Philosophy asks the biggest questions: how to live, what we can know, what is right. Reading philosophy, along with the religious and wisdom traditions of different cultures, shows how differently humans have answered them.
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Friendly introductions
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder. A novel in which a teenage girl receives mysterious lessons covering the history of Western philosophy.
A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton. Short chapters on major thinkers from Socrates onward.
The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant. A classic, readable survey of great Western philosophers.
Think by Simon Blackburn. An introduction to the main questions of philosophy rather than its history.
Ancient wisdom
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and the Stoic letters of Seneca: practical philosophy on handling adversity.
Plato’s Apology: Socrates’ defense at his trial, a short and moving entry point.
Tao Te Ching, attributed to Laozi. Short verses at the heart of Taoism, on simplicity and going with the flow of things.
The Analects of Confucius. Sayings on ethics, relationships and good government that shaped East Asian culture.
The Bhagavad Gita. A dialogue on duty and action within the Indian epic Mahabharata.
The Dhammapada. A collection of verses attributed to the Buddha.
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Modern thought
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. On finding meaning in an absurd world.
Existentialism Is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre. A short lecture explaining existentialism.
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir. A foundational work of feminist philosophy.
Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? by Michael Sandel. Moral philosophy through real dilemmas, based on his famous Harvard course.
Reading difficult texts
Read slowly, use a good translation with an introduction, and read short sections more than once. Secondary guides and podcasts can help, but return to the original text. Discussing ideas with others clarifies them; see reading as a social activity. For research on how people actually think and behave, read books on human behavior.
