Top Ten Philosophy Books

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Since we had the favorite philosophers thread and it uncovered few surprises, I figured I might introduce a thread to uncover some good oddities that often go overlooked as philosophy books. This thread is not intended to only be inclusive for academic philosophy books, but rather philosophy books in general. And it is not intended to be a list of books that are only included in the general canon of Western Philosophy.

Anyway, here's my list.

1. Tao te Ching - Lao-tzu
2. The Symposium - Plato
3. Essays and Poems - Ralph Waldo Emerson
4. The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are - Alan Watts
5. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig
6. Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Nietzsche
7. Revolt of the Masses - Jose Ortega y Gasset
8. Tragic Sense of Life - Miguel de Unamuno
9. Nature - Henry David Thoreau
10. Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins

Honorable Mention
The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker / The Art of Loving - Erich Fromm / Gulliver's Travels - Johnathan Swift / 1984 - George Orwell / Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman

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Type: Discussion • Score: 8 • Views: 13,974 • Replies: 8

@Theaetetus,

Theaetetus wrote:

10. Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins

A good buddy of mine (and an occasional member here) has recommended this to me time and time again. I think I'll eventually have to read it.

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The list of top ten favourite books seems to be a rehash of the favourite ten philosophers
1. Either/Or - Soren Kierkegaard
2. On Liberty - John Stuart Mill
3. The Death of Socrates - Plato
4. Nichomachean Ethics - Aristotle
5. The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
6. A Theory of Justice - John Rawls
7. Culture and Value - Ludwig Wittgenstein
8. The Sickness Unto Death - Soren Kierkegaard
9. Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes
10. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Thomas Kuhn

Honourable Mentions
11. Against Method - Paul Feyerabend
12. Conjectures and Refutations by Karl Popper,
13. Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics by Immanuel Kant,
14. Principia Ethica by George Edward Moore
15. After Virtue - Alasdair MacIntyre

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@Victor Eremita,

God, I haven't thought of this in years. For Plato, I'd have to say everything that revolves around the death of Socrates, from his trial to his actual demise. I'd also go with Leviathan. I read Wittgenstein,the Blue and Brown books, but I'll be damned if I remember anything about them any more so I think I'll leave 'em off.

Might add Will and Ariel Durant as that is an introduction for a lot of people.

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Omitting all of the recognised "major" philosophical works (e.g., Republic), and for the sake of suggesting books that might be of interest to Others:

1. Barzun, The Modern Researcher
2. Heidegger, What is Called Thinking?
3. Ortega y Gasset, What is Philosophy?
4. Bronowski/Mazlish, The Western Intellectual Tradition
5. Schultz/Luckmann, The Structures of the Life-World
6. Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism
7. Hazel Barnes, An Existentialist Ethics

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I would suggest "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist" by Geisler and Turek, but then I haven't read enough clear-cut philosophy literature to suggest others that would be applicable.

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@jespah,

jespah wrote:

God, I haven't thought of this in years. For Plato, I'd have to say everything that revolves around the death of Socrates, from his trial to his actual demise. I'd also go with Leviathan. I read Wittgenstein,the Blue and Brown books, but I'll be damned if I remember anything about them any more so I think I'll leave 'em off... Might add Will and Ariel Durant as that is an introduction for a lot of people.

By Will & Ariel Durant, I assume you mean their The Story of Philosophy? I enjoyed that very much and would also recommend their The Lessons of History, which most would probably label as an introduction to their philosophy of history rather than a book on philosophy itself, but it is a very good read and calls attention to many philosophical ideas along the way.

Can anyone recommend a book by Santayana?

--Bill

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@jgweed,

Better than What is Philosophy? by Ortega y Gasset is his Some Lessons in Metaphysics, based on his classroom lectures, showing his thinking process in action.

longknowledge

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@Theaetetus,

Tao Te Ching as #1? You sir just inspired me to read every book on your list. Thank you.

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