth”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_machine#The_Categories_Goof) +- [J.L. Austin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._L._Austin) — [“A Plea for Excuses”](https://academic.oup.com/pq/article/4/15/1/1546489); [“Other Minds”](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2251299) +- [Alan Turing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing) — <span class="level-one">[“Computing Machinery and Intelligence”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing_Machinery_and_Intelligence)</span> +- [Edmund Gettier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Gettier) — [“Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”](https://philpapers.org/archive/GETIJT.pdf) +- [W.V.O. Quine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Van_Orman_Quine) — [“Two Dogmas of Empiricism”](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2181906); [“On What There Is”](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2012669) +- [John Searle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Searle) — [“What Is a Speech Act?”](https://www.jstor.org/stable/4544389) +- [Richard Rorty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rorty) — [*Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_and_the_Mirror_of_Nature) +- [Thomas Nagel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Nagel) — <span class="level-one">[“What Is It Like to Be a Bat?”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_it_Like_to_Be_a_Bat%3F)</span> #### Science Writing with Philosophical Reach -- Thomas Kuhn — <span class="level-three"><em>The Structure of Scientific Revolutions</em></span> -- Paul Feyerabend — <em>Against Method</em> -- Loren Eiseley — <em>The Immense Journey</em> and related essays -- Sherwin Nuland — <em>How We Die</em> -- Lewis Thomas — essays such as “Germs” -- E.O. Wilson — <em>Sociobiology</em>; <em>Consilience</em> +- [Thomas Kuhn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn) — <span class="level-three">[*The Structure of Scientific Revolutions*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions)</span> +- [Paul Feyerabend](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Feyerabend) — [*Against Method*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Method) +- [Loren Eiseley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loren_Eiseley) — [*The Immense Journey*](https://archive.org/details/immensejourney00eise) and related essays +- [Sherwin B. Nuland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherwin_B._Nuland) — [*How We Die*](https://archive.org/details/howwedienewrefle00nula) +- [Lewis Thomas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Thomas) — essays such as “Germs” in [*The Lives of a Cell*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_a_Cell) +- [E.O. Wilson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson) — [*Sociobiology*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiology:_The_New_Synthesis); [*Consilience*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consilience_(book)) #### Mathematics, Logic, and AI -- Edwin Abbott — <em>Flatland</em> -- A.K. Dewdney — <em>The (New) Turing Omnibus</em>; <em>The Tinkertoy Computer</em> -- Philip Davis & Reuben Hersh — <em>The Mathematical Experience</em> -- Martin Gardner — classic mathematical recreations -- Douglas Hofstadter — <span class="level-three"><em>Gödel, Escher, Bach</em></span>; <em>Metamagical Themas</em> -- Ivars Peterson — <em>The Mathematical Tourist</em>; <em>Islands of Truth</em> -- George Pólya — <em>How to Solve It</em> -- John Allen Paulos — <em>Innumeracy</em>; <em>Beyond Innumeracy</em> +- [Edwin Abbott Abbott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Abbott_Abbott) — [*Flatland*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland) +- [A.K. Dewdney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._K._Dewdney) — [*The (New) Turing Omnibus*](https://archive.org/details/newturingomnibus0000dewd); [*The Tinkertoy Computer*](https://archive.org/details/tinkertoycompute00dewd) +- [Philip J. Davis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_J._Davis) & [Reuben Hersh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_Hersh) — [*The Mathematical Experience*](https://archive.org/details/mathematicalexpe0000davi) +- [Martin Gardner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner) — classic mathematical recreations (e.g., [*Mathematical Games*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_Games)) +- [Douglas Hofstadter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Hofstadter) — <span class="level-three">[*Gödel, Escher, Bach*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach)</span>; [*Metamagical Themas*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamagical_Themas) +- [Ivars Peterson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivars_Peterson) — [*The Mathematical Tourist*](https://archive.org/details/mathematicaltour00pete); [*Islands of Truth*](https://archive.org/details/islandsoftruthma0000pete) +- [George Pólya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_P%C3%B3lya) — [*How to Solve It*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Solve_It) +- [John Allen Paulos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Allen_Paulos) — [*Innumeracy*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innumeracy); [*Beyond Innumeracy*](https://archive.org/details/beyondinnumeracy00paul) #### Biographies and Intellectual Portraits -- Gay Wilson Allen — <em>William James</em> -- Ray Monk — <em>Wittgenstein</em>; <em>Bertrand Russell</em> -- Paul Levy — <em>Moore: G.E. Moore and the Cambridge Apostles</em> -- Ved Mehta — <em>The Fly and the Fly Bottle</em> -- Paul Feyerabend — <em>Killing Time</em> (autobiography) +- [Gay Wilson Allen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Wilson_Allen) — [*William James: A Biography*](https://archive.org/details/williamjamesbiog00alle) +- [Ray Monk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Monk) — [*Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius*](https://archive.org/details/ludwigwittgenste00monk); [*Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude*](https://archive.org/details/bertrandrussells00monk) +- [Paul Levy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Levy_(writer)) — [*Moore: G.E. Moore