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Translation Roadmap

Prioritized Latin works for translation. Less than 3% of Renaissance Latin literature has ever been translated into English. These are the gaps that matter most.

The Foundation: Ficino

Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) translated the Renaissance into being. His translations of Plato, Plotinus, and the Hermetic corpus shaped European thought for centuries - but most of his own commentaries and original works remain untranslated.

  1. Ficino, Commentaries on Plato's Dialogues
    Florence: Lorenzo de'Medici / Laurentius de Alopa, 1484
    Only Symposium commentary translated (Jayne). Phaedrus, Republic, Timaeus, Parmenides, Laws commentaries unavailable.
    View on Internet Archive →
  2. Ficino, Commentary on Plotinus's Enneads
    Florence: Antonio Miscomini, 1492
    Shaped how Europe understood Neoplatonism for centuries. Completely untranslated.
    View on Internet Archive →
  3. Ficino, De mysteriis Aegyptiorum (on Iamblichus)
    Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1497
    Ficino's interpretive summary of Iamblichus on theurgy - not just a translation. He gave the work its famous title.
    View on Internet Archive →
  4. Ficino, Theologia Platonica
    Florence: Antonio Miscomini, 1482
    His masterwork on the immortality of the soul. I Tatti translation exists (Allen/Hankins) but expensive. Open-access needed.
    View on Internet Archive →
  5. Ficino, De vita libri tres
    Florence: Antonio Miscomini, 1489
    Three Books on Life - astral magic and medicine. Kaske/Clark translation exists but scholarly apparatus dated.
    View on Internet Archive →
  6. Ficino, De Christiana religione
    Florence: Niccolò di Lorenzo della Magna, 1474
    On the Christian Religion. His defense of Christianity through Platonic philosophy. Completely untranslated.
    View on Internet Archive →
  7. Ficino, Consiglio contro la pestilenzia
    Florence: Bartolomeo de' Libri, 1481
    Advice against the Plague. Medical treatise combining Platonic philosophy with practical medicine. Latin ed. Augsburg 1518.
    View on Internet Archive →
  8. Ficino, Epistolae (Letters)
    Venice: Matteo Capcasa, 1495
    12 books of letters - philosophical correspondence with all of Europe. Only selections translated.
    View on Internet Archive →
  9. Ficino, Opera Omnia
    Basel: Henricus Petrina, 1576
    Complete works in 2 folio volumes. The standard edition for all Ficino scholarship.
    View on Internet Archive →

Famous Figures: The Gaps

Major untranslated works by well-known Renaissance thinkers. High name recognition, strong interest.

  1. Pico della Mirandola, Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem
    Bologna: Benedictus Hectoris (posthumous), 1496
    His longest work (12 books). Influenced Kepler. Completely untranslated.
    View on Internet Archive →
  2. Pico della Mirandola, Conclusiones DCCCC (900 Theses)
    Rome: Eucharius Silber, 1486
    Farmer translation (1998) expensive. Needs open-access edition.
    View on Internet Archive →
  3. Giordano Bruno, De immenso et innumerabilibus
    Frankfurt: Johann Wechel & Peter Fischer, 1591
    655 pages on infinite universe. Written before his execution.
    View on Internet Archive →
  4. Giordano Bruno, De monade, numero et figura
    Frankfurt: Johann Wechel & Peter Fischer, 1591
    Pythagorean number mysticism. ~150 pages. More feasible.
    View on Internet Archive →
  5. Agrippa, De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum
    Antwerp: Johannes Grapheus, 1530
    MORE popular than Occult Philosophy in his lifetime. 1569 English archaic.
    View on Internet Archive →
  6. Agrippa, De nobilitate et praecellentia foeminei sexus
    Antwerp: Michael Hillenius, 1529
    Proto-feminist treatise. Short, accessible.
    View on Internet Archive →
  7. Robert Fludd, Tractatus Apologeticus
    Leiden: Godefridus Basson, 1617
    Defense of Rosicrucians. 196 pages. Good starting point.
    View on Internet Archive →
  8. Robert Fludd, Utriusque Cosmi Historia
    Oppenheim: Johann Theodore de Bry, 1617-21
    Famous De Bry engravings. 2000+ pages - needs selections.
    View on Internet Archive →
  9. Kircher, Arithmologia
    Rome: Varesii, 1665
    Number mysticism. 301 pages. Feasible Kircher.
    View on Internet Archive →
  10. Kircher, Iter Exstaticum Coeleste
    Rome: Vitalis Mascardi, 1656
    Cosmic voyage through heavens. Dialogue format.
    View on Internet Archive →

Renaissance Curiosities

Fascinating illustrated works with crossover appeal - monsters, machines, unicorns, witchcraft, and wonders.

  1. Lycosthenes, Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon
    Basel: Henricus Petri, 1557
    ~1,500 woodcuts
    Chronicle of prodigies from Creation to 1557.
    View on Internet Archive →
  2. Aldrovandi, Monstrorum historia
    Bologna: Nicolò Tebaldini (posthumous), 1642
    ~450 woodcuts
    Dragons, mythical races. Founder of natural history.
    View on Internet Archive →
  3. Veranzio, Machinae novae
    Venice: s.n., 1615
    49 plates
    First printed parachute ('Homo Volans'). SHORT.
    View on Internet Archive →
  4. Besson, Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum
    Lyon: Barthélemy Vincent, 1578
    60 engraved plates
    War machines, instruments. Du Cerceau engravings.
    View on Internet Archive →
  5. Bartholin, De unicornu observationes novae
    Amsterdam: Henricus Wetstein, 1678
    20+ engravings
    Comprehensive unicorn treatise by Romeyn de Hooghe.
    View on Internet Archive →
  6. Trithemius, Steganographia
    Frankfurt: Johann Berner, 1606
    Appears to be angel magic, actually cryptography. On Index 1609-1900.
    View on Internet Archive →
  7. Guazzo, Compendium maleficarum
    Milan: Collegium Ambrosianum, 1608
    33 woodcuts
    Most illustrated witchcraft manual. Sabbath scenes.
    View on Internet Archive →
  8. Kircher, Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae
    Rome: Lodovico Grignani, 1646
    38 plates
    First magic lantern description. Foundational for cinema.
    View on Internet Archive →
  9. Apian, Astronomicum Caesareum
    Ingolstadt: Peter Apian, 1540
    21 volvelles, 58 woodcuts
    Paper computers. Dragon diagrams. Spectacular.
    View on Internet Archive →
  10. Barozzi, Il nobilissimo giuoco de Rithmomachia
    Venice: Gratioso Perchacino, 1572
    The Philosopher's Game - medieval mathematical board game.
  11. Horapollo, Hieroglyphica
    Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1505
    195 woodcuts (1543 ed.)
    Wrong about hieroglyphics but hugely influential.
    View on Internet Archive →

Natural Philosophy & Early Science

Where Renaissance magic meets emerging science. Illustrated treatises on optics, magnetism, and nature.

