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References

You made it here and are now at a point where you can dive into what interests you. May these references serve you in the way that they have for me.

Note

The following content is from Jordan Haddad at Notre Dame Seminary.

Introduction

There are many general introductions to philosophy, and more come out every year. Things to consider when looking for an introduction or reference work in philosophy are:

  1. For what level reader is the book written? Is it written for high school, the general (non-student) reader, for college, for graduate students, or for professors? I will start the list with the easier, more basic texts and then suggest some higher level texts.

  2. What philosophical positions or biases does the book defend? This is important since many philosophers are atheistic and their books ignore material pertinent to your studies. Also, many introductions assume that contemporary debates are the best introduction to philosophy, and so they largely ignore the history of philosophy. I think this is a mistake for two reasons: first, contemporary debates tend to be pretty technical, and they also have assumptions that are often highly questionable to begin with, so the whole debate is not helpful for beginners. Second, on the other hand, the history of philosophy shows us true geniuses at work dealing with problems in a variety of ways, and these arguments have informed Western Civilization. Accordingly, the books I will suggest emphasize the history of philosophy and ignore much of the contemporary debate; moreover, if the books defend a specific position (though they usually will not), they will at least not be hostile to theism and the realist tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas.

Helpful Books/References

Basic Background

  • How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler

  • Socratic Logic by Dr Peter Kreeft

Why Philosophy is Necessary for Christians

  • Fides et Ratio by St John Paul II

  • Leisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper

Basic Introductions

  • Looking at Philosophy by Donald Palmer

  • Does the Center Hold? by Donald Palmer

  • Philosophy JM Bochenski, OP

  • Philosophy: An Introduction to the Art of Wondering by James Christian

General Histories

  • The Passion of the Western Mind by Richard Tarnas

  • Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing by Leszek Kolakowski

Traditional Realism (Aristotealian-Thomistic)

  • An Introduction to Philosophy by Daniel J Sullivan

  • An Introduction to Philosophy by Jacques Maritain

  • Ten Philosophical Mistakes by Mortimer J Adler

  • Six Great Ideas by Mortimer J Adler

Best History of Philosophy

  • A History of Philosophy by Frederick Copleston, SJ

Specific Periods/Topics

Ancient Philosophy

  • The Greek Philosophers by WKC Guthrie

  • An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy by AH Armstrong

  • What is Philosophy by Pierre Hadot

  • Aristotle: A Contemporary Appreciation by Henry B Veatch

Anthropology

  • The Difference of Man and the Difference it Makes by Mortimer Adler

  • Person and Being by Norris Clarke, SJ

  • The Philosophy of Human Nature by George Klubertanz, SJ

  • Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics by Patrick Lee and Robert P George

  • Philosophical Anthropology: An Introduction by Jose Lombo and Francesco Russo

  • The Person and the Common Good by Jacques Maritain

  • Let Us Make for Him a Helpmae Like to Himself in Untrammeled Approaches Tr by Bernard Doering

  • The Christian Idea of Man by Josef Pieper Tr by Dan Farrelly

  • Persons: The Difference between “Someone” and “Something” by Robert Spacemann Tr by Oliver O’Donovan

Medieval Philosophy

  • The Evolution of Medieval Though by David Knowles

  • A History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages by Etienne Gilson

  • The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy by Etienne Gilson

  • Scholasticism by Josef Pieper

  • Introduction to Medieval Philosophy by CJF Martin

Metaphysics

  • The Way Toward Wisdom: An Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Introduction to Metaphysics by Ashley Benedict, OP

  • The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics by Norris Clarke, SJ

  • Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction by Edward Feser

  • Being and Some Philosophers by Etienne Gilson

  • Existence and Existent Tr by Imelda Byrne

  • Authentic Metaphysics in an Age of Unreality by Leo Sweeney with William Carroll and John Furlong

Thomas Aquinas

  • The Silence of St. Thomas by Josef Pieper

  • Guide to Thomas Aquinas by Josef Pieper

  • The Thought of Thomas Aquinas by Brian Davies, OP

  • The Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas: A Sketch by Stephen Brock

  • The Dumb Ox by GK Chesterton

  • Nature and Creature: Thomas Aquinas’s Way of Thought by Jan Artsen

  • Aquinas by Frederick C Copleston, SJ

  • The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas by Etienne Gilson Tr by LK Shook

  • Living the Truth: The Truth of All Things and Reality and the Good by Josef Pieper

  • Saint Thomas Aquinas, vol 1 The Person and His Work by Jean-Pierre Torrell, OP Tr by Robert Royal

  • The Metaphysical Thought of Thomas Aquinas: From Finite Being to Uncreated Being by John F Wippel

Modern Thought

  • A History of Modern European Philosophy by James Collins

  • Philosophy in the Twentieth Century by AJ Ayer

  • Hermaneutics as Epistemology in The Blackwell Guide to Epistemology by Marold Westphal

Ethics

  • A Short History of Ethics by Alasdair MacIntyre

  • Ethica Thomistica by Ralph MacInerny

  • God And Natural Law by Fulvio Di Blasi

  • Moral Absolutes: Tradition, Revision, and Truth by John Finnis

  • Good and Evil Actions: A Journey through Saint Thomas Aquinas by Steven J Jensen

  • Knowing the Natural Law: Precepts, Inclinations, and Deriving Oughts Washington: Catholic University of American Press 2015

  • After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre

  • A Short History of Ethics New York: Touchstone 1966

  • The Four Cardinal Virtues by Josef Pieper

  • Real Ethics: Rethinking the Foundations of Morality by John M Rist

  • Rational Man: A Modern Interpretation of Aristotelian Ethics by Henry B Veatch

  • 50 Questions on Natural Law by Charles Rice

  • The Natural Law by AP D’Entreves

  • The Natural Law: A Study in Legal and Social History and Philosophy by Heinrich Rommen

Political Philosophy

  • Unsustainable Liberalism in First Things by Patrick J Daneen

  • The Political Thought of Thomas Aquinas by Thomas Gilby

  • The First Grace: Rediscovering the Natural Law in a Post-Christian World by Russell Hittinger

  • An Intellectual History of Liberalism by Pierre Manent Tr by Rebecca Balinski

  • Man and the State by Jacques Maritain

  • We Hold These Truths by John Courtney Murray, SJ

  • The State in Catholic Thought: A Treatise in Political Philosophy by Heinrich Rommen

  • Roman Catholic Political Philosophy by James Schall, SJ

  • Philosophy of Democratic Government by Yves R Simon

  • The New Science of Politics by Eric Voeglin

Philosophy of God

  • How to Prove There is a God by Mortimer Adler

  • At the Origins of Modern Atheism by Michael J Buckley, SJ

  • Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion by Brian Davies

  • Proofs of the Existence of God by Edward Feser

  • The Existence of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss by David Bentley Hart

  • Proofs of God: Classical Argument from Tertullian to Barth by Matthew Levering

  • Preambula Fidei: Thomism and the God of the Philosophers by Ralph McInerny

  • Belief and Faith by Josef Pieper Tr by Richard and Clara Winston

  • New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy by Robert Spitzer, SJ

Philosophy of Science

  • The Modeling of Nature by William Wallace

Epistemology

  • Methodical Realism by Etienne Gilson

  • What Distinguishes Human Understanding? by John Deeley

  • The Degrees of Knowledge by Jacques Maritain

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