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
3324 Reveries of a Solitary Walker Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 French French
3324 Hell Henri Barbusse 1908 French French
3324 Tarr Wyndham Lewis 1918 British English
3324 Insatiability Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz 1930 Polish Polish
3324 Eyeless in Gaza Aldous Huxley 1936 British English
3373 The Green Child Herbert Read 1935 British English
3375 Juan De Mairena Antonio Machado 1936 Spanish Spanish
3379 Zadig Voltaire 1747 French French
3383 Poems Miguel de Unamuno 1907 Spanish Spanish
3385 Wandering On The Way Zhuangzi, Victor H. Mair -369 Chinese Classical chinese
3391 Selected Poetry Of Francisco De Quevedo Francisco de Quevedo 1648 Spanish Spanish
3440 Ideas Have Consequences Richard M. Weaver 1948 American English
3452 The Closing of the American Mind Allan Bloom 1987 American English
3500 Reflections of a Russian Statesman Konstantin P. Pobedonostsev 1898 Russian Russian
3502 Borges Adolfo Bioy Casares 2006 Argentine Spanish
3512 Scrutiny F. R. Leavis 1932 British English
3519 Poems of Friedrich Hölderlin Friedrich Holderlin 1800 German German
3526 Looking Back Norman Douglas 1933 British English
3551 The Improvement of Human Reason Ibn Tufayl 1170 Arabic Arabic
3561 Insight Bernard Lonergan 1957 Canadian English
3572 The Day After Judgement James Blish 1971 American English
3596 Les Destinées Alfred de Vigny 1864 French French
3621 Correspondence Voltaire 1751 French French
3631 Life Of Quintus Fixlein Jean-Paul Richter 1796 German German
3637 Goat Song Konstantin Vaginov 1927 Russian Russian
3638 Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial Sir Thomas Browne 1658 British English
3638 Why I Am Not a Christian Bertrand Russell 1927 British English
3638 Oh, These Times Catherine the Great 1790 Russian Unknown
3638 The Temptation To Exist Emil Cioran 1956 Romanian French
3638 The Memoirs Of Princess Dashkova Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova 1840 Russian Russian
3638 Religio Medici Sir Thomas Browne 1643 British English
3638 Van Loon's Lives Hendrik Willem van Loon 1942 Dutch English
3638 The Life Divine Sri Aurobindo 1942 Indian English
3638 Laughter Henri Bergson 1900 French French
3638 Cause, Principle, And Unity Giordano Bruno 1584 Italian Italian
3638 Sämtliche Werke Des Wandsbecker Boten Matthias Claudius 1775 German German
3638 Der Siebente Ring Stefan George 1907 German German
3638 Theory Of Colours Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1810 German German
3638 On The Marble Cliffs Ernst Jünger 1939 German German
3638 The Language Of The Third Reich Victor Klemperer 1947 German German
3638 From Caligari To Hitler Siegfried Kracauer 1947 German German
3638 Gallows Songs Christian Morgenstern 1905 German German
3638 The Prophecies Nostradamus 1555 French French
3638 The Origins Of Intelligence In Children Jean Piaget 1936 Swiss French
3638 The Sexual Revolution Wilhelm Reich 1936 German German
3638 The Seven Lamps Of Architecture John Ruskin 1849 British English
3638 The Papalagi Erich Scheurmann 1920 German German
3638 Out Of My Life And Thought Albert Schweitzer 1931 German German
3638 A Stroll To Syracuse In The Year 1802 Johann Gottfried Seume 1803 German German
3638 An Outline Of Occult Science Rudolf Steiner 1910 Austrian German
3638 The History Of The Abderites Christoph Martin Wieland 1774 German German
3807 Critique Of Cynical Reason Peter Sloterdijk 1983 German German
3808 Rousseau and Revolution Will Durant, Ariel Durant 1967 American English
3810 Wittgenstein's Nephew Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
3834 The Obsolescence Of Man Günther Anders 1956 German German
3844 The Fractal Geometry Of Nature Benoît Mandelbrot 1977 French English
3851 Fourth Mansions R. A. Lafferty 1969 American English
3952 The End of History and the Last Man Francis Fukuyama 1992 American English
3953 The Axion Esti Odysseas Elytis 1959 Greek Greek
3953 The Life And Opinions Of Zacharias Lichter Matei Călinescu 1969 Romanian Romanian