  1. Della Porta, Magiae naturalis libri XX
    Naples: Horatius Salvianus, 1589
    Most influential natural magic text. 1658 English outdated.
    View on Internet Archive →
  2. Della Porta, De humana physiognomonia
    Vico Equense: Joseph Cacchius, 1586
    Famous human-animal comparison woodcuts.
    View on Internet Archive →
  3. Cardano, De subtilitate rerum
    Nuremberg: Johann Petreius, 1550
    21 books on nature. Major gap in history of science.
    View on Internet Archive →
  4. Gilbert, De Magnete
    London: Peter Short, 1600
    First scientific study of magnetism. Terrella diagrams.
    View on Internet Archive →
  5. Libavius, Alchemia
    Frankfurt: Johann Saur, 1597
    First systematic chemistry textbook.
    View on Internet Archive →
  6. Severinus, Idea medicinae philosophicae
    Basel: Sixtus Henricpetri, 1571
    THE systematization of Paracelsus. Completely untranslated.
    View on Internet Archive →
  7. Vesalius, De humani corporis fabrica
    Basel: Johannes Oporinus, 1543
    200+ woodcuts
    Richardson/Carman translation expensive. Open-access needed.
    View on Internet Archive →
  8. Tycho Brahe, Astronomiae instauratae mechanica
    Wandesburg: Levinus Hulsius, 1598
    21 hand-colored
    Instrument illustrations. Only 60-100 copies made.
    View on Internet Archive →

Hermetica & Kabbalah

The esoteric tradition - Hermetic philosophy, Christian Kabbalah, and prisca theologia.

  1. Patrizi, Nova de universis philosophia
    Ferrara: Benedictus Mammarellus, 1591
    Major Hermetic cosmology. Hermes, Zoroaster, Orpheus.
    View on Internet Archive →
  2. Steuco, De perenni philosophia libri X
    Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1540
    Coined 'philosophia perennis' - later Leibniz, Huxley.
    View on Internet Archive →
  3. Reuchlin, De verbo mirifico
    Basel: Johann Amerbach, 1494
    First Christian Kabbalistic work. Wonder-working word.
    View on Internet Archive →
  4. Giorgi, De harmonia mundi totius
    Venice: Bernardino de Vitali, 1525
    Pythagorean harmony + Kabbalah. Influenced Dee, Fludd.
    View on Internet Archive →
  5. Khunrath, Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae
    Hamburg: s.n. (expanded ed. 1609), 1595
    Famous Laboratory-Oratory engravings. Difficult Latin.
    View on Internet Archive →
  6. Maier, Atalanta fugiens
    Oppenheim: Johann Theodore de Bry, 1617
    50 emblems + fugues
    Alchemical emblem book with music.
    View on Internet Archive →

Alchemy & Rosicruciana

The chemical philosophy and Rosicrucian movement.

  1. Schweighardt, Speculum Sophicum Rhodo-Stauroticum
    s.l.: s.n., 1618
    Key Rosicrucian text. Famous 'Collegium' engraving. SHORT.
    View on Internet Archive →
  2. Fludd, Philosophia Moysaica
    Gouda: Petrus Rammazenius, 1638
    Mosaic philosophy. More feasible than Utriusque Cosmi.
    View on Internet Archive →
  3. Sennert, De chymicorum consensu ac dissensu
    Wittenberg: Zacharias Schurer, 1619
    Reconciling Paracelsus with Aristotle. Influenced Boyle.
    View on Internet Archive →

Mind, Memory & Machines

Precursors to artificial intelligence - combinatorics, automata, artificial memory, universal languages, and early cognitive science.

