Are you a bibliophile? Well, if you are then hang on. You will discover the best 12 philosophy books that you must give it a spin. You couldn’t agree more that lockdown and this pandemic have definitely cultivated good reading habits in most of the people. People even preferred to kill time by reading philosophy books to maintain their mental health.
Well, when it comes to philosophy books there is a huge variety of literature to read. Philosophy books dwell into the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. The real question is out of so many genres, why should you pick philosophy as your genre.
Philosophy books hold prominent values of logic and reasoning and taking the time out to read the subject will sharpen your skills and hone your ability to reason.
You will start understanding and interpreting the assumptions behind the arguments and can figure out your own assumptions about a given situation when you start reading a philosophy book. In addition to this, you will be exposed to numerous points of view while reading a philosophy book which will be similar to a situation. Gradually, you will have the required knowledge and insight to make better deductions and inferences.
The deeper you dig; the more you will generate curiosity within every aspect of life. You will have the urge to question everything around you. Isn’t that intriguing and thought-provoking?
Can’t wait to jump in on how to go about it? Well, you need to select the right philosophy book for yourself to get the right values and insight. In the following section, you will know the 12 best philosophy books to read.
Everything You Need To Know About 12 Best Philosophy Books
1. A History Of Western Philosophy
This philosophy book is penned down by the author Bertrand Russell. This is a 1945 philosophy book and has globally plaudit as an incredible one-volume work on the subject. Readers are transfixed in its clarity, grace, flow, wisdom, and comprehensiveness.
Russell unearths the philosophy in seventy-six chapters from the evolution of Greek civilization to the emergence of logical analysis in the 20th century. This philosophy book was regarded as one of the books that won him the Nobel Prize for Literature.
2. Meditations
This is the second philosophy book that I would like to recommend to you. Meditations are broken into 12 philosophy books that narrate different phases of Marcus Aurelius’ life, who is the author of the philosophy book. Meditations are regarded as the most influential and renowned philosophy book.
3. Man’s Search for Meaning
This is a 1946 philosophy book by Viktor Frankl where he has articulated his experience as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The philosophy book sits in the tenth rank of the most influential books in the United States.
At the time of Viktor Frankl’s demise, this copy had made it to about 10 million sales with over 24 languages translation.
4. Essays
This philosophy book throws light on human nature and is written by Michel de Montaigne. The philosophy book is written in the Middle French language which spans over 3 books with 107 chapters of differing lengths.
The philosophy book was originally published in the Kingdom of France. The author elucidated himself without hesitation and with complete transparency. Well, it might be difficult for you to believe but the insights and values that he provided in his works were merely a by-product of his introspection.
The author believed in shades like the existence of absolute truth and yet such truth can be arrived through divine revelation.
5. Beyond Good And Evil
This philosophy book inculpates the past philosophers for missing out on the leading sense and blindly accepting imperious premises in their consideration of morality. To point out, the author specifically accuses them of bringing up grand metaphysical systems upon the belief that a good man is the opposite of an evil man.
Contradicting to it, the author, Friedrich Nietzsche gets into the realm of beyond good and evil with the view of getting over the traditional morals. No doubt, this philosophy book will give rise to constant conflicts in your head. So put your thinking hats on and find your way to get into the contradictions.
6. Being and Nothingness
Jean-Paul Sartre propounded one’s existence before one’s essence and pursued to demonstrate that free will exists. This philosophy book dates back to 1943 and is an essay on Phenomenological Ontology.
The philosophy book deals with topics like perception, social philosophy, the existence of nothingness, self-deception, the arguments on free will, and existentialism. You begin to question yourself once you get absorbed in this world.
A lot of readers have complimented the theme in the philosophy book and the book’s central notion of existence precedes essence. However, the book has been denounced for its obscurity and its treatment of Freud.
7. The Book Of Healing
This philosophy book is the first-ever translation of the 1000-year-old text on the pillars of modern science and biology. The author of the book is Avicenna where he divided the philosophy book into 4 parts that are logic, natural science, mathematics, and metaphysics.
The author also articulates an explanation on the mind, its existence, the mind-body relationship, sensation, and perception. He describes in his philosophy book that strong pessimistic thoughts can damage the vegetative functions of the body and can lead to the demise of an individual.
8. The Prince
This is another amazing yet simple philosophy book that I would like to suggest to you. This is a first modern philosophy book and to be more specific, its works deal with modern political philosophy where effectual truth is taken to be greater prominence than any abstract ideal.
The philosophy book is renowned for being in a direct argument with the dominant Catholic scholastic doctrines of the time. Although this is a 16th-century political treatise written by Italian theorist and diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli, the general base and theme of the subject is glory and survival as an end means to give rise to immoral means.
9. Analects
This philosophy book is one of the most popular and widely read books in China for the past 2000 years. Analects of Confucius consist of various collections of sayings and ideologies accredit to the Chinese philosopher Confucius.
Well, according to Han dynasty scholar Liu Xiang, there were two perspectives to Analects that existed in the very beginning, and that were the Lu version and the Qi version respectively.
The first version of this philosophy book composed around 20 chapters and the other one contained 20 chapters. To add on to this, his discussions on supernatural nature depict that while ghosts and spirits should be respected and it is best if they are kept at a distance. The pillars for human values should be based on moral philosophy, traditions, and natural love for others. It sounds fascinating, right? Well, go and check out this philosophy book right now!
10. The Art of War
This is one of the most influential philosophy books that you will ever read. This philosophy book was written between 1519 and 1520 and was published in the following year. The philosophy book consists of 13 chapters where each lesson describes warfare, relating to different tactics its implementation.
The author, Sun Tzu, made an impact for almost 1500 years where his work was leading in an anthology that would be formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080.
The subject revolves around Military art and if you love to understand and get an insight into different cultures this philosophy book could not be more perfect for you. Go on and grab a cup of coffee and get into literary art and philosophy books.
11. Tao Te Ching
This philosophy book is the basis of Taoism written by Laozi. This philosophy book is similar to Hindu Upanishads in elucidating the foundation of the Unity Principle showing that it is akin to Vedas and Upanishads.
You won’t believe when you will know that many artists, painters, calligraphers, and gardeners have used this philosophy book as their source of inspiration. The book’s influence is quite contagious and has successfully spread outside East Asia.
Tao Te Ching is amongst the most translated works in world literature. Well, are you one of those who always wanted to give it a spin to new things but could not get inspired? No worries, right? Now get your ball rolling and let your creative juices flow with this inspirational philosophy book.
12. Meditations on First Philosophy
Last, but not least is a philosophy book written by Rene Descartes. This philosophy book is composed of six meditations where the author rejects all the beliefs that are not certain and attempts to set up what can be known for sure.
The philosophy book was published in 1647 in the Latin language. The author described the meditations as if, he himself had meditated for six days and each meditation is referred to as yesterday. The philosophy book includes the presentation of the author’s metaphysical system in the most detailed manner.
His considerations have no bounds where one of them tells about the existence of God that has to be demonstrated philosophically. Descartes even mentioned the existence of God and the soul in the Discourse on Method.
This is definitely a good space for aesthetes. Diving into the questions of existence, morals, and values not only arises your curiosity but also makes you question every aspect of your life. Want to know more about books? Click here to find out more.
Now that you have a peculiar list of good reads and philosophy books, what are you waiting for? Go on try some philosophy books out depending upon your interests and cultivate your time with good reading habits.
Last Updated on by Saket Kumar