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
5292 Reflections On Language Noam Chomsky 1975 American English
5310 The Adams Jefferson Letters Lester J. Cappon 1959 American English
5326 White Light Rudy Rucker 1980 American English
5346 New Seeds Of Contemplation Thomas Merton 1961 American English
5361 On Suicide Jean Améry 1976 Unknown German
5361 Hölderlin Peter Härtling 1976 German German
5361 Foundations Of Christian Faith Karl Rahner 1976 German German
5391 New Atlantis Francis Bacon 1627 British English
5391 Selected Prose Thomas Carlyle 1800 British English
5427 Venus On The Half Shell Philip José Farmer 1975 American English
5446 Così Parlò Bellavista Luciano De Crescenzo 1977 Italian Italian
5500 Does God Exist? Hans Küng 1978 German German
5514 Think On These Things Jiddu Krishnamurti 1964 Indian English
5529 The Sufferings Of Prince Sternenhoch Ladislav Klíma 1928 Czech Czech
5569 Imaginary Portraits Walter Pater 1887 British English
5575 VALIS Philip K. Dick 1981 American English
5593 Poetry And Truth From My Own Life Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 2004 German English
5597 Changing My Mind Zadie Smith 2009 British English
5605 The Imperative Of Responsibility Hans Jonas 1979 German German
5628 Ego Monster Sayd Bahodine Majrouh 1985 Afghan French
5665 Baiyun Oder Die Freundschaftsgesellschaft Adolf Muschg 1980 Swiss German
5688 Sur La Philosophie Africaine Paulin Hountondji 1976 French French
5747 The Message In the Bottle Walker Percy 1975 American English
5780 Dialogues With Leucò Cesare Pavese 1947 Italian Italian
5801 Illuminations Walter Benjamin 1968 German German
5810 The City Of The Sun Tommaso Campanella 1623 Italian Latin
5823 Moralia Plutarch -100 Greek Greek
5824 Satires Lucian -160 Greek Ancient greek
5825 On The Gods Marcus Tullius Cicero 45 Roman Latin
5832 Satires Persius 62 Latin Latin
5852 Works Empedocles -439 Greek Ancient greek
5860 The New Science Giambattista Vico 1725 Italian Italian
5860 Italian Journey Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1816 German German
5889 Louis Lambert Honoré de Balzac 1832 French French
5888 Sartor Resartus Thomas Carlyle 1836 British English
5893 A Confession Leo Tolstoy 1882 Russian Russian
5914 Our Lord Don Quixote Miguel de Unamuno 1935 Spanish Spanish
5936 Jesus Menschensohn Rudolf Augstein 1982 German German
5936 The Turning Point Fritjof Capra 1982 American English
5936 The Spiral Of Silence Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann 1982 German German
5948 Talk Dirty To Me Sallie Tisdale 1994 American English
5965 Pornografia Witold Gombrowicz 1960 Polish Polish
5992 The Sacred Book Of The Werewolf Victor Pelevin 2004 Russian Russian
5997 After Virtue Alasdair MacIntyre 1981 British English
6002 A History Of Greece To The Death Of Alexander The Great John Bagnell Bury 1900 British English
6002 Nietzsche And Philosophy Gilles Deleuze 1962 French French
6002 Inner Experience Georges Bataille 1943 French French
6002 The Story Of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
6002 The Lord Chandos Letter And Other Writings Hugo von Hofmannsthal 1902 Austrian German
6002 Divagations Stéphane Mallarmé 1897 French French
6002 Les Métamorphoses Du Cercle Georges Poulet 1961 Belgian French
6002 Marginalia On Casanova Miklós Szentkuthy 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
6002 Note Conjointe Charles Péguy 1914 French French
6002 Notebooks Joseph Joubert 1883 French French
6002 The Pine Wood Notebook Francis Ponge 1947 French French
6002 Theatre Of The World Frances A. Yates 1969 British English
6002 Things Seen Victor Hugo 1887 French French
6002 Van Gogh Antonin Artaud 1947 French French
6089 Herr Gustafsson Himself Lars Gustafsson 1983 Swedish Swedish
6132 The Dance Of Life Havelock Ellis 1923 British English