  1. Ramon Llull, Ars Magna
    Rome: [various early eds.], 1305 (printed 1480)
    The foundation of combinatorial logic. Rotating discs generate all concept combinations. Leibniz cited as inspiration for calculus ratiocinator.
    View on Internet Archive →
  2. Giordano Bruno, De umbris idearum
    Paris: Aegidius Gorbinus, 1582
    Artificial memory through combinatorial image generation. Mechanical method for producing mental representations.
    View on Internet Archive →
  3. Giordano Bruno, De imaginum, signorum et idearum compositione
    Frankfurt: Johann Wechel, 1591
    His most elaborate memory system. Combination of images and signs for artificial cognition.
    View on Internet Archive →
  4. Kircher, Polygraphia nova et universalis
    Rome: Varesii, 1663
    Universal language with combinatorial rules. Pasigraphy - writing understood by all nations.
    View on Internet Archive →
  5. Kircher, Musurgia universalis
    Rome: Francesco Corbelletti, 1650
    Contains the ARCA MUSARITHMICA - a mechanical device for automatic musical composition. First algorithmic composition.
    View on Internet Archive →
  6. Leibniz, Dissertatio de arte combinatoria
    Leipzig: Johann Simon Fick, 1666
    Explicitly builds on Llull. Outlines the 'calculus ratiocinator' - a universal reasoning machine. Foundation of computer science.
    View on Internet Archive →
  7. Vives, De anima et vita libri tres
    Basel: Robert Winter, 1538
    First empirical psychology. Studies cognition, memory, emotions. Major influence on Descartes.
    View on Internet Archive →
  8. Ramus, Dialecticae libri duo
    Paris: Andreas Wechel, 1556
    Reformed logic and method. Dichotomous classification trees - precursor to decision trees.
    View on Internet Archive →
  9. Albertus Magnus, De mineralibus
    Cologne: Johann Birckmann, c.1260 (printed 1518)
    Contains the legend of his TALKING HEAD - an automaton that could answer questions. Medieval AI folklore.
    View on Internet Archive →
  10. Hero of Alexandria, Spiritalia (Pneumatica)
    Urbino: Federico Commandino (trans.), 1st c. CE (Latin 1575)
    Ancient automata - self-opening doors, mechanical birds, coin-operated machines. Renaissance engineers studied this.
    View on Internet Archive →
  11. Agrippa, De occulta philosophia (Book III)
    Cologne: Johann Soter, 1533
    Book III on ceremonial magic includes theory of 'artificial spirits' and animated statues.
    View on Internet Archive →
  12. Plotinus, Enneads (Ficino trans.)
    Florence: Antonio Miscomini, 1492
    First Latin Plotinus. Theory of NOUS (divine intellect), emanation, levels of consciousness. Foundation of Renaissance psychology.
    View on Internet Archive →
  13. Proclus, Institutio Theologica
    Florence: Antonio Miscomini, 1482 (Ficino trans.)
    Elements of Theology. Henads, divine intellect, chain of being. Hierarchical model of mind and reality.
    View on Internet Archive →
  14. Iamblichus, De mysteriis Aegyptiorum
    Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1497 (Ficino trans.)
    THEURGIC ANIMATION OF STATUES. How divine spirit can be invoked into material objects. Artificial ensoulment.
    View on Internet Archive →
  15. Ficino, Theologia Platonica
    Florence: Antonio Miscomini, 1482
    18 books on immortality of soul. Levels of consciousness from matter to God. Renaissance psychology's masterwork.
    View on Internet Archive →
  16. Cusanus, De docta ignorantia
    Strasbourg: Martin Flach, 1440 (printed 1488)
    LEARNED IGNORANCE - limits of human cognition. Infinite mind, coincidentia oppositorum. Proto-epistemology.
    View on Internet Archive →
  17. Porphyry, Isagoge (with Aristotle's Organon)
    Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1495-98
    Introduction to categories. The TREE OF PORPHYRY - first hierarchical classification. Precursor to taxonomies and ontologies.
    View on Internet Archive →
  18. Hermes Trismegistus, Asclepius
    Treviso: Gerardus de Lisa, 1471 (Ficino trans.)
    ANIMATED STATUES - 'gods made by man'. Artificial ensoulment through theurgy. Most explicit ancient text on creating artificial beings.
    View on Internet Archive →
  19. Turba Philosophorum, Auriferae artis (Turba)
    Basel: Petrus Perna, 1572
    Council of ancient philosophers debating alchemy. Transmutation of matter AND mind. Arabic-Latin compilation.
    View on Internet Archive →
  20. Paracelsus, Archidoxis magicae
    Basel: Petrus Perna, 1570
    Contains recipe for HOMUNCULUS - artificial human created in alchemical vessel. Most famous artificial life text.
    View on Internet Archive →
  21. Michael Maier, Atalanta Fugiens
    Oppenheim: Johann Theodor de Bry, 1617
    50 alchemical EMBLEMS with music. Multimedia alchemy - image, text, fugue. Transformation of matter and consciousness.
    View on Internet Archive →
  22. Sefer Yetzirah, Book of Formation
    Paris: Gulielmus Postellus (trans.), c.200 CE (Latin 1552)
    COMBINATORIAL CREATION through Hebrew letters. 22 letters + 10 sefirot = 32 paths. Foundation of Golem legend.
    View on Internet Archive →
  23. Reuchlin, De arte cabalistica
    Hagenau: Thomas Anshelm, 1517
    Christian Kabbalah. Divine names, letter permutation, mystical computation. Influenced Leibniz.
    View on Internet Archive →
  24. Pico della Mirandola, Conclusiones nongentae
    Rome: Eucharius Silber, 1486
    900 THESES including 47 Kabbalistic. 'Nothing proves divinity of Christ more than Kabbalah.' Syncretism of all traditions.
    View on Internet Archive →
  25. Gikatilla, Portae Lucis (Sha'arei Orah)
    Augsburg: Johann Miller, 1516 (Latin)
    Gates of Light. Sefirot as divine attributes. Paulus Ricius translation brought Kabbalah to Christians.
    View on Internet Archive →
  26. Avicenna, De anima (Liber sextus naturalium)
    Venice: Octavianus Scotus, 1508
    ACTIVE INTELLECT illuminates human minds. 'Flying man' thought experiment. Most influential medieval psychology.
    View on Internet Archive →
  27. al-Farabi, De intellectu et intellecto
    Venice: Octavianus Scotus, 1508 (with Avicenna)
    Hierarchy of intellects from God to humans. EMANATION of mind from divine source.
    View on Internet Archive →
  28. Averroes, Commentarium magnum in De anima
    Venice: Giunta, 1550
    UNITY OF INTELLECT - all humans share one Active Intellect. Scandalous thesis debated for centuries.
    View on Internet Archive →
  29. al-Kindi, De intellectu
    [Medieval translations], c.850 (Latin 12th c.)
    First Arabic philosopher. Four intellects: potential, actual, acquired, Agent. Foundation of Islamic psychology.
  30. Aquinas, Summa Theologica (Prima Pars, QQ. 50-64)
    Rome: various early eds., 1265-74
    DO ANGELS THINK? Questions on angelic knowledge, intellection without bodies, species of understanding.
    View on Internet Archive →
  31. Aquinas, De ente et essentia
    Venice: Baptista de Tortis, c.1256 (printed 1485)
    On Being and Essence. How immaterial beings exist and know. Key text on non-physical intelligence.
    View on Internet Archive →
  32. Duns Scotus, Quaestiones super libris De anima
    Lyon: Laurentius Durand, 1625
    Subtle Doctor on soul and cognition. Haecceity - 'thisness' of individual minds. Alternative to Thomism.
    View on Internet Archive →
  33. William of Ockham, Quaestiones in libros Physicorum
    Venice: Lazzaro de Soardi, c.1324 (printed 1491)
    Ockham's Razor applied to mind. Nominalism - only particulars exist. Stripped psychology to essentials.
  34. Pistis Sophia, Codex Askewianus
    Berlin: Schwetschke (Petermann ed.), 3rd c. CE (Latin 1851)
    Gnostic cosmology. DEMIURGE as ignorant craftsman. Levels of consciousness, ascent of soul.
    View on Internet Archive →
  35. Nag Hammadi, Apocryphon of John
    [Coptic, Latin excerpts in heresiologies], 2nd c. CE
    Secret Book of John. Yaldabaoth creates material world. Divine spark trapped in matter.
    View on Internet Archive →
  36. Valentinus, [Fragments in Clement, Irenaeus]
    [In Church Fathers' refutations], 2nd c. CE
    Sophia's fall creates material cosmos. Aeons as divine thoughts. Most sophisticated Gnostic psychology.
