Key Philosophical Texts (in the Western Canon)
Five key works of philosophy from the western canon, important in the history of ideas and interesting to read, recommended by Nigel Warburton
«They’re all male authors, which reflects, sadly, the history of philosophy up until the 20th century, dramatically skewed towards male writers for all kinds of sociological reasons that have nothing to do with women’s ability or potential to write great philosophy.»
More from Five Books
Ukraine and Russia
This best books on Russia-Ukraine relations, recommended by Serhii Plokhy, Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University
Future Cities
Urban planning is becoming ever more data-driven. Architecture expert Davina Jackson shares five books explaining the technology behind future cities.
«This was in 1995, when we had only just begun using email. The internet was being described as an ‘infobahn’.»
The Best Philosophy Books of 2021
The best philosophy books of 2021, as picked by Five Books philosophy editor, podcaster and broadcaster Nigel Warburton
«2021 is the number of excellent works of public philosophy—by which I mean, accessible books that are outward facing, that deal with real life problems, and connect with a wider readership.»
The Queen
The best books on the Queen Elizabeth II of England, as recommended by royal biographer, Robert Lacey.
You May Also Like
Learning from people who I disagree with
Why talking with people whose views you hate can help you (and, maybe, them)
«omber. He had done a fair bit of research and made some initial contacts with the men who could arrange his travel and equipment. He was deciding between his options: sneak over th»
The Boltzmann brain paradox
How do you know you’re a person who has lived your life, rather than a just-formed brain full of artificial memories, momentarily hallucinating a reality that doesn’t actually exist? That may sound absurd, but it’s kept several generations of top cosmologists up at night. They call it: the Boltzmann brain paradox. Fabio Pacucci explores this mind-numbing thought experiment.
Are Successful People Happy or are Happy People Successful?
It’s possible to become happy and successful. Just make sure the goal that'll make you successful is driven by your happiness and not the other way around.
«When you achieve that success, it isn’t the goal itself that makes you happy, its the fulfillment of your happiness through the attainment of the goal that does.»
Deep Time Sickness
In Mexico, people who are “tocado” — “touched” — reveal that geological time can emerge through fissures in the land to alter the way we relate to our homes, cities and even ourselves.
Solitude is not loneliness. Here's the key philosophical difference.
Being alone can be the fertile ground of great creativity. For others, it's the door to a dark, spiralling depression.
«When we take time to ourselves, we give ourselves space to imagine. When our mind is not constantly bombarded with content, it can create.»
What is Refind?
Every day Refind picks 5 links from around the web for every user, tailored to the user’s interests. Picking only a handful of links means focusing on what’s relevant and useful. We favor timeless pieces—links with long shelf-lives, articles that are still relevant one month, one year, or even ten years from now. These lists of the best resources on any topic are the result of years of careful curation.
How does Refind curate?
It’s a mix of human and algorithmic curation, following a number of steps:
- We monitor 10k+ sources and 1k+ thought leaders on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
- In addition, our users save links from around the web using our Save buttons and our extensions.
- Our algorithm processes 100k+ new links every day and uses external signals to find the most relevant ones, focusing on timeless pieces.
- Our community of active users gets 5 links every day, tailored to their interests. They provide feedback via implicit and explicit signals: open, read, listen, share, add to reading list, save to «Made me smarter», «More/less like this», etc.
- Our algorithm uses these internal signals to refine the selection.
- In addition, we have expert curators who manually curate niche topics.
The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
How does Refind detect «timeless» pieces?
We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
How many sources does Refind monitor?
We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Can I submit a link?
Indirectly, by using Refind and saving links from outside (e.g., via our extensions).
How can I report a problem?
When you’re logged-in, you can flag any link via the «More» (...) menu. You can also report problems via email to hello@refind.com
Who uses Refind?
100k+ smart people start their day with Refind. To learn something new. To get inspired. To move forward. Our apps have a 4.9/5 rating.
Is Refind free?
Yes, it’s free!
How can I sign up?
Head over to our homepage and sign up by email or with your Twitter or Google account.