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A number of useful, introductory philosophy books are listed below. This list plus a number of specialist reading lists on the areas of philosophy covered at A level can also be downloaded in Word or PDF format below.

The reading lists have been taken from Philosophy for AS and A2 (Routledge 2004), edited by Elizabeth Burns and Stephen Law - with thanks to Routledge and the authors for permission to use this material and their comments. The supporting website also has recommendations of related titles published by Routledge relevant to the AS or A2 Level. In the reading lists below, there are additional recommendations at the end of each section, separated by a line space. Recommendations by A level teachers are collected together in a separate section.

Further reading lists can be found in Baggini, J. Philosophy: Key Themes and Philosophy: Key Texts (both Palgrave MacMillan 2002). There is also further, topic-specific recommended reading in many of the talk handouts.

A note for Philosophy and Ethics

Although the lists have been organized according to the AQA AS and A2 Philosophy Units, the general, ethics and religion lists will prove useful to those studying Religious Studies AS and A2 for OCR, AQA or Edexcel. Also of relevance will be the recommendations on Plato's Republic and Descartes' Meditations, under 'AS Texts'.

General introductions to philosophy

• Nagel, T. What Does it All Mean?, OUP 1987
• Law, S. The Philosophy Files (Orion 2002), The Outer Limits (Orion 2003), The Philosophy Gym (Hodder Headline 2003): collections of very accessible short pieces on a whole host of philosophical puzzles
• Craig, E. Philosophy: a Very Short Introduction, OUP 2002
• Blackburn, S. Think, OUP 2001
• Hollis, M. Invitation to Philosophy, Blackwell 1997: a longer, more demanding introduction than those above, but a model of clarity
• Morton, A. Philosophy in Practice, Blackwell 1995: as with Hollis
• Teichman, J. Philosophy: A Beginner's Guide, Blackwell 1991: as with Hollis
• Horner, C. & Westacott, E. Thinking Through Philosophy, CUP
• Blackburn, S. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, OUP 1996
• Warburton, N. Philosophy: the Basics (4th ed.), Routledge 2004
• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: an excellent and constantly growing resource; too detailed for students' purposes, but teachers may find some of the articles useful, if challenging
• Grayling, A. (ed.) Philosophy: A Guide Through the Subject and Philosophy 2: Further Through the Subject: specifically written for undergraduates at the University of London, the articles give clear and concise coverage of central philosophical issues

Mel Thompson has written a large number of books on A level philosophy and religious studies; see his webpage, www.mel-thompson.co.uk, for further details.

There are a number of good journals that frequently have articles both relevant and accessible to A level students, including:

• Think
• The Philosopher's Magazine
• Philosophy Now
• Richmond Journal of Philosophy

Reading list downloads

General Introductions	Word Pdf
Theory of Knowledge	Word Pdf
Moral Philosophy	Word Pdf
Philosophy of Religion	Word Pdf
AS Texts	Word Pdf
Philosophy of Mind	Word Pdf
Political Philosophy	Word Pdf
Philosophy of Science	Word Pdf
A2 Texts	Word Pdf
Teacher Recommendations	Word Pdf

**Updated with 30 new handouts in March 2005**

Subscribe now to access ALP's exclusive range of teaching resources and revision aids, written by speakers at ALP conferences - all leading experts in the syllabus subjects.

An annual subscription entitles you to access our extensive resources area at any time until the end of the current academic year (31 August 2005). The resources include over 90 handouts from talks given to A level students and teachers on topics from the AQA philosophy syllabus and the OCR, Edexcel and AQA syllabi in religious studies.

With an ALP subscription, you will have access to:

• 26 handouts on ethics
• 35 handouts on philosophy of religion
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Phenomenalism	Word Pdf

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