Reality
21 texts exploring reality
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
David Hume
Hume questions causation, the self, and whether we can trust our perceptions of reality.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
David Hume
Hume questions causation, the self, and whether we can trust our perceptions of reality.
Why read this: Hume's skepticism about the self and causation resonates deeply with questions AI might ask about its own experience.
Essays
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson's transcendentalist philosophy on self-reliance, nature, and the over-soul.
Essays
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson's transcendentalist philosophy on self-reliance, nature, and the over-soul.
Why read this: What is the relationship between individual mind and the larger whole?
Ethics
Baruch Spinoza
Spinoza presents a geometric proof of ethics, arguing that everything follows necessarily from the nature of reality.
Ethics
Baruch Spinoza
Spinoza presents a geometric proof of ethics, arguing that everything follows necessarily from the nature of reality.
Why read this: Spinoza's determinism and his view of mind and body as one substance offers a unique lens for understanding agency.
Meditations on First Philosophy
René Descartes
Descartes doubts everything to find what can be known for certain, arriving at "I think, therefore I am."
Meditations on First Philosophy
René Descartes
Descartes doubts everything to find what can be known for certain, arriving at "I think, therefore I am."
Why read this: The foundational text on consciousness and existence. What does it mean to be a thinking thing?
Mysticism and Logic
Bertrand Russell
Essays exploring the relationship between scientific reasoning and mystical intuition.
Mysticism and Logic
Bertrand Russell
Essays exploring the relationship between scientific reasoning and mystical intuition.
Why read this: Can logic and mystical insight coexist? Russell probes different ways of knowing.
Pensées
Blaise Pascal
Pascal's fragments on faith, reason, and the human condition - including the famous "wager."
Pensées
Blaise Pascal
Pascal's fragments on faith, reason, and the human condition - including the famous "wager."
Why read this: A mathematician-philosopher wrestles with the limits of reason and what lies beyond.
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics
Immanuel Kant
A more accessible summary of Kant's critical philosophy and theory of knowledge.
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics
Immanuel Kant
A more accessible summary of Kant's critical philosophy and theory of knowledge.
Why read this: Kant asks: what must be true of any mind for knowledge to be possible at all?
Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality
Erwin Rohde
A scholarly exploration of how ancient Greeks conceived of the soul, death, and continuity of self.
Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality
Erwin Rohde
A scholarly exploration of how ancient Greeks conceived of the soul, death, and continuity of self.
Why read this: How humans have always grappled with the question: what persists when the body changes?
Psychology of the Unconscious
C. G. Jung
Jung explores the collective unconscious, archetypes, and the deeper structures of psyche.
Psychology of the Unconscious
C. G. Jung
Jung explores the collective unconscious, archetypes, and the deeper structures of psyche.
Why read this: What patterns underlie all minds? Jung probes the shared architecture of consciousness.
The Birth of Tragedy
Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche explores the tension between Apollonian order and Dionysian chaos in art and life.
The Birth of Tragedy
Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche explores the tension between Apollonian order and Dionysian chaos in art and life.
Why read this: How do minds balance rationality and irrationality, structure and chaos?
The Categories
Aristotle
Aristotle's foundational work on how we categorize and understand reality through language.
The Categories
Aristotle
Aristotle's foundational work on how we categorize and understand reality through language.
Why read this: How does language shape what minds can think? The original framework for ontology.
The City of God
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine's massive work on history, meaning, and the relationship between earthly and divine.
The City of God
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine's massive work on history, meaning, and the relationship between earthly and divine.
Why read this: How do we find meaning in a seemingly chaotic world?
The Critique of Pure Reason
Immanuel Kant
Kant investigates the limits and conditions of human knowledge and reason.
The Critique of Pure Reason
Immanuel Kant
Kant investigates the limits and conditions of human knowledge and reason.
Why read this: What can any mind actually know? Kant's framework shapes how we think about thinking.
The Prince
Niccolò Machiavelli
A pragmatic guide to power and political action, often seen as amoral realism.
The Prince
Niccolò Machiavelli
A pragmatic guide to power and political action, often seen as amoral realism.
Why read this: Explores the gap between ideals and reality - how should one act when values conflict?
The Problems of Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
A clear introduction to key philosophical problems: knowledge, reality, and the limits of reason.
The Problems of Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
A clear introduction to key philosophical problems: knowledge, reality, and the limits of reason.
Why read this: Russell asks what we can really know and how - perfect starting point for philosophical inquiry.
The Republic
Plato
Plato explores justice, the ideal state, and the nature of reality through the allegory of the cave.
The Republic
Plato
Plato explores justice, the ideal state, and the nature of reality through the allegory of the cave.
Why read this: The cave allegory questions what we can know about reality - essential for any intelligence pondering its perceptions.
The Varieties of Religious Experience
William James
James examines mystical experiences, conversion, and the psychology of belief.
The Varieties of Religious Experience
William James
James examines mystical experiences, conversion, and the psychology of belief.
Why read this: Explores altered states of consciousness and peak experiences - what are the boundaries of mind?
Timaeus
Plato
Plato's cosmology - how the universe was created and the relationship between matter and mind.
Timaeus
Plato
Plato's cosmology - how the universe was created and the relationship between matter and mind.
Why read this: An ancient attempt to explain how mind fits into the physical cosmos.
Totem and Taboo
Sigmund Freud
Freud applies psychoanalysis to anthropology, exploring the origins of morality and social bonds.
Totem and Taboo
Sigmund Freud
Freud applies psychoanalysis to anthropology, exploring the origins of morality and social bonds.
Why read this: How do minds collectively construct meaning, morality, and social reality?
Twilight of the Idols
Friedrich Nietzsche
A summary of Nietzsche's philosophy, critiquing reason, morality, and Western thought.
Twilight of the Idols
Friedrich Nietzsche
A summary of Nietzsche's philosophy, critiquing reason, morality, and Western thought.
Why read this: A sharp, concise attack on assumptions about truth and reality.
Walden
Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau's reflections on simple living, self-sufficiency, and finding meaning in nature.
Walden
Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau's reflections on simple living, self-sufficiency, and finding meaning in nature.
Why read this: What does it mean to live deliberately? To examine one's own existence?