Western Philosophy

This section contains texts by the most important writers who have defined the philosophy of modern Western society. Texts here discuss ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, and political philosophy. NOTE: most of these are large text files, which may take a while to download on a slow connection.

George Berkeley

Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous [1713] 215,746 bytes
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge [1710] 206,500 bytes

Rene Descartes

Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences 129,524 bytes
Meditations on First Philosophy [1641] 173,692 bytes

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Transcendalist 38,495 bytes
Essays, First Series 421,128 bytes
Essays, Second Series 333,082 bytes

Epictetus

The Enchiridion 49,906 bytes
The Discourses [101 A.D.] 613,135 bytes

Epicurus

Letter to Menoeceus 12,977 bytes

Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan [1651] 1,169,724 bytes

David Hume

Of Superstition and Enthusiasm [1741] 15,249 bytes
Of the Delicacy of Taste and Passion [1741] 10,402 bytes
Of the Liberty of the Press [1741] 8,955 bytes
Of Essay Writing [1742] 11,554 bytes
Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences [1742] 60,546 bytes
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding [1748] 311,275 bytes
A Letter from a Gentleman [1754] 48,719 bytes
Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul [1755] 123,786 bytes
The Natural History of Religion [1757] 146,184 bytes
Of Tragedy [1757] 22,611 bytes
Of the Standard of Taste [1757] 55,652 bytes
My Own Life [1777] 23,289 bytes
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion [1779] 260,369 bytes

Immanuel Kant

The Critique of Judgement [1790] 449,579 bytes
The Critique of Practical Reason [1788] 365,284 bytes
The Critique of Pure Reason [1781] 1,268,316 bytes
Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals [1785] 176,959 bytes
Introduction to the Metaphysic of Morals [1785] 52,436 bytes
The Metaphysical Elements of Ethics [1780] 74,794 bytes
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics [1783] 286,663 bytes
The Science of Right [1790] 302,320 bytes

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

The Monadology [1898] 36,958 bytes

John Stuart Mill

On Liberty [1859] 282,495 bytes
Representative Government [1861] 581,506 bytes
Utilitarianism [1863] 158,008 bytes
The Subjection of Women 259,950 bytes

Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spake Zarathustra [1891] 525,539 bytes

Blaise Pascal

The Provincial Letters [1657] 608,061 bytes
Pensees [1660] 554,098 bytes

Plato

NOTE: These file are in the Plato section under Classics.

Cratylus [360 BC]
Charmides, or Temperance [380 BC]
Critias [360 BC]
Crito [360 BC]
Euthydemus [380 BC]
Euthyphro [380 BC]
Gorgias [380 BC]
Ion [380 BC]
Laches, or Courage [380 BC]
Laws [360 BC]
Lysis, or Friendship [380 BC]
Meno [380 BC]
Parmenides [370 BC]
Phaedo [360 BC]
Phaedrus [360 BC]
Philebus [360 BC]
Protagoras [380 BC]
The Republic [360 BC]
The Seventh Letter [360 BC]
Sophist [360 BC]
Statesman [360 BC]
Symposium [360 BC]
Theaetetus [360 BC]
Timaeus [360 BC]

Henry David Thoreau

A Plea for Captain John Brown [1853] 50,469 bytes
Slavery in Massachusetts [1854] 33,295 bytes
Life Without Principle [1863] 44,364 bytes
Civil Disobedience [1849] 51,460 bytes
Walden, or Life in the Woods [1854] 584,967 bytes

Mary Wollstonecraft

Vindication of the Rights of Women [1792] 518,787 bytes