Recently on Bluesky, I did one of those things where people post about things (in this case, books) that have “influenced them or stayed with them.” I enjoyed doing it because it was also an occasion to think a little about my intellectual development. It occured to me that the list would have been quite different if I had compiled it as an undergraduate or graduate student. Likewise, should I live so long, my list in another decade or two might look quite different. This list speaks ultimately to my thinking and my library today.
Aside from selecting which books have influenced you, it’s challenging to consider what to leave out. There are many other books that didn’t make the list below but that also have been important to me. I arbitrarily excluded Biblical texts and novels. Some of these probably should be on the list, but you have to make judgment calls when a list is limited to 20 items, which is probably too long anyway for readers on social media!
For what it's worth, I don't interpret "influence" as suggesting that I take myself to understand the significance of these works (whatever that might mean) and that this is what I carry with me. Instead, what I mean is that I have read these books, and the books provoked me in some way that did not fade over time. In different ways, each of these books remains present to my thinking.
Here's my list. (I'm leaving out publication information because with lots of these books, there are multiple editions and translations.)
1. Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
2. Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Philosophical Investigations
3. Collingwood, R. G., The Principles of Art
4. The Zhuangzi
5. Gutiérrez, Gustavo, A Theology of Liberation
6. Monk, Ray, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius7. Cavell, Stanley, The Claim of Reason
8. Diamond, Cora, The Realistic Spirit
9. Kierkegaard, Søren, Concluding Unscientific Postscript
10. Horwich, Paul, Truth
11. Putnam, Hilary, Renewing Philosophy
12. Smart, Ninian, Dimensions of the Sacred
13. Asad, Talal, Genealogies of Religion
14. Sells, Michael, Mystical Languages of Unsaying
15. Masuzawa, Tomoko, The Invention of World Religions
16. Popkin, Richard, The History of Scepticism
17. The Analects
18. Appiah, Kwame Anthony, Cosmopolitanism
19. Yang, Fenggang, Religion in China
20. Baldwin, James, The Fire Next Time
Not a big surprise that Wittgenstein looms large over my list, but I tried to contain it as much as possible. (So, other works of Wittgenstein's and Wittgenstein interpretation were left off the list.) Other books in the list reflect either Wittgenstein-adjacent philosophy, existential contemplation, theology, and/or historical and historiographical work in philosophy and religious studies.
Many books were left on the shelf, as it were. My extended list also included these books --
Alston, William, Perceiving God
Ames, Roger, Confucian Role Ethics
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics
Augustine, Confessions
Beauvoir, Simone de, The Second Sex
Clayton, John, Religions, Reasons, and Gods (left off the list because I played a role in preparing the posthumous manuscript for publication).
Davidson, Donald, Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation
Dennett, Daniel, Consciousness Explained
Goldman, Alvin, Epistemology and Cognition
Hadot, Pierre, Philosophy as a Way of Life
Hume, David, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Johnson, Ian, The Souls of China
Montaigne, Michel de, Apology for Raymond Sebond
Nagel, Thomas, The View from Nowhere
Neville, Robert, The Truth of Broken Symbols
Nietzsche, Friedrich, On the Genealogy of Morals
Phillips, D. Z., Wittgenstein and Religion
Plato, Republic
Putnam, Hilary, Realism with a Human Face
Quine, W. V. O., Word and Object
Sartre, Jean-Paul, No Exit
Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Scepticism
Taylor, Charles, The Ethics of Authenticity
Tillich, Paul, The Courage to Be
Wiesel, Elie, Night
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, On Certainty
The Xunzi
It also occurred to me when making the list that many of the works that had the most influence on me have been articles, and that this book-focused portrait of intellectual influence completely ignores that dimension. Maybe one day I will write up a sequel on 20 or so articles that have likewise influenced my thinking.