and the Cambridge Apostles*](https://archive.org/details/mooregem00paul) +- [Ved Mehta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ved_Mehta) — [*The Fly and the Fly Bottle*](https://archive.org/details/flyflybottleenco00vedm) +- [Paul Feyerabend](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Feyerabend) — [*Killing Time*](https://archive.org/details/killingtimeautob00feye) (autobiography) #### Logic and Philosophical Reasoning -- Nicholas Falletta — <em>Paradoxicon</em> -- Irving Copi & Carl Cohen — <span class="level-one"><em>Introduction to Logic</em></span> -- Irving Copi — <em>Symbolic Logic</em> -- Richard Jeffrey — <em>Formal Logic</em> -- Harry Gensler — <em>Symbolic Logic</em> -- George Boolos & Richard Jeffrey — <em>Computability and Logic</em> +- [Nicholas Falletta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Falletta) — [*Paradoxicon*](https://archive.org/details/paradoxiconbooko00fall) +- [Irving Copi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Copi) & [Carl Cohen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Cohen) — <span class="level-one">[*Introduction to Logic*](https://archive.org/details/introductiontolo0000copi)</span> +- [Irving Copi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Copi) — [*Symbolic Logic*](https://archive.org/details/symboliclogic0000copi) +- [Richard Jeffrey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_C._Jeffrey) — [*Formal Logic*](https://archive.org/details/formallogicits00jeff) +- [Harry Gensler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Gensler) — [*Symbolic Logic*](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-classical/) +- [George Boolos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Boolos) & [Richard Jeffrey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_C._Jeffrey) — [*Computability and Logic*](https://archive.org/details/computabilitylog0000bool) #### Philosophy of Religion -- Anselm of Canterbury — ontological argument in <em>Proslogion</em> -- Thomas Aquinas — Five Ways in <em>Summa Theologiae</em> -- Blaise Pascal — Pascal’s Wager -- William James & W.K. Clifford — essays cited above -- Søren Kierkegaard & Friedrich Nietzsche — the leap of faith; “God is dead” -- Martin Buber — selections from <em>I and Thou</em> -- Sigmund Freud — <em>The Future of an Illusion</em>; <em>Moses and Monotheism</em> -- Bertrand Russell — skeptical essays noted earlier +- [Anselm of Canterbury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anselm_of_Canterbury) — ontological argument in [*Proslogion*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proslogion) +- [Thomas Aquinas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas) — Five Ways in [*Summa Theologiae*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Theologica) +- [Blaise Pascal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal) — [Pascal’s wager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager) +- [William James](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James) & [W.K. Clifford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kingdon_Clifford) — essays cited above +- [Søren Kierkegaard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard) & [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche) — the leap of faith; “God is dead” +- [Martin Buber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Buber) — selections from [*I and Thou*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_and_Thou) +- [Sigmund Freud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud) — [*The Future of an Illusion*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future_of_an_Illusion); [*Moses and Monotheism*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_and_Monotheism) +- [Bertrand Russell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell) — skeptical essays noted earlier #### Other Branches of Philosophy Every philosophy major should grapple with the central debates in philosophy of language, mind, science, aesthetics, mathematics, history, logic, and action theory. Series from Prentice-Hall, Oxford, and others provide approachable overviews of each subdiscipline. @@ -174,125 +174,125 @@ A vocabulary list drawn from E.D. Hirsch Jr.’s *Cultural Literacy* with additi | Term | Term | Term | Term | | --- | --- | --- | --- | -| abduction | <span class="level-one">reductio ad absurdum</span> | ad hoc | ad infinitum | -| aesthetics | affirming the consequent | agnosticism | analogy | -| analytic/synthetic distinction | animism | anthropomorphism | aphorism | -| a priori / a posteriori | <span class="level-one">aretē</span> | Thomas Aquinas | aristocracy | -| atheism | Augustine | autocracy | axiom | -| Barbara (syllogism) | Allegory of the Cave | Chinese room (thought experiment) | Cicero | -| civil disobedience | class struggle | communism | <span class="level-one">Communist Manifesto</span> | -| <span class="level-one">Confessions</span> | <span class="level-two">Copernican Revolution</span> | <span class="level-one">cosmological argument</span> | Confucius | -| cultural relativism | deconstruction | deduction | <span class="level-one"><em>De gustibus non est disputandum</em></span> | -| deism | Delphic oracle | democracy | Cartesian demon | -| denotation | deontology | Descartes, René | determinism | -| dialectic | dialectical materialism | Divided Line | Cartesian dualism | -| Jonathan Edwards | egoism | Emerson, Ralph Waldo | emotivism | -| empiricism | the Enlightenment | Epicureanism | epistemology | -| Erasmus | <em>ergo</em> | ethical relativism | ethics | -| ethos | eudaimonia | extension vs. intension | existentialism | -| fallacy | fideism | Five Ways | Platonic forms | -| gerontocracy | Gestalt psychology | ghost in the machine | golden mean | -| hedonism | Hobbes, Thomas | holism | hypothesis | -| idealism (metaphysics) | individualism | innate ideas | induction | -| inference | intentionality | <em>In vino veritas</em> | James, William | -| <em>je ne sais quoi</em> | Johnson, Samuel | justification by faith / grace / works | justice as fairness | -| Kant, Immanuel | <em>Das Kapital</em> | Lao-tse | Leibniz | -| liar paradox | Lenin, Vladimir | <em>Leviathan</em> | liberalism (classical, American) | -| libertarianism | Locke, John | <em>locus classicus</em> | Machiavelli | -| materialism | “Meaning is use.” | meaning / reference (Frege) | medieval | -| metaphysics | Middle Ages | Mill, John Stuart | monism | -| monotheism | Montaigne | Montesquieu | More, Thomas | -| mysticism | naturalism | natural law | natural rights | -| nature–nurture controversy | Nietzsche, Friedrich | nihilism | “No man is an island.” | -| non sequitur | Occidental philosophy | oligarchy | oligopoly | -| “One is what one eats.” | “Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.” | ontological argument | ontology | -| pacifism | paradox | paradigm | Pascal, Blaise | -| Pascal’s Wager | Peirce, Charles Sanders | performatives | philistinism | -| philosopher-king | philosopher’s stone | Plato | Platonism | -| pluralism | plutocracy | polytheism | Pope, Alexander | -| positivism | postulate | pragmatism | predestination | -| predicate | <em>The Prince</em> | Procrustean bed | proletariat | -| <em>quod erat demonstrandum</em> (Q.E.D.) | <em>raison d’être</em> | red herring | reductio | -| the Reformation | relativism | the Renaissance | rhetoric | -| Ring of Gyges | Russell, Bertrand | Russell’s paradox | Sartre, Jean-Paul | -| scholasticism | <em>Self-Reliance</em> | semantics | semiotics | -| <em>sine qua non</em> | Socrates | sophist | speech-act theory | -| Spinoza, Baruch | stoicism | subjectivism | syntax | -| <em>tabula rasa</em> | teleological argument | theocracy | Thomism | -| Thoreau, Henry David | totalitarianism | transubstantiation | Turing Test | -| universals | use / mention | utilitarianism | utopia | -| <em>Verstehen</em> | vicious circle | Voltaire | <em>Weltanschauung</em> | -| Wittgenstein, Ludwig | Zeno’s paradox | Zeitgeist | <span class="level-two">Mill’s methods</span> | -| <span class="level-two">Arrow’s theorem</span> | <span class="level-two">Prisoner’s dilemma</span> | | | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abductive_reasoning">abduction</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum"><span class="level-one">reductio ad absurdum</span></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hoc">ad hoc</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_infinitum">ad infinitum</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesthetics">aesthetics</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirming_the_consequent">affirming the consequent</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism">agnosticism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogy">analogy</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytic%E2%80%93synthetic_distinction">analytic/synthetic distinction</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animism">animism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism">anthropomorphism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphorism">aphorism</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_priori_and_a_posteriori">a priori / a posteriori</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arete"><span class="level-one">aretē</span></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas">Thomas Aquinas</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristocracy">aristocracy</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism">atheism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo">Augustine</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocracy">autocracy</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom">axiom</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_(syllogism)">Barbara (syllogism)</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave">Allegory of the Cave</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room">Chinese room (thought experiment)</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero">Cicero</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience">civil disobedience</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_struggle">class struggle</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism">communism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Communist_Manifesto"><span class="level-one">Communist Manifesto</span></a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_(Augustine)"><span class="level-one">Confessions</span></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernican_Revolution"><span class="level-two">Copernican Revolution</span></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_argument"><span class="level-one">cosmological argument</span></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius">Confucius</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_relativism">cultural relativism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction">deconstruction</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductive_reasoning">deduction</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_gustibus_non_est_disputandum"><span class="level-one"><em>De gustibus non est disputandum</em></span></a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism">deism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi#Oracle">Delphic oracle</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy">democracy</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_demon">Cartesian demon</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denotation">denotation</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deontological_ethics">deontology</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes">Descartes, René</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinism">determinism</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectic">dialectic</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_materialism">dialectical materialism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divided_line">Divided Line</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind%E2%80%93body_dualism">Cartesian dualism</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Edwards_(theologian)">Jonathan Edwards</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egoism">egoism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson">Emerson, Ralph Waldo</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotivism">emotivism</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism">empiricism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment">the