Analytic Philosophy Reading List for the Self Taught*
*Does not include ethics, politics, social philosophy
Duration: 4 to 5 years
Time required: 8 hours a week
General instructions: Do not advance until you finish all the reading materials in the current level. Books inside a level can be read in any order unless indicated. Take into account that logic and methodology books usually require more time if you don’t have a mathematical background. Most of the material can be found online.
About: I am a professor of Epistemology in Mexico (@alfredtarski), some of my students with different backgrounds have asked me for a short reading list on analytic philosophy. Well, it got out of hand, but I hope it may be useful for some folks interested in learning a bit more of this fascinating tradition.
Unfortunately I haven’t read 100% material. Some of the books are recommendations from friends, especially @logicalanalysis. All suggestions are welcome.
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Level 0
Duration: 6 months
Objective: Read fun stuff to get started (not necessarily philosophy). Start getting familiar with some of the basic problems of philosophy.You may want to skip some of these books depending on your background.
- Taleb -The Black Swan
- Barrow - The infinite book
- Sider & Conee - Riddles of Existence
- Blackmore - Conversations on Consciousness
- Pinker - The Language Instinct
- Mumford - Metaphysics: A Very Short Introduction
- Baggini - The Philosopher’s Toolkit
- Smullyan - Forever Undecided
- Russell - Problems of Philosophy
- Baggini - The pig that wants to be eaten
- Thagard - Mind
- Doxiadis - Logicomix
- Bruce & Barbone - Just the arguments
- Williamson - Tetralogue
- Cornman & Lehrer - Philosophical Problems and Arguments
- Dewitt - Worldviews, part I.
- Gowers - Mathematics a Very Short Introduction (optional)
- Warburton - A Little History of Philosophy (optional)
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Level 1: Introductory textbooks (and more)
Duration: 6 months
Objetive: Get a general idea of the most important problems in different areas of analytic philosophy with books that don’t require previous knowledge. Get a basic knowledge of first order philosophy.
Epistemology: Pritchard - What is this thing called knowledge?, J. Nagel - Knowledge a Very Short Introduction
Language: Lycan - Philosophy of Language, Austin - How to do things with words
Mind: Churchland - Matter and Consciousness, Searle - The Mystery of Consciousness.
Logic: Varzi - Outline of Logic (or any primer in first order logic), Priest - Logic a Very Short Introduction (in that order).
Math: Colyvan - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mathematics
Science: A. Chalmers - What is this thing called science?, Dewitt - Worldviews parts 2 & 3.
Metaphysics: Loux - Metaphysics, Garret - What is this thing called metaphysics?
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Level 2: Some previous requirements
Duration: 6 months
Objective: Fill some gaps necessary to get to more advanced topics by reading a couple of books.
Epistemology: Hacking - An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic
Logic: Gamut - Logic, Language and Meaning v. 1
Math: Russell - Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy
Science: Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn - Essential Tension (part II).
Metaphysics: Brock & Mares - Realism and Anti Realism
Mind: Kim - Philosophy of Mind
Language: Soames - Philosophical Analysis in the 20th Century (v. 1).
Articles from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (iep.utm.edu): Frege’s Philosophy of Language, A Priori and a Posteriori, Chinese Room Argument, The Hard Problem of Consciousness, “The Brain in a Vat” Argument, Internalism and Externalism in Epistemology, Internalism and Externalism in the Philosophy of Mind and Language, Theories of Explanation, The Infinite, Russell’s Paradox, Truth, Scientific Change
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Level 3: Intermediate Textbooks
Duration: 1 year
Objective: To get a grip of many of the same topics of level 1, but with a more detailed presentation. Learn the basics of the meta-mathematics of first order logic. Optional: the student may want to check some of the sources cited in these textbooks when they seem interesting.
Metaphysics: Koons - Metaphysics: The Fundamentals
Epistemology: ,Goldman - Epistemology a Contemporary Introduction, Turri - Epistemology a Guide, Pollock - Contemporary Theories of Knowledge.
Mind: Clarke - Mindware, Cummins - Mental Representation, Bermúdez - Cognitive Science.
Language: McGinn - Philosophy of Language, Birner - introduction to Pragmatics.
Mathematics: Shapiro - Thinking about Mathematics, Pollard - Philosophical Introduction to Set Theory.
Logic: Sider - Logic for philosophy
Science: Rosenberg - Philosophy of Science, Peter Godfrey Smith - Theory and Reality.
General: Soames - Philosophical Analysis in the 20th Century (v. 2).
Philosophical Methodology: Papineau - Philosophical Devices, Daly - An Introduction to Philosophical Methods. .
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Level 4: Lectures (and more)
Duration: 3 months
Objetivo: Enjoy yourself by engaging in new ideas with a couple of lectures. Start learning a little bit more of the math necessary to do philosophy.