  37. Psellus, De operatione daemonum
    Paris: Guillaume Morel, 11th c. (Latin 1577)
    Byzantine dialogue on DEMONIC OPERATIONS. How demons think, perceive, communicate. Taxonomy of spirit types.
    View on Internet Archive →
  38. Nider, Formicarius
    Cologne: Johann Guldenschaff, c.1437 (printed 1480)
    The Ant-Hill. Early witch-trial manual. Demons grant knowledge and power. Pre-Malleus demonology.
    View on Internet Archive →
  39. Kramer & Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum
    Speyer: Peter Drach, 1486
    HAMMER OF WITCHES. Most infamous demonology. Demonic pacts, possession, illusions. How to detect and prosecute.
    View on Internet Archive →
  40. Bodin, De la démonomanie des sorciers
    Paris: Jacques du Puys, 1580
    Demonolatry of Sorcerers. Political philosopher on demons. Systematic demonology from Aristotelian perspective.
    View on Internet Archive →
  41. Nicolas Remy, Daemonolatreia
    Lyon: Vincentius, 1595
    Based on 900 WITCH TRIALS he conducted. Empirical demonology. How demons communicate, transport, transform.
    View on Internet Archive →
  42. Guazzo, Compendium maleficarum
    Milan: Collegio Ambrosiano, 1608
    Compendium of Witches. Famous ILLUSTRATIONS of demonic activity. Sabbaths, transformations, pacts.
    View on Internet Archive →
  43. Weyer, De praestigiis daemonum
    Basel: Johannes Oporinus, 1563
    On Demonic Illusions. SKEPTICAL demonology. Witches are deluded, not powerful. Early psychiatry. Influenced Freud.
    View on Internet Archive →
  44. Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft
    London: William Brome, 1584
    DEBUNKING witch-beliefs. Demons can't do what's claimed. Magic tricks exposed. King James ordered it burned.
    View on Internet Archive →
  45. King James I, Daemonologie
    Edinburgh: Robert Waldegrave, 1597
    King's treatise on demons. Dialogue form. Defends reality of witchcraft against Scot. Written before he became King of England.
    View on Internet Archive →
  46. Glanvill, Sadducismus triumphatus
    London: James Collins, 1681
    Triumph over Sadducees (who denied spirits). EMPIRICAL evidence for demons. Royal Society member defending spirits scientifically.
    View on Internet Archive →
  47. Sinistrari, De Daemonialitate
    Paris: Isidore Liseux, c.1680 (printed 1875)
    On Demoniality. Incubi and succubi as RATIONAL CREATURES distinct from humans. Non-human intelligences with bodies.
    View on Internet Archive →
  48. Trithemius, Steganographia
    Frankfurt: Johann Berner, 1499 (printed 1606)
    Appears to be demon-summoning manual. Actually CRYPTOGRAPHY disguised as magic. Angels = ciphers. Spirits = codes.
    View on Internet Archive →
  49. Philolaus, Fragments (in Stobaeus, Diogenes)
    [Collected in Diels-Kranz], 5th c. BCE
    First written Pythagorean doctrines. HARMONY holds cosmos together. Number is the bond of eternal being. Central fire cosmology.
  50. Archytas of Tarentum, Fragments
    [In Porphyry, Iamblichus], 4th c. BCE
    Pythagorean mathematician-philosopher. Built MECHANICAL DOVE (first recorded automaton). Mathematics of music, ratios, means.
    View on Internet Archive →
  51. Pythagorean Golden Verses, Chrysa Epe
    [Various Renaissance eds.], c.300 BCE (Latin medieval)
    Ethical catechism of Pythagoreanism. Daily self-examination. 'What have I done? What left undone?' Foundation of examined life.
    View on Internet Archive →
  52. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Philosophers (Book VIII)
    Rome: Giorgio Lauer, 3rd c. CE (Latin 1472)
    Most complete ancient biography of PYTHAGORAS. Metempsychosis, mathematical discoveries, secret doctrines, vegetarianism.
    View on Internet Archive →
  53. Iamblichus, De vita Pythagorica
    Heidelberg: Commelinus, c.300 CE (Latin 1598)
    Most elaborate ancient Life of Pythagoras. Secret teachings, miracles, mathematical mysticism, political theory.
    View on Internet Archive →
  54. Porphyry, Vita Pythagorae
    [In Opera, 1580], c.270 CE
    Neoplatonist biography. Pythagoras as divine sage. Soul's descent and ascent. Vegetarianism as spiritual practice.
    View on Internet Archive →
  55. Hierocles, Commentary on Golden Verses
    London: John Wolfe, 5th c. CE (Latin 1583)
    Late Neoplatonist ethics. Daily practice, self-examination, cosmic harmony. Virtue as attunement.
    View on Internet Archive →
  56. Pseudo-Iamblichus, Theologoumena arithmeticae
    Paris: Christian Wechel, c.300 CE (printed 1543)
    THEOLOGY OF NUMBER. Sacred meanings of 1-10. Monad, Dyad, Triad... Decade. Each number a divine principle.
    View on Internet Archive →
  57. Nicomachus, Introductio arithmetica
    Augsburg: Erhard Ratdolt, 1488, c.100 CE (Boethius Latin)
    NUMBER as basis of reality and mind. Pythagorean mathematics. 'All is number' - precursor to digital ontology.
    View on Internet Archive →
  58. Theon of Smyrna, Mathematics Useful for Understanding Plato
    Paris: Adrian Turnèbe, c.130 CE (Latin 1644)
    Arithmetic, music, astronomy, geometry - all for philosophy. NUMBER ratios explain reality. Platonic-Pythagorean synthesis.
    View on Internet Archive →
  59. Boethius, De institutione arithmetica
    Augsburg: Erhard Ratdolt, c.500 CE (printed 1488)
    Transmitted Pythagorean number theory to Middle Ages. Quadrivium foundation. Mathematics as mental discipline.
    View on Internet Archive →
  60. Boethius, De institutione musica
    Venice: Giovanni & Gregorio de' Gregorii, c.500 CE (printed 1491)
    MUSIC OF THE SPHERES codified. Three kinds: cosmic, human, instrumental. Ratios govern all harmony.
    View on Internet Archive →
  61. Calcidius, Timaeus (Latin trans. + Commentary)
    [Medieval MSS, printed 1520], 4th c. CE
    Only Plato available in medieval West. DEMIURGE as cosmic craftsman. World Soul. Foundation of cosmological psychology.
    View on Internet Archive →
  62. Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis
    Venice: Nicolas Jenson, c.400 CE (printed 1472)
    Dream of Scipio commentary. WORLD SOUL, cosmic music, descent of souls. Neoplatonist psychology transmitted to Middle Ages.
    View on Internet Archive →
  63. Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii
    Vicenza: Henricus de Sancto Ursio, 5th c. CE (printed 1499)
    Wedding of Mercury and Philology. Seven liberal arts personified. QUADRIVIUM curriculum established.
    View on Internet Archive →
  64. Ptolemy, Harmonica
    Venice: [in Opera], 2nd c. CE (Latin 1562)
    Mathematical music theory. Tuning systems, ratios, scales. COSMIC HARMONY demonstrated in sound.
    View on Internet Archive →
  65. Gaffurio, Theorica musice
    Milan: Filippo Mantegazza, 1492
    Renaissance music theory. Pythagorean proportions. Famous woodcuts of cosmic harmony, Orpheus, Pythagoras.
  66. Zarlino, Le istitutioni harmoniche
    Venice: [Author], 1558
    Foundation of modern music theory. Extended Pythagorean ratios. Major/minor triads. Harmony as mathematics.
    View on Internet Archive →
  67. Euclid, Elementa (Campanus ed.)
    Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 1482
    FIRST PRINTED MATHEMATICS BOOK. Books VII-IX on number theory are Pythagorean. Perfect numbers, primes, ratios.
    View on Internet Archive →
  68. Proclus, In primum Euclidis Elementorum
    Basel: Johann Hervagius, 5th c. CE (Latin 1533)
    Philosophy of mathematics. Numbers as divine thoughts. Geometry as access to eternal forms. MATHEMATICS = THEOLOGY.
    View on Internet Archive →
  69. Francesco Giorgi, De harmonia mundi totius
    Venice: Bernardino de Vitali, 1525
    COSMIC HARMONY synthesized. Kabbalistic Pythagoreanism. Musical proportions in architecture (influenced Palladio).
    View on Internet Archive →
  70. John Dee, Monas Hieroglyphica
    Antwerp: Willem Silvius, 1564
    Mathematical GLYPH containing all knowledge. Point, line, circle, cross = cosmos encoded. Pythagorean-Hermetic synthesis.
    View on Internet Archive →
  71. Robert Fludd, Utriusque cosmi historia
    Oppenheim: Johann Theodore de Bry, 1617-21
    Macrocosm and Microcosm. MUSIC OF SPHERES illustrated. Divine monochord. Most elaborate Pythagorean cosmology since antiquity.
