The Greatest Books of All Time on Philosophy

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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
1558 Marius the Epicurean Walter Pater 1885 British English
1572 Nature and Destiny of Man Reinhold Niebuhr 1941 American English
1574 Nightmare Abbey Thomas Love Peacock 1818 British English
1600 On the Edge of Reason Miroslav Krleža 1938 Croatian Croatian
1611 Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley 1921 British English
1647 Phaedo Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
1657 Essays and Aphorisms Arthur Schopenhauer 1851 German German
1660 The Waste Books Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1770 German German
1705 The Sea-Wolf Jack London 1904 American English
1706 The Principia Mathematica Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell 1910 British English
1721 Pragmatism William James 1907 American English
1733 Zen In The Art Of Archery Eugen Herrigel 1948 German German
1742 A Tale Of A Tub Jonathan Swift 1704 British English
1746 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion David Hume 1779 British English
1764 Tales Of The Hasidim Martin Buber 1949 German German
1782 The Wild Ass's Skin Honoré de Balzac 1831 French French
1794 My Past And Thoughts Alexander Herzen 1861 Russian Russian
1803 The Problems of Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1912 British English
1825 Studies In The History Of The Renaissance Walter Pater 1873 British English
1828 The Mysterious Stranger Mark Twain 1916 American English
1832 Paradiso José Lezama Lima 1966 Cuban Spanish
1835 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991 Norwegian Norwegian
1836 Grendel John Gardner 1971 American English
1854 The Courage to Be Paul Tillich 1952 German English
1870 The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters Gustave Flaubert 1921 French French
1871 Brief Lives John Aubrey 1898 British English
1872 To the Finland Station Edmund Wilson 1940 American English
1891 The Journal of Jules Renard Jules Renard 1887 French French
1905 The Road to Klockrike Harry Martinson 1948 Swedish Swedish
1924 Pages From The Goncourt Journal Edmond de Goncourt 1887 French French
1960 The Provincial Letters Blaise Pascal 1656 French French
1961 Demian Hermann Hesse 1919 German German
1963 The Quest Frederik van Eeden 1887 Dutch Dutch
1966 Truth And Method Hans-Georg Gadamer 1960 German German
1979 Furor and Mystery René Char 1948 French French
1991 All about H. Hatterr G. V. Desani 1948 Indian English
1992 Headlong Hall Thomas Love Peacock 1816 British English
2012 The Habit of Being Flannery O'Connor 1979 American English
2020 Journals André Gide 1948 French French
2023 Elizabeth Costello J. M. Coetzee 2003 South African English
2031 The Riddle Of The Universe Ernst Haeckel 1899 German German
2031 Introduction To Mathematical Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1919 British English
2031 Man In The Modern Age Karl Jaspers 1931 German German
2064 The Egghead Republic Arno Schmidt 1957 German German
2079 Rationalism in Politics Michael Oakeshott 1962 British English
2087 A German Officer in Occupied Paris Ernst Jünger 1949 German German
2116 Siebenkäs Jean Paul 1796 German German
2116 Stories of Mr. Keuner Bertolt Brecht 1926 German German
2132 The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick 1962 American English
2147 Aniara Harry Martinson 1956 Swedish Swedish
2148 Tractatus Theologico Politicus Baruch de Spinoza 1670 Dutch Latin
2151 Conversations Of Goethe With Johann Peter Eckermann Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann 1836 German German
2185 On Love Alain de Botton 1993 British English
2234 Last And First Men Olaf Stapledon 1930 British English
2247 Roman De La Rose Guillaume de Lorris, Jean de Meun 1237 French Old french
2249 The Physiology Of Taste Or Meditations On Transcendental Gastronomy Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin 1825 French French
2311 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2320 Rituals Cees Nooteboom 1980 Dutch Dutch
