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Recommendations based on The Symposiumby Plato
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The Republic
by Plato
A philosophical discourse on justice, examining morality, politics, and virtue.
Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, this classic text is an enquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. ... (Goodreads)
Phaedo
by Plato
Philosophical dialogue on the nature of death, the immortality of the soul, and the afterlife.
The Phaedo is acknowledged to be one of Plato's masterpieces, showing him both as a philosopher and as a dramatist at the height of his powers. For its moving account of the execution of Socrates, ... (Goodreads)
The Nicomachean Ethics
by Aristotle
An exploration of virtue and morality, providing guidance on how to live a good life.
‘One swallow does not make a summer; neither does one day. Similarly neither can one day, or a brief space of time, make a man blessed and happy’ In the Nicomachean Ethics , Aristotle sets out to ... (Goodreads)
The Prince
by Niccolò Machiavelli
A timeless political treatise on the art of acquiring and maintaining power.
Machiavelli needs to be looked at as he really was. Hence: Can Machiavelli, who makes the following observations, be Machiavellian as we understand the disparaging term? 1. So it is that to know the ... (Goodreads)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
by Friedrich Nietzsche
A philosophical treatise exploring morality, religion, and the meaning of life.
Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius
Reflections on Stoic philosophy, exploring the nature of existence and how to live life.
Written in Greek by the only Roman emperor who was also a philosopher, without any intention of publication, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius offer a remarkable series of challenging spiritual ... (Goodreads)
Politics
by Aristotle
Analysis of the structure and nature of governments and the pursuit of justice.
What is the relationship of the individual to the state? What is the ideal state, and how can it bring about the most desirable life for its citizens? What sort of education should it provide? What ... (Goodreads)
Philosophical Investigations
by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Wittgenstein's exploration of language and meaning, challenging traditional philosophical concepts and proposing new ways of understanding language games.
Philosophical Investigations, ( German : Philosophische Untersuchungen ) is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein . The book was published posthumously in 1953. Wittgenstein discusses ... (Wikipedia)
Fear and Trembling
by Søren Kierkegaard
Philosophical essay exploring the importance of faith, and the human struggle for faith.
Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, and religious author interested in human psychology. He is regarded as a leading pioneer of existentialism and one of the greatest philosophers ... (Goodreads)
The Birth of Tragedy
by Friedrich Nietzsche
A philosophical exploration of the nature of tragedy, and its role in the development of culture & civilization.
A compelling argument for the necessity for art in life, Nietzsche's first book is fuelled by his enthusiasms for Greek tragedy, for the philosophy of Schopenhauer and for the music of Wagner, to ... (Goodreads)
The Art of War
by Sun Tzu
Ancient Chinese military treatise outlining strategies for success in battle.
Twenty-Five Hundred years ago, Sun Tzu wrote this classic book of military strategy based on Chinese warfare and military thought. Since that time, all levels of military have used the teaching on ... (Goodreads)
Being and Time
by Martin Heidegger
Exploration of the basic questions of existence, re-examining the fundamentals of philosophy.
One of the most important philosophical works of our time, a work that has had tremendous influence on philosophy, literature, and psychology, and has literally changed the intellectual map of the ... (Goodreads)
The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction
by Michel Foucault
Examination of the power dynamics and social constructions of sexual behavior.
Michel Foucault offers an iconoclastic exploration of why we feel compelled to continually analyze and discuss sex, and of the social and mental mechanisms of power that cause us to direct the ... (Goodreads)
Letters to a Young Poet
by Rainer Maria Rilke
Uplifting and inspiring words of wisdom, encouraging a young poet to find his own artistic voice.
In 1903, a student at a military academy sent some of his verses to a well-known Austrian poet, requesting an assessment of their value. The older artist, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), replied to ... (Goodreads)
Poetics
by Aristotle
A philosophical treatise on the nature of tragedy and its effects on audiences.