6158 The Star Of Redemption Franz Rosenzweig 1971 German German
6160 Arguably Christopher Hitchens 2011 British English
6172 Philosophy and Civilization John Dewey 1931 American English
6175 Notebooks Albert Camus 1935 French French
6219 Justice Michael J. Sandel 2007 American English
6241 Audience Vaclav Havel 1978 Czech Czech
6259 At The Existentialist Café Sarah Bakewell 2016 British English
6263 So Laßt Uns Denn Ein Apfelbäumchen Pflanzen Hoimar von Ditfurth 1985 German German
6322 The Voices Of Silence Andre Malraux 1951 French French
6334 The Worldly Philosophers Robert Heilbroner 1953 American English
6351 The Perennial Scope Of Philosophy Karl Jaspers 1949 German German
6368 The Journal Of Raïssa Maritain Raïssa Maritain 1974 French French
6375 Asterios Polyp David Mazzucchelli 2009 American English
6377 Jumpers Tom Stoppard 1972 British English
6379 Friedrich Hebbels Tagebücher Friedrich Hebbel 1885 German German
6401 Crossing The Threshold Of Hope Pope John Paul II 1994 Italian Italian
6408 Bluets Maggie Nelson 2009 American English
6419 The Laws Connie Palmen 1991 Dutch Dutch
6425 Theory And History Of Ideological Production Juan Carlos Rodríguez 1993 Spanish Spanish
6429 Ideas and Opinions Albert Einstein 1954 German English
6441 Mystical Dimensions Of Islam Annemarie Schimmel 1975 Unknown English
6443 The Long Way Bernard Moitessier 1971 French French
6457 Science and Civilisation in China Joseph Needham 1954 British English
6466 Disputers Of The Tao A. C. Graham 1989 British English
6482 Coming of Age in the Milky Way Timothy Ferris 1988 American English
6526 Letters To Olga Vaclav Havel 1983 Czech Czech
6588 American Shaolin Matthew Polly 2007 American English
6594 The Invention Of Nature Andrea Wulf 2015 German English
6597 Benjamin Franklin Carl Van Doren 1938 American English
6599 A Guide For The Perplexed E. F. Schumacher 1977 British English
6621 The Life of Insects Victor Pelevin 1993 Russian Russian
6635 Autonauts Of The Cosmoroute Julio Cortazar 1983 Argentinian Spanish
6635 Journey To The Land Of The Real Victor Segalen 1983 French French
6635 The Ruin Of Kasch Roberto Calasso 1983 Italian Italian
6645 The Builders Giorgos Heimonas 1996 Greek Greek
6659 Mendeleyev's Dream Paul Strathern 2000 British English
6655 Organon Of The Rational Art Of Healing Samuel Hahnemann 1989 German German
6677 The Concept Of Mind Gilbert Ryle 1949 British English
6682 The Opium Of The Intellectuals Raymond Aron 1955 French French
6703 Collected essays Aldous Huxley 1958 British English
6716 Human, All Too Human Friedrich Nietzsche 1878 German German
6716 Track Ernst Bloch 1949 German Unknown
6728 The Mysterious Universe James Jeans 1930 British English
6791 La Tejedora De Coronas Germán Espinosa 1982 Colombian Spanish
6840 Other Inquisitions Jorge Luis Borges 1952 Argentinian Spanish
6860 The Thirteen Petalled Rose Adin Steinsaltz 1980 Israeli Hebrew
6873 Love's Work Gillian Rose 1995 British English
6873 Povedal Mi Veštec Tiziano Terzani 2002 Italian Italian
6951 The Invention Of Africa V. Y. Mudimbe 1988 Congolese English
6969 Six Studies In Communism Arthur Koestler, Richard Crossman 1960 Multiple English
6974 Origins Reconsidered Roger Lewin, Richard Leakey 1992 Multiple English
6996 Panegyric Guy Debord 1989 French French
7020 Albert Murray Albert Murray 2016 American Unknown
7022 Crito Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
7031 Records of the Grand Historian Sima Qian 91 Chinese Classical chinese
7034 The Politics Of Cultural Despair Fritz Stern 1961 American English
7083 The Art of the Soluble Peter B. Medawar 1967 British English
7093 Small Gods Terry Pratchett 1992 British English
7133 Desolation Angels Jack Kerouac 1965 American English
7157 La Horde Du Contrevent Alain Damasio 2004 French French