Philosophy & Ethics Reading Suggestions

[Peter Bell]

PBers,

Reading Reformation & Post-Reformation authors has convinced me of the need to broaden my understanding of both Ancient and Classic Philosophy, Metaphysics and Ethics.

I'm looking for a curriculum of reading to dive into, in addition to my current reading, to better understand both the form of arguments and give me background of heretical theology that was being fought against.

 

[Taylor]

I have benefited from two works:

Frame, John M. A History of Western Philosophy and Theology. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 2015.

Allen, Diogenes, and Eric. O. Springsted. Philosophy for Understanding Theology. 2nd ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007.

 

[Shanny01]

Two very helpful books for myself have been Peter Kreeft's Socratic Logic and any of Edward Feser's books (though especially his Introduction to Scholastic Metaphysics).

 

[RamistThomist]

Read Plato's Dialogues over and over again.

Aristotle, Categories. His Metaphysics and Physics are important, but Categories is a better place to start.

Van Inwagen, Peter. Metaphysics. He's wrong on physicalism but an otherwise good text.

Moreland, JP. Universals.

Clark, Kelly James. 101 Terms for Philosophy and Theology.

Ethics

Ethics by Norman Geisler.
Ethics by Arthur Holmes.

The Jewish philosopher Leo Strauss has some outstanding discussions of Plato that are worth your time.

 

[RamistThomist]

In terms of logic texts:

Copi & Cohen's big book of Logic is the gold standard. It has about 14 editions. Pick any of the more recent ones. You can find it for a few dollars on Amazon.

Poythress's book is good, but only half of it deals with Logic. You pay a lot of money for only half of the product.

Morris Engel's With Good Reason is probably the second best text.

Geisler's Come Let us Reason is really good on basic syllogisms, but he doesn't deal much with modern symbolic logic (which I think is a recurring problem among some Thomists).

 

[Bill The Baptist]

Geisler's Come Let us Reason is really good on basic syllogisms, but he doesn't deal much with modern symbolic logic (which I think is a recurring problem among some Thomists).

That’s because it was all those analytic nerds with their fake math symbols that ruined philosophy

 

[Jake]

The Consequences of Ideas by R.C. Sproul is a good starting place.

 

[Henry Hall]

*Theonomy in Christian Ethics* by Greg L. Bahnsen represents a successful moral philosophy where others fall short.

 

[RamistThomist]

Concerning "History of" type texts. Nothing substitutes for reading Plato by Plato, but some philosophers like Hegel and Heidegger and Kant are so arcane you need a guide. Fr. Coplestone's the standard, but almost too much. Bertrand Russell is really good, if you can get past his love-affair with himself.

Per history of ethics, I liked Alasdair MacIntyre's Short History of Ethics, though much of it is dated.

My personal my influence is JP Moreland. Here are his philosophy courses audio. You are welcome.
https://archive.org/details/J.P.MorelandMetaphysicsOfSubstance
https://archive.org/details/J.P.MorelandPhilosophyOfScience
https://archive.org/details/MorelandPhilosophyOfMind
https://archive.org/details/J.P.MorelandApologetics