‘The plot is the source and the soul of tragedy’ In his near-contemporary account of Greek tragedy, Aristotle examines the dramatic elements of plot, character, language and spectacle that combine to ... (Goodreads)
The Communist Manifesto
by Karl Marx
A treatise on the fundamental principles of communism, and its role in society.
A rousing call to arms whose influence is still felt today Originally published on the eve of the 1848 European revolutions, The Communist Manifesto is a condensed and incisive account of the ... (Goodreads)
Leviathan
by Thomas Hobbes
Philosophical exploration of the nature of power and justice in a state of nature.
'The life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short' Written during the chaos of the English Civil War, Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan asks how, in a world of violence and horror, can we stop ... (Goodreads)
Beyond Good and Evil
by Friedrich Nietzsche
A philosophical exploration of morality and truth, challenging conventional morality and religious beliefs.
Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil is translated from the German by R.J. Hollingdale with an introduction by Michael Tanner in Penguin Classics. Beyond Good and Evil confirmed Nietzsche's ... (Goodreads)
Confessions
by Augustine of Hippo
A spiritual autobiography tracing Augustine's journey from youthful excess to Christian faith.
Augustine's Confessions is one of the most influential and most innovative works of Latin literature. Written in the author's early forties in the last years of the fourth century A.D. and during his ... (Goodreads)
The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness and Effectiveness
by Epictetus
A philosophy of life, emphasizing the cultivation of inner freedom, strength, and virtue.
Epictetus was born into slavery about 55 C.E. in the eastern outreaches of the Roman Empire. Sold as a child and crippled from the beatings of his master, Epictetus was eventually freed, rising from ... (Goodreads)
Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison
by Michel Foucault
Examines the emergence of the modern prison system and its effects on society.
Librarian note: an alternate cover for this edition can be found, here,. Barely two hundred and fifty years ago a man condemned of attempting to assassinate the King of France was drawn and quartered ... (Goodreads)
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
by David Hume
Analysis of the nature of human understanding, challenging existing philosophical and religious beliefs.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, is a book by the Scottish empiricist philosopher David Hume , published in English in 1748. , It was a revision of an earlier effort, Hume's A Treatise of ... (Wikipedia)
Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
An exploration of the origins of inequality between humans, and its effects on society.
If humans are benevolent by nature, how do societies become corrupt? And how do governments founded upon the defense of individual rights degenerate into tyranny? These are the questions addressed by ... (Goodreads)
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
by Ludwig Wittgenstein
A philosophical treatise on language, logic, and the limits of human understanding.
Perhaps the most important work of philosophy written in the twentieth century, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was the only philosophical work that Ludwig Wittgenstein published during his life. ... (Goodreads)
Second Treatise of Government
by John Locke
A philosophical inquiry into the nature of government and the rights of citizens.
The central principles of what today is broadly known as political liberalism were made current in large part by Locke's Second Treatise of Government (1690). The principles of individual liberty, ... (Goodreads)
Meditations on First Philosophy
by René Descartes
Reflection on the nature of reality and human knowledge.
Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy , the fundamental and originating work of the modern era in Western philosophy, is presented here in Donald Cress's completely revised edition of his ... (Goodreads)
The Histories
by Herodotus
Exploration into the rise and fall of empires in the ancient world.
One of the masterpieces of classical literature, the "Histories" describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. But while this epic ... (Goodreads)
The Myth of Sisyphus
by Albert Camus
An essay on understanding the absurdity of life, and realizing there is meaning in even the most mundane tasks.
Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves—and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, ... (Goodreads)
Letters from a Stoic
by Seneca
A collection of Stoic philosophies and advice on living a meaningful life.
The power and wealth which Seneca the Younger (c.4 B.C. - A.D. 65) acquired as Nero's minister were in conflict with his Stoic beliefs. Nevertheless he was the outstanding figure of his age. The ... (Goodreads)