    View on Internet Archive →
  72. Kepler, Mysterium cosmographicum
    Tübingen: Georg Gruppenbach, 1596
    PLATONIC SOLIDS nested in planetary orbits. Pythagorean geometry = cosmic structure. Divine mathematics in astronomy.
    View on Internet Archive →
  73. Kepler, Harmonices mundi
    Linz: Johann Planck, 1619
    HARMONY OF THE WORLD. Planetary motions produce music. Third law of motion discovered here. Climax of Pythagorean astronomy.
    View on Internet Archive →
  74. Zabarella, In tres Aristotelis libros de Anima commentarij
    Frankfurt: Lazarus Zetzner, 1605
    Paduan Aristotelian on soul and cognition. Most influential late scholastic De anima commentary. Taught Galileo.
    View on Internet Archive →
  75. Cesalpino, Daemonum investigatio peripatetica
    Florence: Giunta, 1593
    PERIPATETIC INVESTIGATION OF DEMONS. Can demons think? Aristotelian demonology. Also discovered blood circulation.
    View on Internet Archive →
  76. Matteolo Perusino, Tractatus de Memoria
    Bologna: Bazalerius de Bazaleriis, 1490
    Obscure but influential MEMORY treatise. Pre-dates Romberch. Medical approach to memory enhancement.
    View on Internet Archive →
  77. Giulio Camillo, L'idea del theatro
    Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino, 1550
    The MEMORY THEATER - physical structure encoding all knowledge. Seven grades, seven planets. Influenced Bruno.
    View on Internet Archive →
  78. Cardano, De subtilitate libri XXI
    Nuremberg: Johann Petreius, 1550
    21 books on EVERYTHING - cosmology, elements, metals, stones, plants, animals, man, soul, angels, God. Renaissance encyclopedia.
    View on Internet Archive →
  79. Scaliger, Exotericarum exercitationum liber XV de Subtilitate
    Paris: Michel de Vascosan, 1557
    377 EXERCITATIONES attacking Cardano. Massive polemic. Scaliger vs Cardano = intellectual warfare of the century.
    View on Internet Archive →
  80. Van Helmont, Ortus medicinae
    Amsterdam: Ludovicus Elzevir, 1648
    Birth of Medicine. Coined 'GAS'. Archeus as vital principle. Iatrochemistry. Anti-Galenic revolution.
    View on Internet Archive →
  81. Kenelm Digby, Discourse on the Powder of Sympathy
    London: R. Lownes, 1658
    WEAPON SALVE heals wounds at a distance. Action at a distance theory. Magnetism, sympathy, occult causation.
    View on Internet Archive →
  82. Glisson, Anatomia hepatis
    London: Octavian Pulleyn, 1654
    Anatomy of the liver. Coined IRRITABILITY - tissues respond to stimuli. Foundation of neurophysiology.
    View on Internet Archive →
  83. Biringuccio, De la Pirotechnia
    Venice: Venturino Roffinello, 1540
    First printed book on METALLURGY and fire arts. Smelting, casting, gunpowder, fireworks. Artisan knowledge codified.
    View on Internet Archive →
  84. Agricola, De re metallica
    Basel: Hieronymus Froben, 1556
    Mining and metallurgy encyclopedia. 292 WOODCUTS of machines. Hoover (future US president) translated it.
    View on Internet Archive →
  85. Robert Recorde, The Whetstone of Witte
    London: John Kingston, 1557
    INVENTED THE EQUALS SIGN (=). 'To avoide the tediouse repetition of these woordes: is equalle to.' English algebra.
    View on Internet Archive →
  86. Bombelli, L'Algebra
    Bologna: Giovanni Rossi, 1572
    Introduced COMPLEX NUMBERS (√-1). Solved cubic equations. 'Sophistic' quantities become respectable.
    View on Internet Archive →
  87. Commandino, Liber de centro gravitatis solidorum
    Bologna: Alessandro Benacci, 1565
    CENTER OF GRAVITY of solids. Revived Archimedes. Foundation of statics. Influenced Galileo.
    View on Internet Archive →
  88. Maurolico, Opuscula mathematica
    Venice: Francesco Franceschi, 1575
    Mathematical optics, conic sections. Sicilian polymath. Principle of MATHEMATICAL INDUCTION first stated.
    View on Internet Archive →
  89. Salomon de Caus, Les raisons des forces mouvantes
    Frankfurt: Jan Norton, 1615
    Garden automata, mechanical birds, grottoes with moving figures. Influenced European court gardens.
    View on Internet Archive →
  90. Caspar Schott, Magia universalis naturae et artis
    Würzburg: Heinrich Pigrin, 1657-59
    Kircher's student. 4 vols on optics, acoustics, mathematics, physics. Automata and mechanical devices.
    View on Internet Archive →
  91. Drebbel, Tractatus von Natur der Elementen
    Frankfurt: Lucas Jennis, 1608 (in 1624 ed.)
    Dutch inventor. Built FIRST FEEDBACK CONTROL SYSTEM - thermostat for incubator. Also submarine, perpetual motion clock. Proto-cybernetics.
    View on Internet Archive →
  92. Huygens, Horologium oscillatorium
    Paris: F. Muguet, 1673
    PENDULUM CLOCK theory. Isochronous oscillation. Foundation of precision timekeeping and CONTROL THEORY.
    View on Internet Archive →
  93. Wiener, Cybernetics
    New York: Wiley, 1948
    CYBERNETICS founded. 'Control and communication in the animal and the machine.' Feedback loops, homeostasis, information.
    View on Internet Archive →
  94. Banu Musa, Kitab al-Hiyal (Book of Ingenious Devices)
    [Medieval Latin translations], c.850 CE (Latin excerpts)
    Three brothers in Baghdad. 100 MECHANICAL DEVICES - automata, trick vessels, self-trimming lamps. Arabic engineering brilliance.
    View on Internet Archive →
  95. al-Khwarizmi, Kitab al-Jabr wa'l-Muqabala
    [Robert of Chester trans.], c.820 CE (Latin c.1145)
    Gave us 'ALGEBRA' and 'ALGORITHM'. Systematic equation-solving. Foundation of computational thinking.
    View on Internet Archive →
  96. Ibn Tufayl, Hayy ibn Yaqzan
    Oxford: Edward Pococke, c.1160 (Latin 1671)
    SELF-TAUGHT PHILOSOPHER - child raised by gazelle discovers truth through reason alone. Influenced Locke's tabula rasa.
    View on Internet Archive →
  97. Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Kitab al-Shifa (Healing)
    [Medieval translations], c.1027 (Latin selections)
    Encyclopedia of philosophy. FLYING MAN thought experiment - know yourself without body. Proof of immaterial soul.
    View on Internet Archive →
  98. Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Tahafut al-Tahafut
    Venice: [medieval trans.], 1180 (Latin 1328)
    Incoherence of the Incoherence. Defense of reason against al-Ghazali. UNITY OF INTELLECT - all minds share one divine reason.
    View on Internet Archive →
  99. Panini, Ashtadhyayi
    [Sanskrit, studied via commentaries], c.400 BCE
    FIRST FORMAL GRAMMAR - 4,000 rules generating all Sanskrit. Recursive, generative. Influenced Chomsky. 'Most rigorous grammar ever written.'
    View on Internet Archive →
  100. Gautama, Nyaya Sutra
    [Sanskrit with bhasyas], c.200 BCE
    Indian LOGIC. 16 categories of reasoning. Syllogism, inference, analogy. Debated by Buddhists and Hindus for millennia.
    View on Internet Archive →
  101. Dignaga, Pramanasamuccaya
    [Tibetan/Sanskrit], c.480 CE
    Buddhist EPISTEMOLOGY. Two valid sources: perception and inference. Apoha theory - meaning through exclusion. Logic as path to liberation.
    View on Internet Archive →
  102. Dharmakirti, Pramanavarttika
    [Tibetan/Sanskrit], c.650 CE
    Refinement of Dignaga. MOMENTARINESS of perception. No permanent self. Buddhist logic's pinnacle.
    View on Internet Archive →
  103. Vaisheshika Sutra, Kanada's Atomic Theory
    [Sanskrit philosophical texts], c.200 BCE
    ATOMIC THEORY of matter. Paramanu (atoms) combine to form reality. Categories of existence. Indian natural philosophy.
  104. Patanjali, Yoga Sutras
    [Sanskrit with commentaries], c.200 BCE
    STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS systematized. Chitta-vritti-nirodha - stilling mental fluctuations. Attention, concentration, samadhi.
    View on Internet Archive →
  105. Mohist Canon, Mo Jing
    [Chinese, Latin excerpts rare], c.300 BCE
    Chinese LOGIC and optics. Definitions, paradoxes, causation. Camera obscura. Rival to Aristotle in rigor. Mohism lost to Confucianism.
    View on Internet Archive →
  106. Gongsun Long, White Horse Dialogue
    [School of Names], c.300 BCE
