7 Philosophy Books for Beginners

You don't need to go to college to study philosophy — anybody can do it if they are willing to dedicate themselves to the work of deep, difficult reading. But I want to make it a little bit easier for you. So I'm suggesting 7 books for philosophy beginners. 2 books are introductions, written specifically with beginners in mind. But the other 5 are classic primary texts from the history of philosophy. All of these will prove to be immensely rewarding for anybody willing to put in the work.

→ Chapters
Begin at the Beginning 00:00
Problems of Philosophy 02:02
Think 03:13
Plato 05:25
Marcus Aurelius 07:25
St. Augustine 08:15
René Descartes 09:42
John Stuart Mill 11:49

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[_jared]

The title text under Descartes' name says 'Confessions', which is an unfortunate error made during the editing process. The text recommended is, in fact, the Meditations. This link in the description takes you to the correct book.

[indestructible]

These philosophy books are a great introduction. If you're ready to dive deeper into the realm of thought, Nixorus offers some rare, mind-bending texts that go beyond the basics.

[TheMusicalStylingsofBrentBunn]

I was bored one day and randomly read the Meno by Plato from a book of classical literature I found at a thrift store, and it really spoke to me. I never thought much about philosophy before then. That was about two years ago, and it's led me down a wonderful rabbit hole. I've read many of your suggestions, and I'm currently on St. Augustine.

[mrs.buttercuppigeonpants]

It was actually Sophie’s world that started my love for philosophy when I read it as a teenager… honestly I don’t remember it well but I guess it worked I’m even if not perfect :) I remember how much I loved it when I was reading it and it really shaped me as a reader… maybe I should go back to it as an adult to see if I still feel that way

[emeric]

I’m a high school student in France and philosophy is mandatory on our last year. It’s really comforting to see that your approach, as an overseas philosopher, is the same as my teacher’s. There’s this vague sense of conformity on what to start with which is reassuring.
My teacher is a little more radical. He mostly tells us that no one knows how to read (as in, read between the lines, understand all the references and the ideas and the concepts that lie in one single sentence of a great philosopher’s work), and just says that if we want to know how to read, we just have to read. Immediately start reading. He said he’d bought a Hagel book (and Hagel destroyed my brain when I studied him in class) at age 14 and read the whole thing and said he didn’t understand a word, and when you don’t understand you just read it again. And with time and more reading you get a huge cultural and conceptual foundation for philosophy.
I did as he told me to, and I’d really gotten into Freud from our lesson on the unconscious. I read the Metapsychology once and didn’t understand anything. I read it twice and became more familiar with certain concepts. I’m half-way through reading it for the third time and everything is already much clearer in my head.
The only advantage I’d have is that my teacher says this class in not made for us graduating high school (linking to the idea we will anyway since the French system is flawed and it’s too easy to graduate) but rather for us to be able to read. He teaches us the basics of concepts so we can have some idea of what we’re reading when we open philosophy book. And if I hadn’t had that lesson on Freud I would have made much less progress by know. He also knows what translations to recommend, what are the “good” (as in worth reading) philosophers, and he’s pretty strict about all that.
All this to say, just start reading, it works 😂

[MahSAM]

Thank you for the disclaimer at the beginning. Everybody else mostly gloss over that fact and pretend philosophy is a western thing.

[Southsidesocialworker]

I took a philosophy 101 course in undergrad and always wanted to expand on that basic knowledge. I have 2 degree in social work and the more I advance in my career the more I connect philosophy to human nature and human problems. So glad I found your channel.

[Simzoid]

Such a calm and chilled video. It's nice to see someone who is both extremely qualified and yet pretty humble - in terms of the way they discuss the topic. Watched a few videos from this channel and, as a history postgrad, they're a nice introduction into a field I'm horribly new to. It would be great to have a video explaining each field of philosophy, key thinkers within it, and some key ideas that it espouses. Thanks for the video and Merry Christmas!

[KissSlowlyLoveDeeply-pmje]

What I like about Decartes is that he writes in a very beginner friendly way. He explains his problems, how to tried to solve them, and his method, and then his eventual answer. You don't have to agree with him, but he is very open about his process which makes it very useful to learn how to think systematically about philosophy.

[ryandeklerk]

What surprised me the most about Confessions was just how honest St Augustine was about what he struggled with.

[ornleifs]

I've read "Think" and I agree with you that that's an excellent intro to Philosophy for beginners. I read it after I got my BA in Philosophy and remember thinking "I wish I had read this one before I began my studies".

[djband]

A great book for those like myself that only like to read a few pages a day is: A Calendar Of Wisdom by Tolstoy. It’s a book full of philosophy quotes that is easy to read.

[marybarker]

A beautifully-written, page-turning introduction to philosophy that reads like a novel is Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind. While primary texts are a second step, Tarnas (and even Sophie's World) give you a structure - a first take of ideas at the primary level - that you can then build on. When you get that structure first, it's easier to read a primary text and then integrate more complexity into your mental framework.

[johnsparegrave]

As a French person with the baccalauréat, I studied philosophy during my last year of high school, 10 hours a week. Freaking interesting. We spent hours on Descartes, we started with Plato though. I have kept reading philosophy ever since. As for the success of stoicism, I can partake of my experience. I suffer from debiliitating illnesses so that philosphy helps me cope with life, simple as that. It has made me stronger and more resilient and due to that change of attitude, I started working up the ladder.

[DrGBhas]

At the very beginning, maybe like an embryonic philosopher, I would suggest:

1. What does it all mean ? By Thomas Nagel
A very short introduction to philosophy which personally inspired me to think in layers and multi perspectives about other minds, mind - body problem, free will, right and wrong, justice, the meaning of life etc .

Strong points of the book: philosophical terminology is gently introduced through humorous thought experiments . Friendly and around the camp fire style of writing .

[Wally_stad]

Been an avid science fiction and fantasy reader my whole life. Finding philosophy through your content. Thank you!

[sebastianuhre]

The prince by Machiavelli is a worthwhile read for anyone and everyone. Short, quite simple yet extremely clarifying and helpful for understanding the world.

[AndrejaAndric]

Great recommendations! My entry into philosophy was through a practical problem: as a PhD student in computer science I was having difficulties writing research papers - more precisely, structuring my thoughts in a piece of writing. After a lot of searching, I found Aristotle's Rhetoric, and that opened my eyes for a (for me) an entirely new way of thinking. The Rhetoric has some pointers to some other of his works, for a more in-depth view on specific areas, and so I read Categories, Topics and Sophistical Refutations after that. After that I was hooked.

[Danielfaust]

This was a fantastic set of recommendations. I have read 3 of those books and know the others by reputation and I believe that all have been foundational for the way we think in the west, and they are also a very good way to start awakening our philosophical minds. As soon as I finish reading my current book, I'll read some Plato's dialogues which I already bought. I'm really looking forwards to it. Also, I agree that in the future, some videos on specific types of philosophy would be very useful for intermediate readers. Keep up the good work! (Btw, I think you kept saying Decarte's meditations and the video text said confessions)

[baonguyenthai]

I just finish reading the last chapter of "The problems of Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell and let me tell you, I've never read anything that encourage me to pursue the learning path of philosophy like that. Fucking incredible.

For example he wrote in that chapter, the reason you have to put your Self down in order to start philosophize is because "Through the infinity of the universe the mind which contemplates it achieves some share in infinity." Such a humble thought that the universe is infinite and you cannot ever get into the final truth of many of its questions, but also such a motivational thought, as because just by stand aside, put down all of your previous ego and belief, you can "see through" and can becoming parts of something way bigger than yourself.