2360 On the Heights of Despair Emil Cioran 1934 Romanian Romanian
2367 The Arcades Project Walter Benjamin 1982 German German
2372 The Autobiography Of John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill 1873 British English
2380 The Will To Power Friedrich Nietzsche 1901 German German
2372 South Wind Norman Douglas 1917 British English
2382 Notebooks Leonardo da Vinci 1883 Italian Italian
2398 The Blazing World Margaret Cavendish 1666 British English
2418 A Mathematician's Apology G. H. Hardy 1940 British English
2474 Essays And Criticism William Hazlitt 1823 British English
2496 Mortals Norman Rush 2003 American English
2507 The Abyss Marguerite Yourcenar 1968 French French
2520 Waiting For God Simone Weil 1950 French French
2525 The Everlasting Man G. K. Chesterton 1925 British English
2554 Dangling Man Saul Bellow 1944 American English
2558 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
2563 The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology Edmund Husserl 1936 German German
2565 Poetry Quintus Lutatius Catulus -89 Roman Latin
2568 The Idea Of A University John Henry Newman 1852 British English
2574 The Hedgehog and the Fox Isaiah Berlin 1953 British English
2600 Out Of The Silent Planet C. S. Lewis 1938 British English
2606 Poems And Prose Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1797 British English
2618 The Mezzanine Nicholson Baker 1988 American English
2621 Main Currents in American Thought Vernon L. Parrington 1927 American English
2648 Gemini Michel Tournier 1975 French French
2672 Autobiographies William Butler Yeats 1926 Irish English
2711 Reasons And Persons Derek Parfit 1984 British English
2724 The Book Of Questions Edmond Jabès 1963 French French
2736 Philosophical Writings Novalis 1798 German German
2771 The Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist Friedrich Nietzsche 1888 German German
2769 Unkempt Thoughts Stanislaw Jerzy Lec 1950 Polish Polish
2780 Mist Miguel de Unamuno 1914 Spanish English
2785 The Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms Ernst Cassirer 1929 German German
2787 A Cultural History Of The Modern Age Egon Friedell 1927 Austrian English
2797 The Anatomy of Melancholy Robert Burton 1621 British English
2806 The Art of Memory Frances A. Yates 1966 British English
2872 The Moral Essays Giacomo Leopardi 1832 Italian Italian
2874 River of Fire Qurratulain Hyder 1959 Indian Urdu
2920 Discourses Of Epictetus Epictetus -108 Greek Greek
2932 On Overgrown Paths Knut Hamsun 1949 Norwegian Norwegian
2959 Jefferson and His Time Dumas Malone 1948 American English
2967 A Dream Play August Strindberg 1902 Swedish Swedish
2993 The Doors Of Perception Aldous Huxley 1954 British English
3000 Monsignor Quixote Graham Greene 1982 British English
3086 The Marriage Of Cadmus And Harmony Roberto Calasso 1988 Italian Italian
3108 Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Nietzsche 1886 German German
3115 Principia Ethica George Edward Moore 1903 British English
3181 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard 1966 British English
3191 The Age of Reason Thomas Paine 1794 British English
3194 The Lives of a Cell Lewis Thomas 1974 American English
3195 The Crock Of Gold James Stephens 1912 Irish English
3196 The Gospel Of Thomas Marvin W. Meyer 100 Unknown English
3201 The Pillar And Ground Of The Truth Pavel Florensky 1914 Russian Russian
3221 Ecce Homo Friedrich Nietzsche 1908 German German
3234 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi 2016 American English
3237 The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 2000 American English
3240 Sweet Dreams Michael Frayn 1973 British English
3244 Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau 1849 American English
3245 The Transcendent Unity Of Religions Frithjof Schuon 1953 French French
3250 Lost in the Cosmos Walker Percy 1983 American English
3274 The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll Alvaro Mutis 1993 Colombian Spanish
3290 On Being And Essence Thomas Aquinas 1256 Italian Latin
3324 Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus Scriblerus Club 1741 British English