Enlightenment</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism">Epicureanism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology">epistemology</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderius_Erasmus">Erasmus</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito,_ergo_sum"><em>ergo</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_relativism">ethical relativism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics">ethics</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethos">ethos</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia">eudaimonia</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensional_and_intensional_definitions">extension vs. intension</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism">existentialism</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy">fallacy</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fideism">fideism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ways_(Aquinas)">Five Ways</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_forms">Platonic forms</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerontocracy">gerontocracy</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology">Gestalt psychology</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_machine">ghost in the machine</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_mean_(philosophy)">golden mean</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism">hedonism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes">Hobbes, Thomas</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holism">holism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothesis">hypothesis</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealism">idealism (metaphysics)</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualism">individualism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innate_ideas">innate ideas</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_reasoning">induction</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inference">inference</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentionality">intentionality</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vino_veritas"><em>In vino veritas</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James">James, William</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je_ne_sais_quoi"><em>je ne sais quoi</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson">Johnson, Samuel</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justification_(theology)">justification by faith / grace / works</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_as_Fairness">justice as fairness</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant">Kant, Immanuel</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Kapital"><em>Das Kapital</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi">Lao-tse</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz">Leibniz</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/liar_paradox">liar paradox</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin">Lenin, Vladimir</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(Hobbes_book)"><em>Leviathan</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism">liberalism (classical, American)</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism">libertarianism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke">Locke, John</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_classicus"><em>locus classicus</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli">Machiavelli</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialism">materialism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Investigations#Meaning_as_use">“Meaning is use.”</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_reference">meaning / reference (Frege)</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages">medieval</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics">metaphysics</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages">Middle Ages</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill">Mill, John Stuart</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/monism">monism</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/monotheism">monotheism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne">Montaigne</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montesquieu">Montesquieu</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_More">More, Thomas</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysticism">mysticism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism_(philosophy)">naturalism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_law">natural law</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_and_legal_rights">natural rights</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_versus_nurture">nature–nurture controversy</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche">Nietzsche, Friedrich</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism">nihilism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne#Famous_quotes">“No man is an island.”</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_sequitur_(logic)">non sequitur</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_philosophy">Occidental philosophy</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy">oligarchy</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligopoly">oligopoly</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_are_what_you_eat">“One is what one eats.”</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recapitulation_theory">“Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.”