It is not always the best idea to go into the Summer with an intense reading list and research plan; if you are a college student, there really is value to rest.
But I also know that, when I was studying philosophy more seriously in college, I always wanted to do more reading over the Summer. You DO have more time, after all. That is why I decided to make a quick list of 4 books that I recommend reading this Summer. Since my readers are varied, I have even split them into levels based on who you are and what you are looking to read.
Of course, any philosopher should have read these eventually. But the levels are what I would recommend as a minimum philosophical experience. Enjoy!
I started Aquinas and Beyond to help everybody better understand Catholic philosophy. This is a free post, but premium subscribers are becoming thoughtful, well-formed Catholic intellectuals through:
A guided tour through the ENTIRETY of Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae, which you are reading right now! Don’t miss out on forming your mind according to the Universal Doctor of the Church!
Founding Members get a FREE copy of my Catholic Philosopher In A Year Reading Plan, my ultimate reading list to get up to speed in Catholic Philosophy.
Blogs on the philosophy of religion (God, evil, free will, etc.) like this one about art and the problem of evil.
Reader’s Guides on the great works of Catholic philosophy, like last month’s guide on Jacques Maritain’s Art and Scholasticism.
Further reading recommendations on many posts, including free posts.
Stop feeling confused in deep Catholic conversations and start thinking like a Catholic philosopher.
Edward Feser is one of the most famous Thomists in the world today. And in this book, which is not very long at all at only 224 pages, he gives a rough introduction to the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. He includes the topics of Aquinas’s metaphysics, Natural Theology, Psychology and Ethics.
If you have been following along with my Guided Tour to the Summa Theologiae, you know that Aquinas has layers, and that there is a lot of conceptual work required to properly understand him. But if you are looking to just get started, this is a good way to be introduced to Aquinas’s views without feeling like you have started a full scholarly research project.
I have already written about the awesome impact I have seen from reading this book. It is as foundational a philosophy text as you get: Plato’s most important dialogues, which also form the founding myth of Western philosophy by telling you the story of the trial of Socrates. Every person who reads this post should read this book.
Etienne Gilson is one of my favorite Catholic philosophers, and it has made me remarkably sad that I have not really had the opportunity to introduce him to this blog more than I have. Like Maritain, he was a Frenchman who heavily contributed to the explosion of Thomism in the early 20th century. The Unity of Philosophical Experience is arguably Gilson’s finest work.
Gilson analyzes many historical philosophical positions, and his argument is that most major philosophical errors consist primarily in trying to make philosophy something it is not: logic, geometry, sociology, etc.
As a medievalist and a Thomist, it will not surprise you that Gilson’s position is that Scholasticism was the philosophical act par excellence. But even if you do not agree with him, Gilson was a highly entertaining, brilliant historian of philosophy. I highly recommend it.
This masterpiece by Jacques Maritain is a whole collection of things at once: a primer on Scholastic metaphysics, an argument for objective measures in art and for artists, a beautiful example of how to reason like a medieval philosopher in general, and more. This was one of Maritain’s first books as a Catholic philosopher, and it is a classic of the early 20th century Thomistic revival.
In it, Maritain distinguishes between artistic virtue and moral virtue by distinguishing between knowledge how and knowledge that, and then pointing out that even in practical knowledge, there is knowledge in how to live and knowledge how to make in a particular way. This is, incidentally, why evil people can make beautiful things.
In most editions, included with Maritain’s work on Art is a separate essay on poetry specifically. Maritain’s wife, Raissa, was a poet and philosopher in her own right. You will definitely want to read both.
Why do you think that something is moral? What is the basis of morality, and how do we determine moral actions from immoral actions? In 1981, Alasdair MacIntyre famously dropped his already-successful career as a Marxist political philosopher and wrote After Virtue, a philosophical defense of the Ancient and Medieval ethical theory of virtue ethics. MacIntyre argues that modern ethics sought to replace Virtue Ethics but failed miserably, and that the only way to regain a coherent and reasonable account of ethics is to return to the medieval theory.
After Virtue is one of the greatest philosophical texts of the 20th century, and it is quite readable if you are familiar with philosophical writing. I wouldn’t recommend it to a complete beginner, but I was able to get quite a lot out of it from listening to an audiobook version while delivering FedEx packages, something I found to be completely impossible with, for example, Aquinas.
I am writing these blogs between teaching theology classes and playing with my kids. So, to put it bluntly, my time is not cheap. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help support my work and make it possible for more people to learn Catholic philosophy:
And if you are looking for more reading recommendations, I put together a reading plan to get you from “total newbie” to “Amateur Catholic philosopher” in just a year. Check it out here:
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.