Great Books of the Western World (2nd ed., 1990)
See also Mortimer Adler's statement on
how the Great Books
of the Western World were chosen
The Syntopicon: An Index to the Great Ideas (2 volumes)
- Angel to Love
- Man to World
Homer
- Iliad
- Odyssey
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes
- Aeschylus. Plays
- Sophocles. Plays
- Euripides. Plays
- Aristophanes. Plays
Herodotus, Thucydides
- Herodotus. History
- Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War
Plato
- Dialogues
- Seventh Letter
Aristotle (I)
- Works
Aristotle (II)
- Works (continued)
Hippocrates, Galen
- Hippocrates. Hippocratic Writings
- Galen. On the Natural Faculties
Euclid, Archimedes, Nicomachus
- Euclid. Elements
- Archimedes. Works (including The Method)
- Nicomachus. Introduction to Arithmetic
Lucretius, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus
- Lucretius The Way Things Are
- Epictetus. Discourses
- Marcus Aurelius. The Meditations
- Plotinus. The Six Enneads
Virgil
- Eclogues
- Georgics
- Aeneid
Plutarch
- Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans
Tacitus
- Annals
- Histories
Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler
- Ptolemy. Almagest
- Copernicus. On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
- Kepler. Epitome of Copernican Astronomy
- Kepler. The Harmonies of the World
Augustine
- The Confessions
- The City of God
- On Christian Doctrine
Thomas Aquinas (I)
- Summa Theologica
Thomas Aquinas (II)
- Summa Theologica (continued)
Dante, Chaucer
- Dante. Divine Comedy
- Chaucer. Troilus and Criseyde
- Chaucer. Canterbury Tales
Calvin
- Institutes of the Christian Religion
Machiavelli, Hobbes
- Machiavelli. The Prince
- Hobbes. Leviathan, or, Matter, Form and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil
Rabelais
- Gargantua and Pantagruel
Erasmus, Montaigne
- Erasmus. Praise of Folly
- Montaigne. Essays
Shakespeare (I)
- The Plays and Sonnets
Shakespeare (II)
- The Plays and Sonnets (continued)
Gilbert, Galileo, Harvey
- Gilbert. On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies
- Galileo. Concerning the Two New Sciences
- Harvey. On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals
- Harvey. On the Circulation of the Blood
- Harvey. On the Generation of Animals
Cervantes
- The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha
Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza
- Bacon. Advancement of Learning
- Bacon. Novum Organum
- Bacon. New Atlantis
- Descartes. Rules for the Direction of the Mind
- Descartes. Discourse on the Method
- Descartes. Meditations on First Philosophy
- Descartes. Objections Against the Meditations and Replies
- Descartes. The Geometry
- Spinoza. Ethics
Milton
- English minor poems
- Paradise Lost
- Samson Agonistes
- Areopagitica
Pascal
- The Provincial Letters
- Pensees
- Scientific Treatises
Moliere, Racine
- Moliere. The School for Wives
- Moliere. The Critique of the School for Wives
- Moliere. Tartuffe
- Moliere. Don Juan
- Moliere. The Miser
- Moliere. The Would-Be Gentleman
- Moliere. The Would-Be Invalid
- Racine. Berenice
Newton, Huygens
- Newton. Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
- Newton. Optics
- Huygens. Treatise on Light
Locke, Berkeley
- Locke. A Letter Concerning Toleration
- Locke. Concerning Civil Government, Second Essay
- Locke. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
- Berkeley. The Principles of Human Knowledge
- Hume. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Swift, Voltaire, Diderot
- Swift. Gulliver's Travels
- Voltaire. Candide
- Diderot. Rameau's Nephew
Montesquieu, Rousseau
- Montesquieu. The Spirit of Laws
- Rousseau. On the Origin of Inequality
- Rousseau. On Political Economy
- Rousseau. The Social Contract
Smith
- An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Gibbon (I)
- History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Gibbon (II)
- History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (continued)
Kant
- The Critique of Pure Reason
- The Critique of Practical Reason, and Other Ethical Treatises
- The Critique of Judgment
American State Papers, The Federalist, Mill
- Declaration of Independence
- Articles of Confederation
- The Constitution
- Hamilton, Madison, Jay. The Federalist
- Mill. On Liberty
- Mill. Representative Government
- Mill. Utilitarianism
Boswell
- Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D
Lavoisier, Faraday
- Lavoisier. Elements of Chemistry
- Faraday. Experimental Researches in Electricity
Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche
- Hegel. The Philosophy of Right
- Hegel. The Philosophy of History
- Kierkegaard. Fear and Trembling
- Nietzsche. Beyond Good and Evil
Tocqueville
- Democracy in America
Goethe, Balzac
- Goethe. Faust: Parts One and Two
- Balzac. Cousin Bette
Austen, Eliot
- Austen. Emma
- Eliot. Middlemarch
Dickens
- Little Dorrit
Melville, Twain
- Melville. Moby Dick, or, The Whale
- Twain. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Darwin
- The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
- The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex
Marx, Engels
- Marx (edited by Engels). Capital
- Marx and Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party
Tolstoy
- War and Peace
Dostoyevsky, Ibsen
- Dostoyevsky. The Brothers Karamazov
- Ibsen. A Doll's House
- Ibsen. The Wild Duck
- Ibsen. Hedda Gabler
- Ibsen. The Master Builder
James
- The Principles of Psychology
Freud
- The Major Works of Sigmund Freud
20th Century Philosophy and Religion
- James. Pragmatism
- Bergson. An Introduction to Metaphysics
- Dewey. Experience and Education
- Whitehead. Science and the Modern World
- Russell. The Problems of Philosophy
- Heidegger. What is Metaphysics?
- Wittgenstein. Philosophical Investigations
- Barth. The Word of God and the Word of Man
20th Century Natural Science
- Poincare. Science and Hypothesis
- Planck. Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers
- Whitehead. An Introduction to Mathematics
- Einstein. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory
- Eddington. The Expanding Universe
- Bohr. Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature (selections)
- Bohr. Discussion with Einstein on Epistemological Problemns in Atomic Physics
- Hardy. A Mathematician's Apology
- Heisenberg. Physics and Philosophy
- Schrodinger. What is Life?
- Dobzhansky. Genetics and the Origin of Species
- Waddington. The Nature of Life
20th Century Social Science (I)
- Veblen. The Theory of the Leisure Class
- Tawney. The Acquisitive Society
- Keynes. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
20th Century Social Science (II)
- Frazer. The Golden Bough (selections)
- Weber. Essays in Sociology (selections)
- Huizinga. The Waning of the Middle Ages
- Levi-Strauss. Structural Anthropology (selections)
20th Century Imaginative Literature (I)
- James. The Beast in the Jungle
- Shaw. Saint Joan
- Conrad. Heart of Darkness
- Chekhov. Uncle Vanya
- Pirandello. Six Characters in Search of an Author
- Proust. Remembrance of Things Past. "Swann in Love"
- Cather. A Lost Lady
- Mann. Death in Venice
- Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
20th Century Imaginative Literature (II)
- Woolf. To the Lighthouse
- Kafka. Metamorphosis
- Lawrence. The Prussian Officer
- Eliot. The Waste Land
- O'Neill. Mourning Becomes Electra
- Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby
- Faulkner. A Rose for Emily
- Brecht. Mother Courage and Her Children
- Hemingway. The Short Happy Life of Macomber
- Orwell. Animal Farm
- Beckett. Waiting for Godot
Note: I have not been able to examine the second edition of Great Books; I have compiled this list from library catalogs
The content of this page may belong to the author. The transcription,
however, is the result of my research and hard work. It may not
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