</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontological_argument">ontological argument</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology">ontology</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifism">pacifism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox">paradox</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm">paradigm</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal">Pascal, Blaise</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager">Pascal’s Wager</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sanders_Peirce">Peirce, Charles Sanders</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_act">performatives</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philistinism">philistinism</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher_king">philosopher-king</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_stone">philosopher’s stone</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato">Plato</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonism">Platonism</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralism_(philosophy)">pluralism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy">plutocracy</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytheism">polytheism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope">Pope, Alexander</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism">positivism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom">postulate</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism">pragmatism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination">predestination</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predicate_(mathematics)">predicate</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince"><em>The Prince</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustean_bed">Procrustean bed</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletariat">proletariat</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q.E.D."><em>quod erat demonstrandum</em> (Q.E.D.)</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raison_d%27%C3%AAtre"><em>raison d’être</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring">red herring</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum">reductio</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Reformation">the Reformation</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativism">relativism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance">the Renaissance</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric">rhetoric</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Gyges">Ring of Gyges</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell">Russell, Bertrand</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_paradox">Russell’s paradox</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre">Sartre, Jean-Paul</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholasticism">scholasticism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Reliance"><em>Self-Reliance</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics">semantics</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics">semiotics</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine_qua_non"><em>sine qua non</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates">Socrates</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophist">sophist</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_act">speech-act theory</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza">Spinoza, Baruch</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism">stoicism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjectivism">subjectivism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntax">syntax</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_rasa"><em>tabula rasa</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleological_argument">teleological argument</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theocracy">theocracy</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomism">Thomism</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau">Thoreau, Henry David</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism">totalitarianism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubstantiation">transubstantiation</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test">Turing Test</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_universals">universals</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinction">use / mention</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism">utilitarianism</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia">utopia</a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verstehen"><em>Verstehen</em></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_reasoning">vicious circle</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire">Voltaire</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltanschauung"><em>Weltanschauung</em></a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein">Wittgenstein, Ludwig</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes">Zeno’s paradox</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist">Zeitgeist</a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill%27s_methods"><span class="level-two">Mill’s methods</span></a> | +| <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow%27s_impossibility_theorem"><span class="level-two">Arrow’s theorem</span></a> | <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma"><span class="level-two">Prisoner’s dilemma</span></a> | | | ## III. Famous, Short Quotations from the History of Philosophy -> “It is not possible to step into the same river twice.” — Heraclitus -> “Nature loves to hide.” — Heraclitus -> “If cattle, horses, or lions had hands, they would draw the forms of gods like cattle, horses, or lions.” — Xenophanes -> “Man is the measure of all things.” — Protagoras -> “Know yourself!” — Delphic maxim (via Socrates) -> “The unexamined life is not worth living.” — Socrates -> “No one does wrong intentionally.” — Socrates -> “Philosophy begins in wonder.” — Plato -> “The true lover of knowledge … soars with undimmed passion until he grasps the essential nature of things.” — Plato -> “I am human; I think of nothing human as foreign to me.” — Terence -> “So the good has been explained as that at which all things aim.” — Aristotle -> “Man is by definition a rational animal.” — Aristotle (echoed by Aquinas) -> “Man is by nature a political animal.” — Aristotle -> “The human good turns out to be the activity of the soul in conformity with excellence.” — Aristotle -> “Plato is dear to me, but the truth is dearer still.” — attributed to Aristotle -> “There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it.” — Cicero -> “I do not seek to understand so that I may believe; I believe so that I may understand.” — Anselm -> “God is that than which no greater can be thought.” — Anselm -> “It is necessary to assume something … and this all men call God.” — Thomas