Millikan - Varieties of Meaning
Fodor - The Elm and the Expert
Kripke - Naming and Necessity
Chalmers - Constructing the World
Putnam - The Threefold Chord
Dennett - Sweet Dreams
Clarke - Natural Born Cyborgs
Stroud - The Significance of Philosophical Skepticism
Jackson - From Metaphysics to Ethics
Segal - A Slim Book About Narrow Content
Priest - Beyond the Limits of Thought
Lewis - On the Plurality of Worlds
Philosophical methodology: Steinhart - More Precisely (begin)
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Level 5: Articles from the SEP
Duration: 3 months
Objetive: Get bored. At the same time, get an idea of the positions in many important discussions by reading articles from he Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu). Articles should not be studied in detail (it’s not necessary to understand 100% of them), but should be read to get a general idea of several debates. Finish More Precisely.
-Metaphysics: Identity over time, Free Will, Mereology, Nominalism, Essentialism, Essential vs. Accidental Properties, Transworld Identity, The Metaphysics of Causation, Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Properties, Events, Types and Tokens, Supervenience, Possible Objects, Possible Worlds, Actualism, Impossible Worlds, States of Affaires, Modal Fictionalism, David Lewis’s Metaphysics, Location and Mereology, Truth, The Correspondence Theory of Truth, Temporal Parts, Personal Identity, The problem of the many.
-Epistemology: Naturalized Epistemology, Social Epistemology, Virtue Epistemology, Formal Epistemology, Foundationalist Theories of Epistemic Justification, Coherentist Theories of Epistemic Justification, The Analysis of Knowledge, Reliabilism, The Ethics of Belief, Evidence, Epistemic Contextualism, Epistemic Paradoxes, Epistemic Basing Relation, Internalistic vs Externalistic Conceptions of Justification, Epistemic Closure Principle.
-Mind: Externalism about mental content, The Mind/Brain Identity Theory, Consciousness, Functionalism, Teleological Theories of Mental Content, Intentionality, Mental Causation, Causal Theories of Mental Content, Representational theories of Consciousness, Consciousnes: Higher Order theories, Qualia, Qualia: The knowledge argument, Connectionism, The Language of Thought Hypothesis, Anomalous Monism. Zombies, Collective Intentionality, The Chinese Room Argument, Behaviorism, Dualism.
-Science: Scientific Realism, Abduction, Constructive Empiricism, Models in Science, Scientific Progress, Structural Realism, Science and Pseudo-Science, Induction, Historicist Theories of Scientific Rationality, The Incommensurability of Scientific Theories, Scientific Progress, Scientific Explanation, Underdetermination of Scientific Theory, Scientific Reduction, philosophy of physics, philosophy of biology.
-Language: Philosophy of Linguistics, Reference, Rigid Designators, Theories of Meaning, Meaning Holism, Pragmatics, Two-dimensional Semantics, Descriptions, Convention, Anaphora, Logical Form, Non-existent objects, Metaphor, Defaults in Semantics and Pragmatics, Indexicals, Propositions, Tense and Aspect, idiolects, Innateness and Language.
-Math: Naturalism in the Philosophy of Mathematics, Abstract Objects, Ontological Commitment, Formalism, Explanation in Mathematics, Constructive Mathematics, Philosophy of Mathematics, Fictionalism in the Philosophy of Mathematics, Set Theory, Continuum Hypothesis, Indispensability arguments, Frege’s Theorem and Foundations for Arithmetic, Principia Mathematica, Philosophy of Probability
-Logic: Classical Logic, Logical Consequence, Modal Logic, Free Logic, Relevance Logic, Intuitionistic Logic, Deontic Logic, Informal Logic, Temporal Logic, Inductive Logic, Many Valued Logic, Paraconsistent Logic, Logic and Artificial Intelligence, Non-Monotonic Logic, Dialtheism, Logical Pluralism, Epistemic Logic, The Logic of Conditionals, Quantifiers and Quantification.
-Authors: Gottlob Frege, Paul Grice, Bertrand Russell, David K. Lewis, Willard van Orman Quine, Wilfrid Sellars, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Vienna Circle, Rufolf Carnap (in construction), Karl Popper, Charles Sanders Peirce, Richard Rorty, Donald Davidson, George Edward Moore, John Langshaw Austin, Gilbert Ryle, Thomas Kuhn.
Philosophical methodology: Steinhart - More Precisely (finish).
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Level 6: More Advanced Books.
Duration: 1 year
Objective: Go on. It’s too late to reconsider. In this level not all of the books are surveys, some of them defend particular positions (but also reconstruct several antagonistic positions).
Metaphysics: Lowe - A Survey of Metaphysics, Divers - Possible Worlds.
Epistemology: DeRose - The Case for Contextualism, Brown - Anti-Individualism and Knowledge, Casullo - A Priori Justification.
Language: Soames - Philosophy of Language
Mind: Chalmers - The Conscious Mind, Kallestrup - Semantic Externalism, Clark - Being There.
