I am an undergrad student en route to graduation in Dec 2010. I am a Philosophy major, and feel as though there is a great deal I am not yet at all familiar with. I'm not sure why, if it has to do with the classes I've chosen to take or just the limited course offerings at my school--- but I do not feel comfortable graduating and attempting to move on to a graduate program in Philosophy without this basic foundation.

Regardless of the reason, I feel that I need to really brush up on some important philosophers and their ideas. I am looking for a comprehensive list of philosophers I should read, and any significant commentaries on their writings. I would also like something that breaks down a history of philosophical thought so that I can generate some sort of time-line along which to organize the progression of ideas.

I've visited epistemelinks.com, and there is an enormous list--- while I'd like to read them all, I know that is not feasible. There is also the issue that a lot of what I find there are original texts only-- since I'm taking this on as an independent endeavor, without the benefit of a professor to help break things down or a class discussion to help clarify things, it would be extremely beneficial to have not only the original texts but also some sort of commentary or discussion of the text to go along with it.

If anyone is aware of some solid books or websites I should check out, please let me know. The winter break is coming up and since I'm only taking one class during that time, I'd like to focus quite a bit on getting a good handle on this when I have the time to do so.

Thanks!

Plato and Aristotle are probably the most important in terms of early thinking. Their metaphysics influenced subsequent philosophers into the middle ages and even into modern times.

Modern philosophy probably had its beginning with Descartes and his distinction between the mental and physical paved the way for science.

The empirical philosophers, mainly Locke and Hume took Descartes distinction seriously and further developed scientific ideas. Hume is most important here.

Rationalist philosophers such as Berkeley rejected empirical philosophy in the hope of further developing metaphysical theories. With the advent of science, metaphysics became unpopular until Kant revived the discipline in his famous, "Critique of Pure Reason"

It is pretty much impossible to sum up Western philosophy in a few paragraphs. If you can tell me the philosophers you are most familiar with I might be able to suggest how to fill in the gaps.

Once you have read

And try to read

Your own self I'm sure

All other philosophies will seem


Asuseless as mere works of imagination...