Aquinas -> “Since we cannot know what God is, but only what He is not…” — Thomas Aquinas -> “Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.” — William of Ockham (attributed) -> “Man is quite insane. He wouldn’t know how to create a maggot, and he creates gods by the dozen.” — Montaigne -> “I think, therefore I am.” — René Descartes -> “Common sense is the best-distributed commodity in the world.” — René Descartes -> “… the life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” — Thomas Hobbes -> “No man’s knowledge can go beyond his experience.” — John Locke -> “To be is to be perceived.” — George Berkeley -> “I refute it thus.” — Samuel Johnson (as recorded by Boswell) -> “’Tis not, therefore, reason, which is the guide of life, but custom.” — David Hume -> “Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.” — David Hume -> “Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau -> “I have no need of that hypothesis.” — Pierre-Simon Laplace (about God) -> “Two things fill the mind with ever new awe: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.” — Immanuel Kant -> “Thoughts without content are empty; intuitions without concepts are blind.” — Immanuel Kant -> “Act only on that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” — Immanuel Kant -> “The greatest happiness for the greatest number.” — Bentham / Mill -> “It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.” — John Stuart Mill -> “What experience and history teach is that people never learn anything from history.” — Georg Hegel -> “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson -> “One is what one eats.” — Ludwig Feuerbach -> “Religion is the opiate of the people.” — Karl Marx -> “The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it.” — Karl Marx -> “That government is best which governs least.” — Henry David Thoreau -> “What then is truth? A mobile army of metaphors.” — Friedrich Nietzsche -> “There are no facts, only interpretations.” — Friedrich Nietzsche -> “Every word is a prejudice.” — Friedrich Nietzsche -> “Consider what effects we conceive the object of our conception to have—that is the whole of our conception of the object.” — C.S. Peirce -> “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” — Lord Acton -> “Contrariwise … that’s logic.” — Lewis Carroll -> “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean.” — Lewis Carroll -> “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — George Santayana (attributed) -> “All of philosophy is but a footnote to Plato.” — Alfred North Whitehead (attributed) -> “The Nothing nothings.” — Martin Heidegger -> “Language is the house of Being.” — Martin Heidegger -> “All metaphysics … speaks the language of Plato.” — Martin Heidegger -> “Insofar as the statements of geometry speak about reality, they are not certain…” — Albert Einstein (paraphrasing Kant) -> “… man is condemned to be free.” — Jean-Paul Sartre -> “Hell is other people.” — Jean-Paul Sartre -> “First comes the grub, then comes morality.” — Bertolt Brecht -> “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein -> “Every sign by itself seems dead; in use it is alive.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein -> “… philosophical problems arise when language goes on holiday.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein -> “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” — Noam Chomsky -> “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” — Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) -> “What is there? Everything.” — W.V.O. Quine -> “To be is to be the value of a bound variable.” — W.V.O. Quine +> “It is not possible to step into the same river twice.” — [Heraclitus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus) +> “Nature loves to hide.” — [Heraclitus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus) +> “If cattle, horses, or lions had hands, they would draw the forms of gods like cattle, horses, or lions.” — [Xenophanes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophanes) +> “Man is the measure of all things.” — [Protagoras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagoras) +> “Know yourself!” — [Delphic maxim (via Socrates)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphic_maxims) +> “The unexamined life is not worth living.” — [Socrates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates) +> “No one does wrong intentionally.” — [Socrates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates) +> “Philosophy begins in wonder.” — [Plato](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato) +> “The true lover of knowledge … soars with undimmed passion until he grasps the essential nature of things.” — [Plato](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato) +> “I am human; I think of nothing human as foreign to me.” — [Terence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence) +> “So the good has been explained as that at which all things aim.” — [Aristotle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle) +> “Man is by definition a rational animal.” — [Aristotle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle) (echoed by [Thomas Aquinas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas)) +> “Man is by nature a political animal.” — [Aristotle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle) +> “The human good turns out to be the activity of the soul in conformity with excellence.” — [Aristotle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle) +> “Plato is dear to me, but the truth is dearer still.” — attributed to [Aristotle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle) +> “There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it.” — [Cicero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero) +> “I do not seek to understand so that I may believe; I believe so that I may understand.” — [Anselm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anselm_of_Canterbury) +> “God is that than which no greater can be thought.” — [Anselm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anselm_of_Canterbury) +> “It is necessary to assume something … and this all men call God.” — [Thomas Aquinas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas) +> “Since we cannot know what God is, but only what He is not…” — [Thomas