3953 Ασκητική Nikos Kazantzakis 1927 Greek Greek
4079 The Life Of Jesus Ernest Renan 1863 French French
4100 Aegypt John Crowley 1987 American English
4105 Summerhill Alexander Sutherland Neill 1960 British English
4123 Either Or Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish
4151 Oxherding Tale Charles R. Johnson 1982 American English
4152 American Genius Lynne Tillman 2006 American English
4168 Letters On England Voltaire 1734 French French
4170 Dissipatio H.G. Guido Morselli 1977 Italian Italian
4178 Prometheus Carry van Bruggen 1919 Dutch Dutch
4216 Epistles Horace 20 Latin Latin
4227 Each Day Catches Fire Imants Ziedonis 1978 Latvian Latvian
4227 Introduction To The Sociology Of Music Theodor Adorno 1962 German English
4262 Essays of Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau 1862 American English
4263 The Importance Of Living Lin Yutang 1937 Chinese English
4278 Fallen Leaves Vasily Rozanov 1913 Russian Russian
4290 Finite And Infinite Games James P. Carse 1986 American English
4292 Conversations With Igor Stravinsky Robert Craft 1959 American English
4294 The Castle franz kafka 1926 German German
4371 Frost Thomas Bernhard 1963 Austrian German
4401 The Revolt Of The Angels Anatole France 1914 French French
4415 Diary Witold Gombrowicz 1986 Polish Polish
4419 The Swerve Stephen Greenblatt 2011 American English
4420 Memoirs Of The Author Of A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman William Godwin 1798 British English
4420 Life Of John Sterling Thomas Carlyle 1851 British English
4420 Guide To Kulchur Ezra Pound 1938 American English
4444 Chronicles of Wasted Time Malcolm Muggeridge 1972 British English
4481 The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft George Gissing 1903 British English
4612 Civilisation Kenneth Clark 1969 British English
4657 Man And Superman George Bernard Shaw 1903 British English
4672 The Spiritual Teaching Of Ramana Maharshi Ramana Maharshi 1972 Indian Tamil
4687 The Myth Of The Eternal Return Mircea Eliade 1949 Romanian French
4687 Christianity And Culture T. S. Eliot 1939 British English
4687 Christ And Culture H. Richard Niebuhr 1951 American English
4687 The Idea Of The Holy Rudolf Otto 1917 German English
4687 In Search Of The Miraculous P.D. Ouspensky 1947 Russian English
4687 The Gospel Of Sri Ramakrishna Mahendranath Gupta 1902 Indian Bengali
4687 Major Trends In Jewish Mysticism Gershom Scholem 1929 German German
4733 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation M. T. Anderson 2006 American English
4753 Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism Chogyam Trungpa 1973 Multiple English
4757 The Faculty of Useless Knowledge Yuri Dombrovsky 1976 Russian Russian
4758 Claros Del Bosque María Zambrano 1977 Spanish Spanish
4799 Nature Ralph Waldo Emerson 1836 American English
4821 The Poet And The Lunatics G. K. Chesterton 1929 British English
4864 The Foundations Of Arithmetic Gottlob Frege 1884 German German
4877 The Golden String Bede Griffiths 1954 British English
4899 On Occult Philosophy Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa 1531 German Latin
4899 The Discovery Of Freedom Rose Wilder Lane 1943 American English
4944 A Short History Of Decay Emil Cioran 1949 French French
4990 The Black Swan Nassim Nicholas Taleb 2007 Lebanese English
5023 Dying As A Country Dimitris Dimitriadis 1978 Greek Greek
5039 The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out Richard P. Feynman 1999 American English
5102 Антихрист Emilian Stanev 1939 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5104 Saving The Appearances Owen Barfield 1957 British English
5104 Zen Flesh, Zen Bones Paul Reps, Nyogen Senzaki 1957 Multiple English
5121 Creation Gore Vidal 1981 American English
5156 Coleridge Richard Holmes 1989 British English
5226 The Green Face Gustav Meyrink 1916 German German
5286 Gandhi's Truth Erik H. Erikson 1969 American English
5291 Notes On The Cinematographer Robert Bresson 1975 French French