A Beginner's Guide to Philosophy Books

The best way to begin reading philosophy is to start with books that were written for ordinary readers rather than for other philosophers, and to read them in order of difficulty rather than in order of date. In this library that means Meditations by Marcus Aurelius first, then Voltaire’s Candide, Machiavelli’s The Prince, Mill’s On Liberty, and finally Plato’s Republic. The first three can each be read in a few days; the last two take longer and reward slower reading.

None of these books requires prior training. What they require is different in each case, and this guide says what that is so you can decide when you are ready. All five are free downloads in our philosophy section.

Why this order

The five books below span more than two thousand years, from Athens in the fourth century BC to Victorian London. Read chronologically they would start with the hardest. Read by difficulty they move from a private notebook (Meditations), to a comic novel (Candide), to a short practical handbook (The Prince), to a sustained argument (On Liberty), to a long dialogue that builds a whole theory of justice, knowledge and the state (Republic). Each step adds something: more abstraction, more length, or more need to follow an argument across chapters.

Order	Book	Author	Written	Form	What it demands
1	Meditations	Marcus Aurelius	c. 170-180 AD	Private notes in twelve books	Patience with repetition; no argument to follow
2	Candide	Voltaire	1759	Short satirical novel	Willingness to laugh at a serious question
3	The Prince	Niccolò Machiavelli	1513, published 1532	Short treatise in 26 chapters	Some tolerance for unfamiliar Italian history
4	On Liberty	John Stuart Mill	1859	Essay in five chapters	Following one argument carefully through long sentences
5	The Republic	Plato	c. 375 BC	Dialogue in ten books	Time, note-taking, and comfort with digression

1. Meditations: philosophy as a private notebook

Marcus Aurelius was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD, and the Meditations are the notes he wrote to himself, in Greek, during the last decade of his life, much of it while on military campaign. They were never meant for publication and have no structure beyond twelve “books” of short, numbered entries. The ideas are those of Stoicism: that we control our judgements and nothing else, that anger and fear are responses we can revise, that death is natural and not to be feared.

What it demands. Very little in the way of argument, since Marcus is reminding himself of conclusions rather than proving them. What it does require is tolerance for repetition: the same few ideas recur in slightly different words throughout, because the book is a practice rather than a treatise. Reading a page or two a day works better than reading it straight through.

What to watch for. The Gutenberg text is an older English translation and the phrasing can be formal. Book 1, in which Marcus thanks the people who shaped him, is a gentle way in, and Book 2 begins the practical advice.

2. Candide: an argument disguised as a comedy

Voltaire published Candide in 1759. It follows a naive young man, raised in a German castle and taught by his tutor Pangloss that this is “the best of all possible worlds”, through war, earthquake, shipwreck, the Inquisition and South America, each disaster testing the tutor’s optimism. The target is the philosophical optimism associated with Leibniz, and more generally the habit of explaining away suffering with a theory.

What it demands. Almost nothing. It is short, fast and funny, and the chapters are two or three pages each. The philosophical content is carried entirely by the story, which makes it a good first encounter with the idea that a book can be an argument.

What to watch for. The violence is constant and treated flippantly, which is the point. If you want more of the same method, Swift’s A Modest Proposal (1729) is a few pages long and uses the same deadpan technique on a different target; our satire and humour section has more.

3. The Prince: advice with the morality removed

Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513, after losing his post in the Florentine government when the Medici returned to power. It was circulated in manuscript and printed in 1532, five years after his death. The book is a short set of chapters on how a ruler acquires and keeps a state, illustrated with examples from Italian politics and ancient history. Its notoriety comes from its refusal to ask whether a given action is good, only whether it works.

What it demands. The prose, in W. K. Marriott’s translation, is clear, and the chapters are brief. The difficulty is the examples: Machiavelli assumes you know who Cesare Borgia, Pope Alexander VI and the condottieri were. You can read past most of these; the general points survive without the names. Where it matters, the Wikipedia page summarises the context chapter by chapter.

What to watch for. Whether Machiavelli meant the book straight, as satire, or as a warning to republicans is still argued over. Reading it with that question open is more interesting than deciding in advance.

4. On Liberty: one argument, carried through

Mill published On Liberty in 1859. It makes a single case: that the only reason society may interfere with an individual’s freedom is to prevent harm to others, and that neither the individual’s own good nor the majority’s distaste is sufficient. This is usually called the harm principle. The essay goes on to defend freedom of thought and discussion, and to argue that eccentricity and variety of character are valuable in themselves.

What it demands. Attention. Mill writes long Victorian sentences and qualifies his claims carefully, so a paragraph may contain a claim, an objection and a reply. The reward is that the argument is complete: you can see every step and decide where, if anywhere, you disagree. This is the first book on the list that teaches how philosophical argument actually proceeds.

What to watch for. Chapter 2, on freedom of thought and discussion, is the most read and can stand on its own. Chapter 4 is where the harm principle is applied to difficult cases.

5. The Republic: the whole system

Plato’s Republic, written around 375 BC, is a dialogue in which Socrates and several companions try to define justice and end up designing an ideal city, an education for its rulers, a theory of knowledge and a ranking of political systems. It contains some of the most quoted passages in Western philosophy, including the allegory of the cave in Book 7 and the ship of state in Book 6.

What it demands. Time and a notebook. It is long, it is a conversation, and the argument wanders, doubles back and takes detours into mathematics, poetry and myth. Readers who try to hold it all in their heads lose the thread. A short note at the end of each book, saying what was asked and what was concluded, makes the whole thing manageable.

What to watch for. The Gutenberg edition is Benjamin Jowett’s translation, made in the nineteenth century and preceded by his long introduction and analysis. Skip the introduction on a first reading and go straight to Book 1, which is a self-contained argument about what justice is and is the easiest part of the dialogue. Many readers find Books 2 to 4 the heart of it and treat the rest as optional on a first pass.

How to read philosophy without getting lost

• Read slowly and in small amounts. A philosophy chapter has more claims per page than a novel chapter. Ten pages a day is a reasonable pace for Mill or Plato.
• Write down the question. At the start of each chapter or book, note what the author is trying to establish. Most confusion comes from losing track of the question.
• Argue back. These books were written to be disagreed with. If a claim seems wrong, say why in the margin; that is the activity philosophy consists of.
• Use the Wikipedia page as a map. Each of these books has a detailed summary. Reading the summary of a section after you finish it is a good check that you followed it.
• Do not start with the history of philosophy. Surveys are useful later, once you have read a few primary texts and want to see how they connect.

For the format question (these are good candidates for EPUB with a dictionary enabled) see EPUB vs PDF vs TXT. For how older translations enter the public domain, see Public Domain Books Explained.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to know ancient history to read Plato or Marcus Aurelius?

No. The Republic is set at a dinner party and its argument is self-contained; the historical setting adds colour but is not needed. The Meditations refer to a few people and events, but the advice is general and the names can be ignored.

Is Candide really philosophy?

It is a novel that exists to attack a philosophical position, so it belongs on the list. Voltaire was also a philosopher in his own right, and the book shows how an argument can be made through examples and ridicule rather than through propositions.

Which translation should I use?

The ones in our catalog are the public-domain translations on Project Gutenberg: Jowett for the Republic, Marriott for The Prince. They are older than most modern translations and occasionally formal, but they are accurate and free. If a passage seems obscure, comparing it with a library copy of a modern translation usually clears it up.

What should I read after these five?

The natural next steps are more Plato (the shorter dialogues on Socrates’ trial and death), the other Stoics (Epictetus and Seneca), and for political philosophy, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. All are in the public domain, and we will add them as the catalog grows.