    'WHITE HORSE IS NOT HORSE' - semantic paradoxes. Chinese sophistry. Universals vs particulars. Logic through paradox.
    View on Internet Archive →
  107. Liezi, Liezi (Book of Lieh-tzu)
    [Chinese, Latin 17th c.], c.300 BCE
    Contains AUTOMATON STORY - Yan Shi presents mechanical man to King Mu. Earliest robot fiction. 'Made of leather, wood, glue.'
    View on Internet Archive →
  108. Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi
    [Chinese classics], c.300 BCE
    DREAM ARGUMENT - am I a man dreaming of a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of being a man? Relativism of consciousness.
    View on Internet Archive →
  109. Xunzi, Xunzi (chapters on language)
    [Chinese philosophical texts], c.250 BCE
    RECTIFICATION OF NAMES - correct naming enables correct thinking. Language shapes cognition. Chinese philosophy of language.
    View on Internet Archive →
  110. Yi Jing, I Ching (Book of Changes)
    [Latin 1687 via Jesuits], c.1000 BCE
    BINARY SYSTEM of yin/yang lines. 64 hexagrams. Leibniz saw it and developed binary arithmetic. Ancient Chinese 'bits'.
    View on Internet Archive →
  111. Descartes, De homine (Traité de l'homme)
    Leiden: Moyardus & Leffen (posthumous), 1662
    The body as machine. Mechanistic physiology - nerves as pipes, brain as hydraulic system.
    View on Internet Archive →
  112. Pomponazzi, De immortalitate animae
    Bologna: Giustiniano da Rubiera, 1516
    Denied immortality of soul on Aristotelian grounds. Caused scandal. Proto-materialist.
    View on Internet Archive →
  113. Telesio, De rerum natura iuxta propria principia
    Naples: Horatius Salvianus, 1586
    Anti-Aristotelian naturalism. Nature explained by heat/cold, not forms. Influenced Bacon.
    View on Internet Archive →
  114. Wilkins, Essay towards a Real Character
    London: Royal Society, 1668
    Universal philosophical language. Systematic classification of all concepts. Influenced Leibniz.
    View on Internet Archive →
  115. Romberch, Congestorium artificiosae memoriae
    Venice: Melchior Sessa, 1520
    Memory palace technique systematized. Visual encoding of information. Precursor to data structures.
    View on Internet Archive →
  116. Publicius, Ars memorativa
    Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 1482
    First PRINTED memory treatise. Woodcut diagrams of memory systems.
    View on Internet Archive →
  117. Napier, Rabdologiae
    Edinburgh: Andrew Hart, 1617
    Napier's Bones - calculating rods for multiplication. First practical calculating device. Also describes 'local arithmetic' (binary!).
    View on Internet Archive →
  118. Ramelli, Le diverse et artificiose machine
    Paris: Author, 1588
    195 engraved plates
    Famous machine book. Reading wheel (bookwheel), pumps, cranes. Influenced all later machine treatises.
    View on Internet Archive →
  119. Zonca, Novo teatro di machine et edificii
    Padua: Pietro Bertelli, 1607
    42 plates
    Italian machine theater. Mills, presses, hydraulics.
    View on Internet Archive →
  120. Gómez Pereira, Antoniana Margarita
    Medina del Campo: Guillermo de Millis, 1554
    ARGUED ANIMALS ARE AUTOMATA - 90 years before Descartes! Spanish physician's radical mechanicism.
    View on Internet Archive →
  121. Della Porta, De furtivis literarum notis
    Naples: Johannes Maria Scotus, 1563
    First modern book on CRYPTOGRAPHY. Substitution ciphers, polyalphabetic systems.
    View on Internet Archive →
  122. Witelo, Perspectiva
    Nuremberg: Johannes Petreius, c.1275 (printed 1535)
    Medieval optics synthesizing Alhazen. Theory of vision and perception. 10 books.
    View on Internet Archive →
  123. Bacon, Novum Organum
    London: John Bill, 1620
    New method of scientific induction. Tables and exclusions - precursor to data analysis.
    View on Internet Archive →
  124. Boole, Laws of Thought
    London: Walton & Maberly, 1854
    Boolean algebra - foundation of digital computing. 'An Investigation of the Laws of Thought'.
    View on Internet Archive →
  125. Hobbes, De Corpore
    London: Andrew Crooke, 1655
    Mechanistic philosophy. 'Reasoning is but reckoning' - computation as thought.
    View on Internet Archive →
  126. La Mettrie, L'Homme Machine
    Leiden: Elie Luzac, 1747
    Man a Machine - radical materialist treatise. Extends Descartes to humans.
    View on Internet Archive →
  127. Leibniz, Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire
    Paris: Mémoires de l'Académie Royale, 1703
    BINARY ARITHMETIC explained. Connected to I Ching. Foundation of digital computing.
    View on Internet Archive →
  128. al-Jazari, Kitab fi ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya
    [Book of Ingenious Devices], 1206
    Islamic AUTOMATA - water clocks, musical robots, hand-washing peacock. Programmable mechanisms.
    View on Internet Archive →
  129. Frege, Begriffsschrift
    Halle: Louis Nebert, 1879
    First formal logic system. Predicate calculus - foundation of programming languages and AI.
    View on Internet Archive →
  130. Babbage, On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures
    London: Charles Knight, 1832
    Division of labor applied to calculation. Led to Analytical Engine concept.
    View on Internet Archive →
  131. Jevons, On the Mechanical Performance of Logical Inference
    London: Royal Society, 1870
    The LOGIC PIANO - first machine to perform logical operations. Predecessor to logic gates.
    View on Internet Archive →
  132. Peirce, On the Algebra of Logic
    American Journal of Mathematics, 1885
    Extended Boolean algebra. Invented truth tables. Foundational for computing.
    View on Internet Archive →
  133. Condorcet, Esquisse d'un tableau historique
    Paris: Agasse (posthumous), 1795
    Progress through reason. Probability applied to social science. Early data science thinking.
    View on Internet Archive →
  134. Jacquard, [Punched Card System]
    Lyon: [patents], 1804
    Punched cards controlling looms. Babbage adopted for Analytical Engine. First 'programming'.
  135. Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
    London: Thomas Bassett, 1689
    TABULA RASA - mind as blank slate. Ideas from sensation. Foundation of empiricist psychology.
    View on Internet Archive →
  136. Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature
    London: John Noon, 1739
    Bundle theory of self - no continuous 'I'. Radical skepticism about personal identity.
    View on Internet Archive →
  137. Berkeley, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
    Dublin: Aaron Rhames, 1710
    Esse est percipi - to be is to be perceived. Idealism about mind and world.
    View on Internet Archive →
  138. Spinoza, Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata
    Amsterdam: Jan Rieuwertsz (posthumous), 1677
    Mind and body as ONE substance. Parallelism. Emotions as confused ideas.
    View on Internet Archive →
  139. Descartes, Les Passions de l'Âme
    Paris: Henry Le Gras, 1649
    Mind-body interaction via pineal gland. Classification of emotions. Dualism's last defense.
    View on Internet Archive →
  140. Melanchthon, Liber de anima
    Wittenberg: Joseph Klug, 1540
    Protestant psychology. Soul's faculties. Most-used textbook on mind in 16th century.
    View on Internet Archive →
  141. Wolff, Psychologia empirica
    Frankfurt: Renger, 1732
    COINED 'psychology' as a science. Empirical vs rational psychology distinction.
    View on Internet Archive →
  142. Condillac, Traité des sensations
    Paris: De Bure, 1754
    The STATUE thought experiment - consciousness built from pure sensation. Radical sensationalism.
    View on Internet Archive →
  143. Hartley, Observations on Man
    London: Samuel Richardson, 1749
    ASSOCIATIONISM - all mental life from association of ideas. Vibrations in nerves. Proto-neuroscience.
    View on Internet Archive →
  144. Wundt, Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie
    Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1874
    Founded EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY. First psychology laboratory (1879). Scientific study of consciousness.
    View on Internet Archive →

