The Greatest Books of All Time on Ethics

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
221 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000 British English
255 Disgrace J. M. Coetzee 1999 South African English
374 Ethics Baruch de Spinoza 1677 Dutch Latin
388 The Complete Works of Plato Plato -387 Greek Ancient greek
402 The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle -334 Greek Ancient greek
459 The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells 1896 British English
621 Analects Confucius -479 Chinese Classical chinese
653 Summa Theologica Thomas Aquinas 1274 Italian Latin
711 Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes 1959 American English
762 Ballet Shoes Noel Streatfeild 1936 British English
788 Roots Alex Haley 1976 American English
805 Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers 1935 British English
822 I, Robot Isaac Asimov 1950 American English
911 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Max Weber 1905 German German
939 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
958 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 1975 Italian Italian
1011 Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis 1952 British English
1054 Letters from a Stoic Seneca 64 Roman Latin
1082 The Abolition of Man C. S. Lewis 1943 British English
1156 Apology Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
1192 The Politics Aristotle -350 Greek Ancient greek
1295 Phenomenology of Mind G. W. F. Hegel 1807 German German
1323 A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller 1960 American English
1447 Minima Moralia Theodor Adorno 1951 German German
1449 Corpus Aristotelicum Aristotle -322 Greek Greek
1502 The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born Ayi K. Armah 1968 Ghanaian English
1526 A History of Western Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1945 British English
1531 Jurassic Park Michael Crichton 1990 American English
1573 The Story Of My Experiments With Truth Mahatma Gandhi 1927 Indian Gujarati
1577 Deep Rivers José María Arguedas 1958 Peruvian Spanish
1604 Phineas Finn Anthony Trollope 1869 British English
1632 The Roots of Heaven Romain Gary 1956 French French
1647 Phaedo Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
1656 Arrowsmith Sinclair Lewis 1925 American English
1666 Zami Audre Lorde 1982 American English
1750 The Making of the Atomic Bomb Richard Rhodes 1986 American English
1763 Small Is Beautiful E. F. Schumacher 1973 British English
1817 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot 2010 American English
1907 Consider The Lobster David Foster Wallace 2005 American English
1960 The Provincial Letters Blaise Pascal 1656 French French
2023 Elizabeth Costello J. M. Coetzee 2003 South African English
2116 Stories of Mr. Keuner Bertolt Brecht 1926 German German
2188 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
2187 No One Writes to the Colonel Gabriel García Márquez 1961 Colombian Spanish
2196 That Hideous Strength C. S. Lewis 1945 British English
2230 The Cathedral Folk Nikolai Leskov 1872 Russian Russian
2420 Natural Right and History Leo Strauss 1953 American English
2422 Galileo Bertolt Brecht 1938 German German
2429 The Physicists Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1962 Swiss German
2473 On Obligations Marcus Tullius Cicero -44 Roman Latin
2482 The Cider House Rules John Irving 1985 American English
2483 The Firm John Grisham 1991 American English
2518 The American Way of Death Jessica Mitford 1963 American English
2600 Out Of The Silent Planet C. S. Lewis 1938 British English
2602 Regarding the Pain of Others Susan Sontag 2003 American English
2615 The Rise Of Silas Lapham William Dean Howells 1885 American English
2642 Perpetual Peace Immanuel Kant 1795 German German
2711 Reasons And Persons Derek Parfit 1984 British English
2809 Roadside Picnic Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky 1972 Russian Russian
2920 Discourses Of Epictetus Epictetus -108 Greek Greek
2956 The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai 2006 Indian English
3057 Advise and Consent Allen Drury 1959 American English
3081 Under the Skin Michel Faber 2000 British English
3109 The Warden Anthony Trollope 1855 British English
3115 Principia Ethica George Edward Moore 1903 British English
3129 Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood 2003 Canadian English
3210 Homo Deus Yuval Noah Harari 2015 Israeli Hebrew
3308 Camp Concentration Thomas M. Disch 1968 American English
3409 The Glass Bees Ernst Jünger 1957 German German
3454 Profiles in Courage John F. Kennedy 1956 American English
3495 Eating Animals Jonathan Safran Foer 2009 American English
3500 Reflections of a Russian Statesman Konstantin P. Pobedonostsev 1898 Russian Russian
3508 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3512 Scrutiny F. R. Leavis 1932 British English
3523 Bad Blood John Carreyrou 2018 American English
3524 The Good Society Walter Lippmann 1937 American English
3638 The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens Lincoln Steffens 1931 American English
3638 Why I Am Not a Christian Bertrand Russell 1927 British English
3638 Religio Medici Sir Thomas Browne 1643 British English
3638 Der Großtyrann Und Das Gericht Werner Bergengruen 1935 German German
3638 Doctors Of Infamy Unknown 1947 Unknown English
3638 Out Of My Life And Thought Albert Schweitzer 1931 German German
3813 Reflections On Violence Georges Sorel 1908 French French
3834 The Obsolescence Of Man Günther Anders 1956 German German
3834 The Doctor Of Stalingrad Heinz G. Konsalik 1956 German German
3870 Walden Two B. F. Skinner 1948 American English
4079 The Life Of Jesus Ernest Renan 1863 French French
4083 The Day of the Dolphin Robert Merle 1967 French French
4123 Either Or Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish
4420 The Voysey Inheritance Harley Granville Barker 1905 British English
4497 The Unsettling of America Wendell Berry 1977 American English
4533 Mend The Living Maylis de Kerangal 2014 French French
4538 Stiff Mary Roach 2003 American English
4751 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English
4795 The Good Person of Szechwan Bertolt Brecht 1943 German German
4851 Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, And Wear Cows Melanie Joy 2010 American English
4899 The Theory Of Moral Sentiments Adam Smith 1759 Scottish English
4976 God In Search Of Man Abraham Joshua Heschel 1955 American English
5004 In A Different Voice Carol Gilligan 1982 American English
5121 Creation Gore Vidal 1981 American English
5343 White Girls Hilton Als 2013 American English
5361 To Have Or To Be? The Nature Of The Psyche Erich Fromm 1976 German English
5391 New Atlantis Francis Bacon 1627 British English
5498 After the Flood P. C. Jersild 1982 Swedish Swedish
5581 Professor Martens' Departure Jaan Kross 1984 Estonian Estonian
5605 The Imperative Of Responsibility Hans Jonas 1979 German German
5609 The Righteous Mind Jonathan Haidt 2012 American English
5650 The Unfortunate Experiment Sandra Coney 1988 New Zealand English
5684 The Constant Gardener John le Carré 2001 British English
5804 Five Days at Memorial Sheri Fink 2013 American English
5810 The City Of The Sun Tommaso Campanella 1623 Italian Latin
5823 Moralia Plutarch -100 Greek Greek
5851 Major Barbara George Bernard Shaw 1905 British English
5936 Der Bedrohte Friede Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker 1982 German German
5977 The Boys From Brazil Ira Levin 1976 American English
5997 After Virtue Alasdair MacIntyre 1981 British English
6263 So Laßt Uns Denn Ein Apfelbäumchen Pflanzen Hoimar von Ditfurth 1985 German German
6329 Religion And The Rise Of Capitalism R. H. Tawney 1926 British English
6332 A Preface to Morals Walter Lippmann 1929 American English
6429 Ideas and Opinions Albert Einstein 1954 German English