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Top rated philosophy books on Reddit rank no. 5

List of must read Philosophy books?(r/philosophy)

This is such a broad question, and you’ll hate me for suggesting this, but I would recommend anthologies in each of the branches. Readings in Ethics, Metaphysics, etc. that are fairly recent will situate you into the debates in each particular branch of philosophy. From there, you can investigate the full original sources on your own and follow up on objections or qualifications.

For a good, one book read, I’d recommend Bertrand’s History

However, since you mentioned Plato’s Republic, I’d also recommend these books in the realm of political philosophy – they’re a bit of a tour de force, and form the basic outline of Western political thought:

• Aristotle’s Politics

• Hobbes’ The Leviathan

• Machiavelli’s The Prince

• Rossueau’s Social Contract

• an introductory text to Kant’s work in politics – I recommend the Yale Press “Rethinking The Western Tradition” series’ selections

• Mill’s On Liberty

• selections from Hegel with a particular attention to Phenomenology of Spirit and Philosophy of Right (Can’t recommend a particular anthology here, just the two works)

• selections from Marx – I recommend this anthology (just because it’s the one I have and I like it)

• Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals

• Arendt’s The Human Condition

• this Foucault anthology

• Rawl’s Theory of Justice

• Michael Ignatieff’s Empire Lite

In terms of metaphysics and ethics, I would highly recommend this Levinas anthology, but it helps to contextualize Levinas. Further, you can’t miss the classics such as Kant’s Groundwork and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

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