Where to begin in philosophy?

Twelve books of personal reminders examine judgment, duty, mortality and the place of human beings within nature. The first book acknowledges teachers and relatives; later books repeatedly return to practical difficulties rather than developing a continuous argument.

Twenty received books collect conversations, brief sayings and remembered conduct associated with Confucius and his disciples. Compiled over generations, they explore learning, humane relationships, ritual, government and the demanding work of becoming trustworthy.

Arrian’s compact selection distils Epictetus’s teaching into 53 short chapters. It begins with what is and is not up to us, then applies that distinction to desire, relationships, loss, public conduct and philosophical practice.

The text circulated among friends before posthumous publication; its geometrical form requires following cross-references.

Published anonymously in French as a preface to three scientific essays, the work presents a personal itinerary whose results invite examination.

Published in 1748 as Philosophical Essays, it received its current title in 1758 and replaced certain Treatise formulations for Hume.

Editions A and B differ substantially; A/B references allow comparison between versions.

Crito visits the condemned Socrates with a practical escape plan. Their conversation tests whether friends, reputation and family obligations justify leaving prison, then introduces the Laws as speakers demanding an account of civic commitment.

Socrates defends his questioning before an Athenian jury, considers a penalty after conviction, and addresses those who condemned or acquitted him. Plato makes a public trial an examination of knowledge, integrity and the value of living.

Beginning with a dispute over justice, Socrates constructs a city in speech to examine the organization of the soul. Education, political power, gender, poetry, knowledge and desire enter an argument that asks why justice should be chosen for itself.