Sanskrit Logic & Philosophy of Mind

India produced 30+ million manuscripts - 100x more than Greek and Latin combined. Less than 1% translated. These texts on logic, language, and consciousness anticipate modern AI by millennia.

  1. Bhartṛhari, Vākyapadīya
    [Sanskrit manuscripts], 5th c. CE
    SPHOṬA THEORY - meaning isn't in sounds but in the 'burst' of whole word/sentence. Anticipates holistic semantics, Gestalt, compositionality debates in NLP.
    View on Internet Archive →
  2. Bhartṛhari, Vākyapadīya Kāṇḍa I (Subramania Iyer ed.)
    Deccan College, Poona, 5th c. CE (1966 ed.)
    Critical edition with English translation. BRAHMAN IS WORD - language as foundation of reality.
    View on Internet Archive →
  3. Mallisena Sūri, Syādvāda-mañjarī
    Motilal Banarsidass (F.W. Thomas trans. 1968), 13th c. CE
    SEVEN-VALUED LOGIC (Saptabhaṅgī) - 2000 years before Łukasiewicz! Maybe is, maybe isn't, maybe both, maybe indescribable... English trans. available but rare.
    View on Internet Archive →
  4. Samantabhadra, Āptamīmāṃsā
    [Sanskrit with English], 2nd c. CE
    ANEKĀNTAVĀDA - non-one-sidedness. Reality has multiple aspects no single predicate captures. Partial knowledge, multi-perspective reasoning.
    View on Internet Archive →
  5. Gaṅgeśa, Tattvacintāmaṇi (Pratyakṣa Khaṇḍa)
    Asiatic Society, Calcutta (1888), 13th c. CE
    JEWEL OF THOUGHT - founded Navya-Nyāya. 850 pages on perception. Technical metalanguage for inference.
    View on Internet Archive →
  6. Gaṅgeśa, Tattvacintāmaṇi (Anumāna Khaṇḍa)
    Bloomsbury (Stephen Phillips, 2024), 13th c. CE
    INFERENCE section - vyāpti (pervasion), how to establish universal rules. NOW FULLY TRANSLATED (3-vol Phillips edition).
    View on Internet Archive →
  7. Raghunātha Śiromaṇi, Tattvacintāmaṇi-Dīdhiti
    [Various Sanskrit eds.], 16th c. CE
    THE CORE OF NAVYA-NYĀYA. Developed formal metalanguage. India's 'Principia Mathematica'. UNTRANSLATED.
    View on Internet Archive →
  8. Vasubandhu, Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya
    [Sanskrit + Yasomitra commentary], 4th c. CE
    TAXONOMY OF 75 MENTAL FACTORS - attention, intention, perception, memory, reasoning. Closest to cognitive architecture in ancient thought.
    View on Internet Archive →
  9. Vasubandhu, Abhidharmakośa (Poussin translation)
    Paris: Paul Geuthner, 4th c. CE (French 1923)
    French translation of the 'Treasury of Higher Knowledge'. Buddhist psychology systematized.
    View on Internet Archive →
  10. Dignāga, Pramāṇasamuccaya
    University of Mysore, c. 480 CE
    COMPENDIUM OF VALID COGNITION. Two sources: perception and inference. Foundation of Buddhist logic.
    View on Internet Archive →
  11. Dharmakīrti, Pramāṇavārttika
    Bauddha Bharati (1968), c. 650 CE
    APOHA THEORY - meaning through exclusion. 'Cow' = 'not non-cow'. Anticipates contrastive learning. 771MB scan.
    View on Internet Archive →
  12. Dharmakīrti, Pramāṇavārttika Parts I-II (Yogindranand)
    [Sanskrit critical ed.], c. 650 CE
    High-resolution (600 PPI) Sanskrit text. Only chapters 1 & 4 have partial trans. (Nagatomi, Tillemans). NO COMPLETE English.
    View on Internet Archive →
  13. Gautama, Nyāya Sūtra with Vātsyāyana Bhāṣya
    Panini Office (1913), c. 200 BCE / 450 CE
    FOUNDATION OF INDIAN LOGIC. 528 aphorisms on inference, perception, debate. 1913 translation exists but archaic.
    View on Internet Archive →
  14. Jayanta Bhaṭṭa, Nyāya-mañjarī
    MLBD, 9th c. CE
    COMPENDIUM OF SPECULATIVE LOGIC. Synthesizes Nyāya on valid knowledge, inference patterns, debate fallacies.
    View on Internet Archive →
  15. Annambhaṭṭa, Tarkasaṅgraha
    [Various], 17th c. CE
    15-PAGE PRIMER covering all Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika basics. 7 categories, 4 knowledge sources, inference structure. Perfect starting point.
    View on Internet Archive →
  16. Udayana, Nyāya-kusumāñjali
    Chowkhamba (1957), 10th c. CE
    9 LOGICAL PROOFS FOR GOD. Rigorous inference patterns on causation, design, infinite regress.
    View on Internet Archive →
  17. Jaimini / Śabara, Mīmāṃsā Sūtra with Śabara Bhāṣya
    Mohan Lal Sandal (1923), c. 200 BCE / 100 CE
    PHILOSOPHY OF MEANING - how words refer, sentence vs word meaning, injunctive force. Foundation of Indian semantics.
    View on Internet Archive →
  18. Kumārila Bhaṭṭa, Ślokavārttika
    [Sanskrit], 7th c. CE
    Defense of Vedic authority through LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS. Word-meaning relations, eternality of language.
    View on Internet Archive →
  19. Kaṇāda, Vaiśeṣika Sūtra
    Nandalal Sinha (1911), c. 200 BCE
    ATOMIC THEORY OF MATTER. Paramāṇu (atoms) combine to form reality. 7 categories of existence.
    View on Internet Archive →
  20. Praśastapāda, Padārthadharmasaṅgraha with Nyāyakandalī
    Ganganatha Jha (Chowkambha), c. 550 CE / 991 CE
    Systematic VAIŚEṢIKA with Śrīdhara's commentary. Categories, qualities, relations.
    View on Internet Archive →
  21. Udayana, Kiraṇāvalī
    Gaekwad's Oriental Series (Jetly ed.), 11th c. CE
    GARLAND OF RAYS on substances. Major Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika synthesis. PARTIAL trans. (Hirano's samavāya chapter).
    View on Internet Archive →
  22. Patañjali / Vyāsa, Yoga Sūtra with Vyāsa Bhāṣya
    [Sanskrit critical ed.], c. 200 BCE / 400 CE
    SYSTEMATIC CONSCIOUSNESS - 5 mental modifications (vṛtti), attention mechanisms, memory (saṃskāra), samādhi states.
    View on Internet Archive →
  23. Patañjali, Yoga Sūtra with 3 Commentaries
    [Sanskrit], c. 200 BCE
    Vyāsa, Vācaspati Miśra, and Bhoja commentaries. Multiple interpretive traditions on consciousness.
    View on Internet Archive →
  24. Baudhāyana et al., Śulba Sūtras
    [Critical study], c. 800-500 BCE
    ALGORITHMIC GEOMETRY - Pythagorean theorem (before Pythagoras), square root algorithms, geometric constructions with rope/stakes.
    View on Internet Archive →
  25. Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī (6-vol critical ed.)
    Rama Nath Sharma, c. 400 BCE
    4,000 RULES GENERATING ALL SANSKRIT. Recursive, generative. 'Most rigorous grammar ever written.' Influenced Chomsky.
    View on Internet Archive →
  26. Ganguly, A Bibliography of Nyāya Philosophy
    National Library, Calcutta, 1993
    2,358 DOCUMENTS catalogued - 1,030 manuscripts. Navya-Nyāya: 1,020 docs. Essential reference for prioritizing translations.
    View on Internet Archive →

Arabic Logic, Automata & Algorithms

The Islamic Golden Age (750-1258 CE) preserved Greek philosophy and created new sciences. Arabic gave us 'algorithm' and 'algebra'. These texts on logic, automata, and the mind shaped both medieval Europe and modern computing.