Aquinas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas) +> “Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.” — [William of Ockham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Ockham) (attributed) +> “Man is quite insane. He wouldn’t know how to create a maggot, and he creates gods by the dozen.” — [Montaigne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne) +> “I think, therefore I am.” — [René Descartes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes) +> “Common sense is the best-distributed commodity in the world.” — [René Descartes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes) +> “… the life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” — [Thomas Hobbes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes) +> “No man’s knowledge can go beyond his experience.” — [John Locke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke) +> “To be is to be perceived.” — [George Berkeley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley) +> “I refute it thus.” — [Samuel Johnson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson) (as recorded by [James Boswell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Boswell)) +> “’Tis not, therefore, reason, which is the guide of life, but custom.” — [David Hume](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume) +> “Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.” — [David Hume](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume) +> “Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” — [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau) +> “I have no need of that hypothesis.” — [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Simon_Laplace) (about God) +> “Two things fill the mind with ever new awe: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.” — [Immanuel Kant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant) +> “Thoughts without content are empty; intuitions without concepts are blind.” — [Immanuel Kant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant) +> “Act only on that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” — [Immanuel Kant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant) +> “The greatest happiness for the greatest number.” — [Jeremy Bentham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham) / [John Stuart Mill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill) +> “It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.” — [John Stuart Mill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill) +> “What experience and history teach is that people never learn anything from history.” — [Georg Hegel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel) +> “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” — [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson) +> “One is what one eats.” — [Ludwig Feuerbach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Feuerbach) +> “Religion is the opiate of the people.” — [Karl Marx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx) +> “The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it.” — [Karl Marx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx) +> “That government is best which governs least.” — [Henry David Thoreau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau) +> “What then is truth? A mobile army of metaphors.” — [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche) +> “There are no facts, only interpretations.” — [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche) +> “Every word is a prejudice.” — [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche) +> “Consider what effects we conceive the object of our conception to have—that is the whole of our conception of the object.” — [Charles Sanders Peirce](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sanders_Peirce) +> “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” — [Lord Acton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dalberg-Acton,_1st_Baron_Acton) +> “Contrariwise … that’s logic.” — [Lewis Carroll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll) +> “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean.” — [Lewis Carroll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll) +> “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — [George Santayana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Santayana) (attributed) +> “All of philosophy is but a footnote to Plato.” — [Alfred North Whitehead](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_North_Whitehead) (attributed) +> “The Nothing nothings.” — [Martin Heidegger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger) +> “Language is the house of Being.” — [Martin Heidegger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger) +> “All metaphysics … speaks the language of Plato.” — [Martin Heidegger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger) +> “Insofar as the statements of geometry speak about reality, they are not certain…” — [Albert Einstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein) (paraphrasing [Immanuel Kant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant)) +> “… man is condemned to be free.” — [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre) +> “Hell is other people.” — [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre) +> “First comes the grub, then comes morality.” — [Bertolt Brecht](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht) +> “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” — [Ludwig Wittgenstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein) +> “Every sign by itself seems dead; in use it is alive.” — [Ludwig Wittgenstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein) +> “… philosophical problems arise when language goes on holiday.” — [Ludwig Wittgenstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein) +> “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” — [Noam Chomsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky) +> “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” — [Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights) +> “What is there? Everything.” — [W.V.O. Quine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Van_Orman_Quine) +> “To be is to be the value of a bound variable.” — [W.V.O. Quine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Van_Orman_Quine) ## IV. A Note on the Very Idea of a Philosophical Canon