History of Philosophy Comprehensive Exam Reading List

(An asterisk* indicates that the work is available, in whole or suitable abridgment, in Classics of Western Philosophy, ed. Steven M. Cahn (Hackett Publishing Company, 2002.))

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1. Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
1. Presocratics: A Presocratics Reader, ed. Patricia Curd (Hackett).
2. Plato: Meno*, Phaedo*, Symposium, Republic* (sections dealing with metaphysics and epistemology), Parmenides (126-135), Theaetetus.
3. Aristotle: Categories (1-5, 12-13); Posterior Analytics {(I (1-10, 22), II (8-10, 19)}; Physics {I (1, 5-6, 7-9), II (complete), III (1-3), IV (10-11, 14), VI (2, 9), VIII (1, 4-6, 8)}; De Anima {I (1, 2-4), II (1-6, 11, 12), III (1-5, 10-11)}; Metaphysics {I (1-4, 6, 9), II (1), III (1), IV (1-6), V (7-8), VII (complete), VIII (1-3, 6), IX (1-2, 5-7), XII (6-10), XIII (10)} (All the readings from Aristotle are available in Aristotle: Selections, eds. Terence Irwin and Gail Fine, Hackett Publishing Company, 1995.)
4. Augustine: Against the Academicians; The Teacher; On the Free Choice of the Will (All these works are available in editions from Hackett Publishing Company.)
5. Cicero: Academica, Book II (on Stoic and Skeptic epistemology).
6. Aquinas: Summa Theologiae {Part I, Q. I-II (complete), Q. XIII (a. 2, 5), Q. XIX (a. 8), Q. XXII (a. 2-4)}*
7. William of Ockham: Summa Logicae {Part I (14-17)}*
2. Early Modern Philosophy
1. Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy.
2. Spinoza: Ethics (Bks. I, II, V).
3. Hobbes: Leviathan, chs. 1-6.
4. Locke: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding {Introduction; I, 1-5; II, 1-12, 21, 23, 27; III, 2-4, 6; IV, 1-4, 6, 9-11}*
5. Leibniz: Discourse on Metaphysics*; Monadology*; New Essays on Human Understanding {Preface; Leibniz's responses to the following sections of Locke's Essay: Bk. II, Ch. 1 (sect. 2), Chs. 5, 8, 21 (sects. 1,13); Book IV, Ch. 2 (sects. 1, 14), Ch. 3 (sects. 1-6), Ch. 4 (sects. 1-5), Ch. 10 (sec. 7), and Ch. 11 (sects.13-14).} - The third work is available in paperback from Cambridge University Press.
6. Berkeley: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge; Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous*.
7. Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding; A Treatise of Human Nature (Bk. I, Pt. IV, sects. 6-7; Bk. II, Pt. III, sects. 1-3); Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion*
8. Kant: Critique of Pure Reason - A suitable abridgment by Eric Watkins is available from Hackett Publishing Company, 1999.
9. Hegel: Phenomenology of Spirit: Introduction, A I-II, B IV (1-3); "Logic" (Part One of the Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences), sects. 1-83. The latter work is available in an Oxford University Press paperback.

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