The most important works in 20th century philosophy

A list based on philosopher Douglas Lackey’s 1999 survey of philosophers. The results were published in The Philosophical Forum.

Interesting that the full list is dominated by works in epistemology. Metaphysics and ethics are less represented by a significant margin.

wittgenstein

The top ten books cited:
1. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations [179 citations]
2. Heidegger, Being and Time [134]
3. Rawls, A Theory of Justice [131]
4. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus [77]
5. Russell & Whitehead, Principia Mathematica [64]
6. Quine, Word and Object [63]
7. Kripke, Naming and Necessity [56]
8. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions [51]
9. Sartre, Being and Nothingness [38]
10. Whitehead, Process and Reality [34]

What results would a new survey generate, now that we are well into the next century and have a longer perspective to evaluate the 1900s?

Related: See my episodes on Heidegger, Russell, Kuhn, and Sartre in the Philosophers, Explained series:

2 thoughts on “The most important works in 20th century philosophy”

  1. Where is the book that sums all and, if not points to transcendence of them, gives invaluable perspective for reading them? AFTER VIRTUE

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