Course Resources

Reading List and Additional Resources

Introduction to Philosophy

I. Socratic Method

Plato, Apology (Socrates' "unexamined life is not worth living" 38a) and Euthyphro / Meno (for the definitional dialogues on piety, virtue).

II. Knowledge and Doubt

René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (1641): the doubt argument and cogito ergo sum appear in the First and Second Meditations
Susan Bordo, The Flight to Objectivity (1987): a well-known feminist reading of Cartesian doubt as gendered/disembodied

III. Ethics

Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (1863)
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785): source of the "ends in themselves" formulation
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics: foundational text for virtue ethics

IV. Power, Reason, and Who Gets to Ask

Michel Foucault, History of Madness (1961, English trans. Madness and Civilization) and Discipline and Punish (1975)
Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks (1952)
Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks (written 1929–1935; various English editions): source of "hegemony"

V. Feminist Thought

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949): source of "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman" and the concept of woman as "Other"
(Optional, for standpoint theory if you keep that line in future versions) Sandra Harding, The Science Question in Feminism (1986)

VI. Logic and Analytic Philosophy

Gottlob Frege, "Über Sinn und Bedeutung" ("On Sense and Reference," 1892)
Bertrand Russell, "On Denoting" (Mind, 1905): source of the theory of definite descriptions and the "present King of France" example
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) and Philosophical Investigations (1953, posthumous): for the early/late distinction and "language games"

Greek Philosophy

Textbook

Roochnik, David (2004). Retrieving the Ancients: An Introduction to Greek Philosophy. Malden, Blackwell. Stace, W. T. (1920). A Critical History of Greek Philosophy. London, Macmillan & Co.

Primary Texts

McKirahan, Richard (2010). Philosophy Before Socrates: An Introduction with Texts and Commentary. Indianapolis, Hackett.
Barnes, Jonathan (ed.) (1985). Complete Works of Aristotle. Princeton, Princeton University Press (Two Volumes).
Cooper, John (ed.) (1997). Plato: Complete Works. Indianapolis, Hackett.

Dictionary

Preus, Anthony (2007). Historical Dictionary of Ancient Greek Philosophy. Maryland, Scarecrow Press.

Indian Philosophy

Dictionary

General Introductions and Historical Surveys

Adamson, Peter and Jonardon Ganeri. (2001). Classical Indian Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chatterjee, Satischandra, and Dhirendramohan Datta. (2012). Introduction to Indian Philosophy. New Delhi: Rupa Publications.
Dasgupta, Surendranath. (1922). History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hamilton, Sue. (2001). Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hiriyanna, Mysore. (1932). Outlines of Indian Philosophy. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Perrett, Roy W. (2016). Introduction to Indian Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Primary Texts in Translation

Olivelle, Patrick (translator). (1998). Early Upanishads. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Patton, Laurie L (translator). (2008). Bhagavad Gītā. London: Penguin Classics.
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli (translator). (2006). Principal Upaniṣads. New Delhi: Harper Collins India.

Magazine

Other Resources