Philosophy books for students arrive with a translator's name, and the name decides what you quote. Southampton's 2026-27 module Ancient Greek Philosophy sets C. D. C. Reeve's Hackett translations of Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics; Edinburgh's 2026/27 Republic course sets S. R. Slings's Greek text and T. Griffith's translation. In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Brown (2026) notes that at 585d11 the Grube and Reeve translation says being filled with what suits our nature is pleasure, where Brown would say only that it is pleasant.
EdCitation publishes this guide. Its sources are 2025/26 and 2026/27 module pages and handbooks at Southampton, Edinburgh, Cambridge and York, three departments' referencing guides and the SEP, read on 24 September 2026; its examples are runs of EdCitation's Cite a source, Find sources, Verify references and Library.
What books does a philosophy degree read?
A philosophy degree reads classic texts in translation and, around them, original-language editions, collections, companions, commentaries, reference works and journal articles.
| Kind of book | On a 2025/26 or 2026/27 list | Where EdCitation helps |
|---|---|---|
| Classic in translation | Plato, Republic, tr. Reeve, 2004 (Southampton) | Library, by ISBN |
| Original-language edition | Slings, ed., Plato's Republic, Oxford Classical Texts, 2003 (Edinburgh) | Library, by title |
| Collection | Five Dialogues, Hackett (York) | Library |
| Companion | Ferrari, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato's Republic, 2007 (Edinburgh) | Chapters by DOI in Cite a source |
| Commentary | Gardner, 1999, on Kant (Southampton) | Library |
| Articles | Srinivasan, 2018 (York) | Find sources |
Lists that name the translation
Southampton's Greek module names Reeve for both its texts (University of Southampton, 2026a), and its Kant module a 2003 Palgrave Macmillan Critique of Pure Reason (University of Southampton, 2026b). Edinburgh pairs the Oxford Classical Text with Griffith's translation and nine scholarly aids, Ferrari's companion among them (University of Edinburgh, 2026).
Lists that leave it open
Cambridge's 2025–26 Part IA set texts, Plato's Meno and Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy among them, name no translation; its medieval paper, read wholly in translation, names a few, such as Lenn Goodman for Ibn Tufayl (University of Cambridge Faculty of Philosophy, 2025). York's 2026/27 first-year handbook suggests Hackett's Five Dialogues and says the University Library supplies course texts, usually online (University of York Department of Philosophy, 2026a).
Why does the translation of a philosophy text matter?
The translation matters because a quotation from a translated classic is the translator's wording, and arguments turn on wording. Name the translator in every reference, and quote only from the version you name.
Brown's point at 585d11 is word choice. Form is another: Hackett says Reeve's Republic is translated from Slings's new Greek text, and quotes a reviewer on Reeve turning Socrates' narrated conversation into direct speech (Hackett Publishing Company, n.d.-b). Revision is a third: Hackett calls Reeve's second Nicomachean Ethics a significantly revised translation (Hackett Publishing Company, n.d.-a). And Kemp Smith's Critique follows Kant's 1787 text, translating the first-edition passages altered or dropped (Kant, 2007).
Dates disagree too: Southampton and the book record behind the ISBN date Reeve's second Nicomachean Ethics 2023, Hackett February 2024. And the Palgrave Critique with a DOI is a 2007 second edition, Palgrave's, not Kant's. Take year and edition from your copy's copyright page.
What are Stephanus numbers, Bekker numbers and A/B pages?
They are standard numbers printed in the margins of scholarly editions and good translations, the same in every version, so readers of different translations find the same passage. Essays give them instead of, or beside, page numbers.
| Author | Numbers | Example | What they record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plato | Stephanus | Symposium 201d; Republic 585d11 | Page and section of Henri Estienne's 1578 edition; a last number is a line of the Oxford Classical Text |
| Aristotle | Bekker | 1097b22–1098a20 | A number, then a or b, then a further number; in Reeve's margins |
| Kant, Critique of Pure Reason | A and B | A51/B75 | Pages of the 1781 and 1787 editions |
| Kant, other works | Akademie | 2:392 | Volume and page of the Akademie edition |
| Descartes | Adam and Tannery | In most editions' margins | His traditional pagination |
The rows come from Oxford Scholarly Editions Online (2019), Kraut (2026), Rohlf (2024) and Edinburgh's philosophy department (University of Edinburgh Philosophy, 2020).