Science: Suppes - Representation and Invariance of Scientific Structures ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, Thagard - Computational Philosophy of Science.
Logic: Hunter - Metalogic.
Math: Shapiro - Philosophy of Mathematics: Structure
Philosophical Methodology: Williamson - The Philosophy of Philosophy.
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Level 7: The sources
Duration: 1 year
Objective: Read the most important articles in each area using anthologies. In the optional material at least the introductory chapter or introduction wrote by the compiler should be read.
Mind: Chalmers - Philosophy of Mind
Epistemology: Sosa & Kim - Epistemology, Goldman - Social Epistemology.
Metaphysics: Sosa & Kim - Metaphysics, Chalmers - Metametaphysics
Math: Putnam & Benacerraf - Philosophy of Mathematics
Logic: Jacquet - Philosophy of Logic.
Science: Lange - Philosophy of Science an Anthology
Other: Margolis - Concepts.
Philosophical Methodology: Knobe & Nichols - Experimental Philosophy (optional), DePaul - Rethinking Intuition, Bashour - Contemporary Philosophical Naturalism and Its Implications.
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Congratulations, you’re an analytic philosophers now (even though you’ve never read Wittgenstein’s Tractatus). You can now begin to learn other philosophy stuff (perhaps the history of early modern philosophy or post-structuralism?)
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Where to continue? An incomplete list of suggestions:
Metaphysics: Chalmers - Metametaphysics, Barcan Marcus - Modalities, Sider - Writing the Book of the World, Ladyman - Everything Must Go, Sider - Four Dimensionalism, Mumford - Powers, Sider - Four Dimensionalism, Stoljar - Physicalism, Schmitt - Socializing Metaphysics, Maudlin - The Metaphysics Within Physics, Bob Hale - Necessary Beings, Williamson - Modal Logic as Metaphysics
Mind: Millikan - Language, Thought and Other Biological Categories, Fodor - The Language of Thought, Fodor - The Modularity of Mind, Block - Consciousness Function and Representation, Dretske - Naturalizing the Mind, Clark - Supersizing the Mind - The Architecture of the Mind, Searle - Intentionality, Carruthers - The Architecture of the Mind, Stich - From Folk Psychology to Cognitive Science, Dennett - The intentional Stance, Clarke - Associative Engines, Ludlow & Nagasawa - There’s Something About Mary.
Logic: Manzano - Model Theory, Kozen - Automata Theory, Priest - In Contradiction, Beall & Restall - Logical Pluralism, Garson - What Logics Mean, Popkorn - First Steps in Modal Logic, Van Benthem - Modal Logic for Open Minds, Rayo - Absolute generality, Priest - An introduction to non-classical logics.
Epistemology: Haack - Evidence and Enquiry, Williamson - Knowledge and its Limits, Greco - Knowledge as Achievement, Goldman - Epistemology and Cognition, Kornblith - Knowledge and its place in Nature, Stanley - Knowledge and Practical Interest, Bonjour - The Structure of Empirical Knowledge, Stich - The Fragmentation of Reason, Lackey - The Epistemology of Testimony, Rorty - Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Craig - Knowledge and the State of Nature, DeRose - Skepticism, Plantinga - Warrant and Proper Function.
Math: Maddy - Second Philosophy, Hartry Field - Science Without Numbers, Potter - Set Theory and its Philosophy, Balaguer - Platonism and Anti-Platonism in Mathematics, Lakatos - Proofs and Refutations, Frege - The Foundations of Arithmetics, Dummett - Frege: Philosophy of Mathematics, Cohen - Set Theory and the Continuum Hypothesis.
Language: García-Carpintero & Maciá - Two Dimensional Semantics, Yablo - Aboutness, Stalnaker - Context, Keefe - Theories of Vagueness, Dummett - Frege: Philosophy of Language, Along & Leonardi - The Philosophy of David Kaplan, Lewis - Counterfactuals. Soames - Beyond Rigidity, Lewis - Convention, Brandom - Making it Explicit, Grice - Studies in the way of words.
Science: Goodman - Fact, Fiction and Forecast, Maudlin - Philosophy of Physics, Sterlny - Sex and Death, Hacking - Representing and Intervening, Van Fraassen - The Scientific Image, Popper - The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Feyerabend - Against Method, Thagard - Computational Philosophy of Science, Cartwright - The Dappled World, Kitcher - Science Truth and Democracy, Laudan - Progress and its Problems.
Classics from the first half of the 20th century (circa): Anscombe - Intention, Wittgenstein - Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, Wittgenstein - Philosophical Investigations, Sellars - Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind, Russell & Whitehead - Principia Mathematica, Carnap - The Logical Construction of the World, Quine - Word and Object, Quine - Ontological Relativity, Quine - From a Logical Point of View.











