Philosophy Reading List
These texts are required prepratory reading for Philosophy PhD comprehensive exams.
| Parmenides | On Nature |
| Plato | Republic Apology Crito Phaedo Symposium Theaetetus |
| Aristotle | Categories Posterior Analytics I.1鈥�6, 18, 33鈥�4; II.1鈥�2, 8鈥�11, 19 Physics I鈥揑II.3 On the Soul Metaphysics I鈥揑X, XII Nicomachean Ethics |
| Epictetus | Discourses I鈥揑I |
| Plotinus | Enneads (selection by A. H. Armstrong, 1953) |
| Augustine | Confessions City of God VIII and XIX |
| Pseudo-Dionysius | Mystical Theology The Divine Names |
| Anselm | Monologion Proslogion |
| Avicenna | The Metaphysics of 鈥淭he Healing鈥� (trans. M. Marmura), I.1鈥�7, V, VIII.3鈥�7 |
| 础惫别谤谤辞毛蝉 | The Incoherence of the Incoherence (trans. S. Van Den Bergh), 4th, 5th, and 13th Discussions |
| Maimonides | Guide of the Perplexed, Introduction to First Part, I.50鈥揑I.31, III.8鈥�24 |
| Bonaventure |
The Itinerary of the Mind into God |
| Aquinas | Summa theologiae I.1鈥�13, 75鈥�89, I鈥揑I.1鈥�5, 90鈥�97 De ente et essentia |
| Duns Scotus | Ordinatio I, dist. 2, qu. 1; I, dist. 3, qu. 1; II, dist. 3, part 1, qu. 1鈥�6 |
| William of Ockham | Ordinatio I, dist. 2, qu. 4鈥�8 Questions on the Physics I, qu. 132鈥�36, and Quodlibet I, qu. 1 |
| Descartes | Meditations on First Philosophy Discourse on Method |
| Leibniz | Discourse on Metaphysics Monadology |
| Locke | Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Intro.; Bk. 1, ch. 1; Bk. 2, ch. 1鈥�13, 19鈥�27, 31鈥�33; Bk. 3, ch. 1鈥�3; Bk. 4, ch. 1鈥�4, 9鈥�11, 18鈥�19) |
| Hume | An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion |
| Rousseau | First Discourse: Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts |
| Kant | Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Critique of Pure Reason |
| Hegel | Philosophy of Spirit (Part 3 of the Encyclopedia of Philosophic Sciences) |
| Kierkegaard | Fear and Trembling Concluding Unscientific Postscript |
| Mill | Utilitarianism On Liberty The Subjection of Women |
| Nietzsche | Genealogy of Morals Thus Spake Zarathustra |
| Bergson | An Introduction to Metaphysics |
| Husserl | Ideas I, section 2: 鈥淭he Fundamental Phenomenological Outlook鈥� 鈥淧hilosophy and the Crisis of European Humanity鈥� (Vienna Lecture, in the appendix to Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology) |
| Wittgenstein | Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Philosophical Investigations |
| Heidegger | Being and Time 鈥淲hat is Metaphysics?鈥� 鈥淭he End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking鈥� |
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