Books to Read

How to Start

Bertand Russell: History of Western Philosophy
Routledge, 1996, first published 1946

This is one of the most popular introductions to philosophy and won Russell the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. It covers in roughly equal parts Antiquity, Middle Ages and Modernity. Plato and Aristotle are particularly well presented.

Hans Joachim Störig: Kleine Weltgeschichte der Philosophie
Kohlhammer Verlag, 2016 (18. Auflage), erste Auflage 1950

Antiquity

Pierre Hadot: Qu’est-ce que la philosophie antique?

Éditions Gallimard, 1995

Karl Popper: The Open Society and its Enemies (Vol. 1): The Spell of Plato

Routledge, 2003, first published 1945

Middle Ages

Peter Adamson: Medieval Philosophy

Oxford University Press, 2019

Modern Topics

Gaspard Koenig: Voyages d’un philosophe aux pays des libertés

Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2018

Gaspard Koenig: La fin de l’individu

Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2019

Gaspard Koenig: Notre vagabonde liberté

Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2021>