  1. al-Khwārizmī, Kitāb al-Jabr wa'l-Muqābala
    [Arabic manuscript], c. 820 CE
    Gave us ALGEBRA and ALGORITHM (from his name). Systematic equation-solving. Foundation of computational thinking.
    View on Internet Archive →
  2. al-Khwārizmī, Algebra (Rosen translation, 1831)
    London: Oriental Translation Fund, c. 820 CE (trans. 1831)
    First English translation. Arabic text with English. 'Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing.'
    View on Internet Archive →
  3. Robert of Chester, Latin Translation of al-Khwārizmī's Algebra
    [Medieval Latin], c. 1145 CE
    How ALGORITHM entered Europe. Latin translation that shaped medieval mathematics.
    View on Internet Archive →
  4. al-Jazarī, Kitāb fī ma'rifat al-ḥiyal al-handasiyya
    [Arabic + Donald Hill trans.], 1206 CE
    BOOK OF INGENIOUS DEVICES - 100 mechanical devices. Programmable automata, water clocks, musical robots. 'Climax of Muslim achievement.'
    View on Internet Archive →
  5. Banū Mūsā, Kitāb al-Ḥiyal (Modern Turkish)
    [Turkish interpretation], c. 850 CE
    100 MECHANICAL DEVICES - self-trimming lamps, trick vessels, automata. First programmable flute player. 'Well beyond Hero of Alexandria.'
    View on Internet Archive →
  6. Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), al-Shifā': al-Qiyās (Propositional Logic)
    D. Reidel (1973), c. 1027 CE
    PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC from The Healing. Parallel Arabic-English. Foundation of Islamic logic tradition.
    View on Internet Archive →
  7. Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), al-Shifā': Physics (Parallel Text)
    BYU/KFAS, c. 1027 CE
    First complete English translation of Avicenna's PHYSICS. Natural philosophy, causation, motion.
    View on Internet Archive →
  8. al-Fārābī, Kitāb al-Ḥurūf (Book of Letters)
    Zaytuna (Butterworth trans. 2024), c. 900 CE
    PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE - relation of logic to grammar. How Arabic maps to universal thought. FIRST COMPLETE English trans. 2024!
    View on Internet Archive →
  9. al-Fārābī, Risālah fī al-'Aql (Epistle on the Intellect)
    [Arabic/French], c. 900 CE
    THEORY OF INTELLECT - active intellect, potential intellect. How mind acquires knowledge.
    View on Internet Archive →
  10. al-Fārābī, Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle
    [English trans.], c. 900 CE
    How to read the Greeks. Classification of sciences. 'Second Teacher' after Aristotle.
    View on Internet Archive →
  11. al-Abharī, Īsāghūjī fī al-manṭiq
    [Arabic with trans.], 13th c. CE
    LOGIC PRIMER - 'for beginners in any of the sciences.' Introduction to categories, propositions, syllogisms.
    View on Internet Archive →
  12. Ibn Taymiyya, al-Radd 'alā al-Manṭiqiyyīn
    [Arabic/English], 1309 CE
    REFUTATION OF LOGIC - critique of Aristotelian logic from Islamic perspective. Alternative epistemology.
    View on Internet Archive →
  13. [Various], Collection of Books on Manṭiq
    [Arabic/Persian/Urdu], Various
    Multiple logic textbooks - 'Summary of Logic', 'Basic Concepts', primers. Islamic logic curriculum.
    View on Internet Archive →
  14. Ibn Ṭufayl, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān
    [Arabic + English], c. 1160 CE
    SELF-TAUGHT PHILOSOPHER - child raised alone discovers truth through pure reason. Influenced Locke's tabula rasa, Robinson Crusoe.
    View on Internet Archive →
  15. Ibn Ṭufayl, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (Arabic, 1992)
    Faruk Saad edition, c. 1160 CE
    Arabic critical edition. Thought experiment: can mind know reality without society or revelation?
    View on Internet Archive →
  16. Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Tahāfut al-Tahāfut
    [Arabic/English], 1180 CE
    INCOHERENCE OF THE INCOHERENCE - defense of reason against al-Ghazālī. UNITY OF INTELLECT - all minds share one active reason.
    View on Internet Archive →
  17. Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics
    [English trans.], 12th c. CE
    How Europe recovered Aristotle. 'The Commentator.' Most scholarly interpreter of Greek philosophy.
    View on Internet Archive →
  18. Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Kitāb Faṣl al-Maqāl
    [Arabic], 12th c. CE
    DECISIVE TREATISE - can philosophy and religion coexist? Harmony of reason and revelation.
    View on Internet Archive →
  19. al-Ghazālī, Tahāfut al-Falāsifa
    [Arabic/English], 1095 CE
    INCOHERENCE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS - 20 critiques of Aristotelian philosophy. Sparked Ibn Rushd's response.
    View on Internet Archive →
  20. al-Bīrūnī, Kitāb al-Qānūn al-Mas'ūdī
    [Arabic], c. 1030 CE
    CANON MASUDICUS - encyclopedia of astronomical sciences. 'Masterpiece of Eastern science.' Unpublished for 1000 years.
    View on Internet Archive →
  21. al-Bīrūnī, Book of Instruction on Astrology
    [Arabic + English], c. 1029 CE
    Astronomical algorithms, calendar calculations, spherical trigonometry. Practical computation.
    View on Internet Archive →
  22. al-Bīrūnī, Kitāb fī Taḥqīq mā li'l-Hind
    [Arabic], c. 1030 CE
    India's philosophy, astronomy, mathematics documented by Arabic scholar. Cross-cultural transmission.
    View on Internet Archive →
  23. Walbridge, God and Logic in Islam
    [English], 2011
    History of manṭiq (logic) in Islamic thought. How Greeks were received, transformed, debated.
    View on Internet Archive →
  24. Abed, Aristotelian Logic and the Arabic Language in al-Fārābī
    SUNY Press, 1991
    How Arabic grammar shaped logical categories. Language and thought in Islamic philosophy.
    View on Internet Archive →
  25. [Various], Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology
    [English], 2007
    Translations from al-Kindī, al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā, Ibn Rushd. Logic, natural philosophy, metaphysics, ethics.
    View on Internet Archive →

Not on This List

Already well-served: Cicero, Ovid, Virgil (Loeb); Augustine (multiple series); Erasmus major works (CWE); Thomas Aquinas.

Ongoing projects elsewhere: Johann Gerhard (Concordia, 17 vols); Melanchthon (Newcomb 2022+); Vives (Brill series).

Too large for solo work: Bartolus complete commentaries; Calov Systema (12 vols); complete systematic theologies.

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