Francis Bacon 1561–1626
Albert Camus 1913–1960
Thomas Hobbes 1588–1679
Immanuel Kant 1724–1804
John Stuart Mill 1806–1873
David Hume 1711–1776
Friedrich Nietzsche 1844–1900
John Locke 1632–1704
Jean-Paul Sartre 1905–1980
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712–1778
Martin Heidegger 1889–1976
Søren Kierkegaard 1813–1855
Gottfried Leibniz 1646–1716
Simone de Beauvoir 1908–1986
René Descartes 1596–1650
William James 1842–1910
Georg W F Hegel 1770–1831
Karl Marx 1818–1883
Augustine 354–430
Aristotle 384–322BC
Arthur Schopenhauer 1788–1860
George Berkeley 1685–1753
Alan Turing 1912–1954
Thomas Aquinas 1225–1274
Bertrand Russell 1872–1970
Jeremy Bentham 1748–1832
Hannah Arendt 1906–1975
Plato c.427–347BC
Baruch Spinoza 1632–1677
Ludwig Wittgenstein 1889–1951
A history of western philosophy
Download the presentation slides
Reading
- Critchley, Simon. The Book of Dead Philosophers. Granta, 2009
- Garvey, James. The Twenty Greatest Philosophy Books. Bloomsbury, 2013
- Garvey, James and Stangroom, Jeremy. The Story of Philosophy. Quercus, 2012
- Kenny, Anthony. A New History of Western Philosophy. OUP, 2010
- Magee, Bryan. Confessions of a Philosopher. Phoenix, 1997
- Russell, Bertrand. History of Western Philosophy. Routledge, 2004
- Southwell, Gareth. Words of Wisdom. Quercus, 2010
- Tarnas, Richard. The Passion of the Western Mind. Pimlico, 1996
- Warburton, Nigel. A Little History of Philosophy. Yale, 2011
Online
- History of Western Philosophy
- History of Philosophy without any Gaps
- Philosophy Bites
- Introduction to Philosophy in podcasts
- History of Philosophy an infographic
1. Thales — the birth of philosophy
Texts
- The First Philosophers. Oxford World’s Classics, 2009
Reading
- Osborne, Catherine. Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. OUP, 2004
Online
- The Presocratics
- Presocratic Philosophy: Stanford Encyclopedia
- History of Philosophy: Presocratic philosophy podcast series 1-14
2. Aristotle — the ancient mind
Texts
- Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. Penguin Classics, 2004
- Aristotle. The Politics. Penguin Classics, 2000
- Aristotle. Poetics. Penguin Classics, 1996
Reading
- Barnes, Jonathan. Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction. OUP, 2000
Online
- Plato and Aristotle
- Aristotle: Stanford Encyclopedia
- History of Philosophy: Aristotle podcast series 34-51
- Aristotle: The Square of Opposition YouTube animation on logic
3. Augustine — decline and fall
Texts
- Augustine. The City of God. Penguin Classics, 2003
- Augustine. The Confessions. Penguin Classics, 2002
Online
- The fall of Rome
- Augustine: Stanford Encyclopedia
- Neoplatonism: Stanford Encyclopedia
- History of Philosophy: Augustine podcast series 110-116
4. Aquinas — the medieval mind
Download the Abelard and Héloise handout
Texts
- The Letters of Abelard and Heloise. Penguin Classics, 2003
- Aquinas. Summa Theologica online edition
Online
- The Dark Ages and The Thirteenth Century
- Peter Abelard: Stanford Encyclopedia
- Thomas Aquinas: Stanford Encyclopedia
- History of Philosophy: The Rise of the Universities
- In Our Time: Abelard and Heloise
- History of Philosophy: Thomas Aquinas podcast series 243-248
- Philosophy Bites: Anthony Kenny on Aquinas’ Ethics
5. Spinoza — rationalism
Download the Rationalism handout
Texts
- Descartes, Rene. The Meditations. Cambridge, 1996
- Spinoza, Benedict de. The Ethics. Penguin Classics, 1996
- Spinoza, Benedict de. Theological-Political Treatise. Cambridge, 2007
Reading
- Cottingham, John. The Rationalists. OUP, 1988
- Goldstein, Rebecca. Betraying Spinoza. Schocken, 2009
- Scruton, Roger. Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction. OUP, 2002
- Stewart, Matthew. The Courtier and the Heretic. Yale University Press, 2005
Online
- Continental Rationalism: Stanford Encyclopedia
- Baruch Spinoza: Stanford Encyclopedia
- In Our Time: Spinoza
- Philosophy Bites: Susan James on Spinoza on the Passions
6. Hume — empiricism
Download the Empiricism handout
Texts
- Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Penguin Classics, 1997
- Berkeley, George. Principles of Human Knowledge. Penguin Classics, 1998
- Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Oxford, 2008
- Hume, David. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Oxford, 2008
Reading
- Edmonds, David and Eidinow, John. Rousseau’s Dog. Faber & Faber, 2006
- Woolhouse, R S. The Empiricists. OUP, 1988
Online
- David Hume: Stanford Encyclopedia
- Philosophy Bites: Peter Millican on Hume’s Significance
- In Our Time: Empiricism
7. Kant — the modern mind
Texts
- Kant, Immanuel. Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics. Cambridge, 2004
Reading
- Magee, Bryan. Confessions of a Philosopher, chapter 9. Phoenix, 1997
- Scruton, Roger. Kant: A Very Short Introduction. OUP, 2001
Online
- Immanuel Kant: Stanford Encyclopedia
- Kant and Hume on Causality: Stanford Encyclopedia
- Philosophy Bites: Adrian Moore on Kant’s Metaphysics
8. Nietzsche — the postmodern mind
Download the Nietzsche handout
Texts
- Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Gay Science. Cambridge, 2001
- Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morality. Cambridge, 2011
- Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Cambridge, 2011
- Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish. Penguin, 1991
Reading
- Danto, Arthur C. Nietzsche as Philosopher. Columbia, 2005
- Gutting, Gary. Foucault: A Very Short Introduction. OUP, 2005
- Kaufman, Walter. Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist. Princeton, 1974
- Safranski, Rüdiger. Nietzsche. Norton, 2002
Online
- Friedrich Nietzsche: Stanford Encyclopedia
- Philosophy Bites: Brian Leiter on Nietzsche Myths
- Philosophy Bites: Christopher Janaway on Nietzsche on Morality
- In Our Time: Nihilism
9. Wittgenstein — the linguistic turn
Download the Wittgenstein handout
Texts
- Russell, Bertrand. On Denoting. online text
- Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Routledge, 2001
- Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations. Blackwell, 1973
Reading
- Monk, Ray. Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius. Vintage, 1991