Leo Strauss Natural Right and History
Strauss, Leo. Natural Right and History. United Kingdom: University of Chicago Press, 1953. This is an iconic reading of natural right and natural law in the early modern political thought.
John Locke Second Treatise on Government
Locke, John. Two treatises of government. India: Cambridge University Press, 1988. We know he read Hobbes. We have the appearance of the early modern themes of natural law and natural
Arendt, What is Freedom?
This essay is the fourth in the book known as Between Past and Future. You can tell she is working on ideas about the concept
De Tocqueville Democracy in America
Alexis De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America explores the theme of a people. Its like a social study of different kinds of social groups he encountered
Thomas Paine Common Sense
Paine, Thomas. Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of ThomasPaine. United States: Penguin Publishing Group, 2003. Paine wrote in the context of the men of letters,
The Federalist Papers and the Letters of Brutus
Hamilton, Alexander., Madison, James., Jay, John. The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Hamilton, Madison and John Jay wrote under the name of Publius. Suggested passages No.9, 14, 47-51vs.
J.J. Rousseau The Social Contract
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Rousseau: ‘The Social Contract’ and Other Later Political Writings. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1997. You know the saying that you have to visualize something before you can
Hobbes Leviathan
Hobbes, Thomas. Hobbes: Leviathan. Edited by Richard Tuck. Revised Student edition. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2002. I have the one with the plain blue
Hobbes De Cive
Hobbes, Thomas. Hobbes: On the Citizen. N.p.: Cambridge University Press, 1998. De Cive (On the Citizen) is frequently considered a rough draft of the Leviathan. Written in 1641 it was
Machiavelli, The Prince
Machiavelli, Niccolò. The Prince: Second Edition. United Kingdom: University of Chicago Press, 1998. If you want to know what early modern political thought is all about and you only have
Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics
Nicomachean Ethics. United Kingdom: Hackett Publishing Company, Incorporated, 2019. This is a key text for the discipline of ethics because it is asking the broader question of how
Plato Republic
Plato: ‘The Republic’. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2000. When you approach a text like Plato’s Republic, you need to read the whole introduction for context. Look at
Marx Communist Manifesto
Marx, Karl., Engels, Frederick. The Manifesto of the Communist Party: edited and annotated by Frederick Engels, authorized English translation International Publishers, New York first published
Kant What Is Enlightenment?
The edition of this text I relied on was the Cambridge University Press edition of Kant’s Political Writings. Kant, Immanuel. Kant: Political Writings. United States: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Enlightenment
Foucault, What is Enlightenment?
“What is Enlightenment ?” (“Qu’est-ce que les Lumières ?”), in Rabinow (P.), éd., The Foucault Reader, New York, Pantheon Books, 1984, pp. 32-50. I like
Dostoevsky, The Grand Inquisitor
This text is a section from the novel The Brothers Karamazov. I recommend reading the whole book. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. Ivan
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
This book reads like a strategy handbook for liberation from domination. Douglass’ strategy involved reading and writing. What does self education have to do with
Homer the Illiad
This is the story where we learn about what a Trojan horse is. The character of Achilles comes up later as he was an embodiment
Sophocles Oedipus Rex
This story is one so profound it lives on the tradition of Western political thought as a touchstone. How would we be able to understand
Homer The Odyssey
This is a hero’s journey that keeps coming up later in the history of political thought. Borges calls the first metaphor of the book one
Sophocles Antigone
This tragedy and others performed in front of the demos fulfilled the crucial social and political role of facilitating a catharsis in the audience. Spectating
Plato, Crito
I read a lot of the classic texts out of this compilation Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy: From Thales to Aristotle. United Kingdom: Hackett Publishing Company, Incorporated, 2016.
Plato, Euthyphro
This text is usually found in an edition with other dialogues, Euthyphro, Crito, Apology. Watch the Socratic method in action as Socrates and his interlocutors
Plato, Apology
Plato. The Dialogues of Plato. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. 3rd ed. 5 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1892 The apology is Socrates’ defense of
Plato, Gorgias
Translated by Zeyl, Donald J. Hackett Publishing, 1987. This dialogue brings up the thorniest questions in Philosophy and is a foundational text in epistemology– the
Sallust, Conspiracy of Catiline
Sallust. Catiline’s Conspiracy, The Jugurthine War, Histories. Translated and edited by William W. Batstone. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.o. Sallust was a Roman historian and
Cicero, In Catilium
Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Catilinam 1–4. Pro Murena. Pro Sulla. Pro Flacco, trans./ed. C.MacDonald ([Boston: Loeb Classical Library, 1976) These orations address the issue of
Livy, Histories of Rome
Livy. The Early History of Rome. United Kingdom: Penguin Books Limited, 2005. This text is a cultural treasure with some of the most known stories, such as the birth
Polybius, Histories
Hultsch, Fridericus (Friedrich Otto)., Shuckburgh, Evelyn S. (Evelyn Shirley)., Polybius. The Histories of Polybius. United States: Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2025. Chapter VI On the Forms of States is arguably the most important
Aristotle, Politics
The Politics, and the Constitution of Athens. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Passages of Focus Book I, 1-2; Book II, 1-2; Book III, 6-13; Book IV, 11-13
Tacitus, Agricola
Tacitus, Cornelius. The Agricola: and The Germania. United Kingdom: Penguin Books, 1971. I read the Penguin Classic edition with the Agricola and the Germania. This version is a revision of
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War
The Landmark Thucydides edited by Robert B Strassler Passages of Focus Pericles Funeral Oration 2.34.8- 2.46 p.110- 118 Plague – 2.47- 2.66 p.118-128 Melian Dialogue