Metaphysics books
Metaphysics books to start from. Open one to see books like it, or tell BookSense what you loved for four picks made for you.
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New to the genre? These 5 are the books to read first.
The Problems of Philosophy
Bertrand RussellA short, plain introduction to questions about appearance and reality, matter, and universals, and a good first text for the field.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
David HumeArgues that causal connection cannot be observed directly and questions the basis of inductive reasoning and personal identity.
Meditations on First Philosophy
René DescartesDoubts the existence of the external world and argues for the mind as a thinking substance distinct from body.
On What There Is
Willard Van Orman QuineA short paper that frames ontology as a question about what a theory commits us to existing, a method still widely used.
Naming and Necessity
Saul A. KripkeArgues that some necessary truths are knowable only a posteriori, and reshaped the theory of reference and modality.
Chosen and described with AI from our notes on the genre.
Reading lists
More metaphysics books
- Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Essay Concerning Human UnderstandingJohn Locke - The MonadologyThe MonadologyGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- Critique of Pure Reason
Critique of Pure ReasonImmanuel Kant - Being and Time.
Being and Time.Martin Heidegger - Individuals
IndividualsP. F. Strawson - On the Plurality of Worlds
On the Plurality of WorldsDavid K. Lewis - Metaphysics
MetaphysicsPeter Van Inwagen - On man in the universe
On man in the universeAristotle1943 - The metaphysics of Aristotle
The metaphysics of AristotleAristotle1479 - Between death and life
Between death and lifeDolores Cannon1993 - The secret language of destiny
The secret language of destinyGary Goldschneider1999 - Discourse on the method of rightly conducting the reason, an
Discourse on the method of rightly conducting the reason, and seeking truth in the sciencesRené Descartes1644