Name the work as well as the number
Estienne's three volumes were numbered separately, so 201d alone could be in the Symposium or the Theaetetus (Oxford Scholarly Editions Online, 2019). Give the dialogue. Kant scholars mix systems: Rohlf (2024) writes (2:392, A51/B75).
What the styles ask for
- APA 7: the numbered parts common to every edition, not pages; the translator after the title; the original year at the end, with "ca." or "B.C.E." when ancient; one entry per translation (Becker, 2021).
- Harvard at York: a major classical work quoted in passing needs no full entry; a republished work puts the original year first, (Dickens, 1846 [2005], p.29) (University of York Library, n.d.).
- Harvard at UCL: the edition's year first, the original last, (Kant 1997, 26 [1786]) (University College London, n.d.).
- Edinburgh: any consistent style, with the traditional pagination.
APA's seventh edition dropped the exemption York keeps (Becker, 2021), and York and UCL order the years oppositely. Your department's guide decides.
How do I find the translation my reading list names?
Use the ISBN of the named translation; a title search returns every translation together.
- Copy the whole entry: author, title, translator, publisher, year.
- Take the ISBN from the publisher's page. Hackett gives 978-0-87220-736-3 for Reeve's Republic and 978-1-64792-145-3 for Reeve's second Nicomachean Ethics.
- Search it in EdCitation's Library. The Nicomachean Ethics number found Aristotle and C. D. C. Reeve, Hackett, 2023, a book to buy. The Republic number found the work under its Greek title, πολιτεία, dated 1554 and marked to open in the Library: a card stands for the work, so check the translator in the copy you open.
- If the named translation is out of reach, ask the module lead, and cite the one you read.
How do I cite a translated classic, a companion chapter and an SEP entry?
Cite them in your department's style: York asks for Harvard or MLA (University of York Department of Philosophy, 2026b), UCL suggests a simplified Harvard, and Edinburgh takes any consistent style. EdCitation's Cite a source, which costs nothing and asks for no account, builds both by looking the source up in the publisher's record, never by writing it, so a gap stays visible and is never filled with an invented translator. These came back on 24 September 2026.
A translated classic, from its DOI
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-10016-0 returned, in Harvard:
Kant, I. (2007) Critique of Pure Reason. Palgrave Macmillan UK. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-10016-0.
Add Springer's edition number, then follow York's Harvard guide, which puts the translator after the title and ends a republished work with its first date:
Kant, I. (2007) Critique of Pure Reason. 2nd edn. Translated from the German by N. Kemp Smith. Palgrave Macmillan UK. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-10016-0 (Originally published 1781).
In the text: (Kant, 1781 [2007], A51/B75) in York's order, (Kant 2007, A51/B75 [1781]) in UCL's.
Two translations, from their ISBNs
Reeve's Republic (9780872207363) and Nicomachean Ethics (9781647921453) returned:
Republic. 3rd edn (2005). Hackett Publishing Company.
Nicomachean Ethics (2023). Hackett Publishing Company.
Neither record names Plato, Aristotle or Reeve, so the title took the author's place; Hackett gives the Republic 2004 and no edition number. Corrected:
Plato (2004) Republic. Translated from the Greek by C.D.C. Reeve. Hackett Publishing Company.
Aristotle (2023) Nicomachean Ethics. 2nd edn. Translated from the Greek by C.D.C. Reeve. Hackett Publishing Company.
A chapter in a companion
DOI 10.1017/CCOL0521839637.007 returned an entry that stands:
Ferrari, G.R.F. (2007) 'The Three-Part Soul', in G.R.F. Ferrari (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Plato's Republic. Cambridge University Press, pp. 165–201. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521839637.007.
Ferrari wrote the chapter and edited the book, so Ferrari's name rightly appears twice.
A Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
The SEP asks you to cite a fixed archived edition, made every 21 March, June, September and December, because live entries change; each entry's Author and Citation Info link gives the citation (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d.). For Brown's entry that is the Summer 2026 edition, edited by Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman. Given the archive address, Cite a source returned, in MLA 9:
Brown, Eric. Plato's Ethics and Politics in The Republic. 1 Apr. 2003, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2026/entries/plato-ethics-politics/.
That date is the entry's first publication, and the encyclopedia is missing. Correct the page's details before the entry is built, then add editors, edition and publisher after the encyclopedia, in the order of the Modern Language Association (2018) reference-work example, and keep The Republic in italics, as the SEP does:
Brown, Eric. "Plato's Ethics and Politics in The Republic." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman, Summer 2026 ed., Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2026, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2026/entries/plato-ethics-politics/.
UCL's Harvard example cites Rohlf's Kant entry at its live address (University College London, n.d.), where the SEP asks for its Fall 2024 archive. Cite the archive.
A journal article
Srinivasan's article, from York's first-year handbook, came back from its DOI complete in MLA 9:
Srinivasan, Amia. "The Aptness of Anger." Journal of Political Philosophy, vol. 26, no. 2, June 2018, pp. 123–44, https://doi.org/10.1111/jopp.12130.
The Harvard version gave 2017, the record's online date; York lists 2018, so use 2018 in text and list alike. Other book forms are covered in citing a book or ebook and our Harvard guide.
How do I find journal articles for a philosophy essay?
Start from the module's reading, then search EdCitation's Find sources: about 300 million published works, narrowed by source type, year range, field and more. Two runs on 24 September 2026:
- "tripartite soul Plato Republic", Source type Article, Field Arts and Humanities: "Results from Crossref.", 181,435 works, and above them "The full index is busy, so these filters are not applied right now: Field." Jorgenson's 2020 Apeiron article on the tripartite soul came first; the fifth, Ferrari's 2009 paper in Ancient Philosophy, listed "Mathesis Publications, Inc." among its authors, so check authors against the article.
- "Kant transcendental deduction", Source type Book chapter: "Results from Crossref.", 25,434 works, every filter applied; second was Laywine's chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Kant, 2024.
How do I check the finished reference list?
Paste the list into EdCitation's Verify references, which is free and needs no sign-in. Every entry returns one verdict, Verified, Check this or Not found, and the reason for it; a retracted paper is flagged. Six corrected Harvard entries gave:
| Entry | Verdict | Reason given |
|---|---|---|
| Aristotle (2023), tr. Reeve | Verified | "Title, author and year match a library catalogue record." |
| Brown (2026), SEP entry | Verified | "The page is at this address, and its title matches." |
| Ferrari (2007), chapter | Verified | "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches." |
| Kant (2007), tr. Kemp Smith | Verified | "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches." |
| Plato (2004), tr. Reeve | Check this | "A book with this title and author is catalogued, but no edition from 2004 is recorded. Check the edition and year." |
| Srinivasan (2018) | Verified | "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches." |
Check this means a record came close but not all the way. Reeve's Republic is real: Hackett sells it, and the catalogue files Plato's works under the Greek form of his name and title, πολιτεία, without a 2004 record to match. With the ISBN added to the entry, the same book came back verified: "The ISBN leads to this book in a library catalogue, and its title matches." Give the ISBN when you have one. Could not check is never shown as Not found; if you get it, wait a minute and check that entry once more.
Where can I find philosophy books in one place?
For a philosophy reading list, EdCitation's Library is the best tool, because the list is scattered: this guide's Plato, Kant and medieval lists name translations from more than six publishers, and not every edition prints the numbers you must cite. One catalogue answers to a title, author, subject or ISBN, and any search narrows by discipline, type of book, language and year.
What the searches found
On 24 September 2026, Philosophy and ethics returned 454,147 books; set to Textbook, 7,402; to Dictionary or encyclopedia, 2,660, with Blackburn's Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (2008) and Borchert's Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2005), one to borrow with Max. Critique of Pure Reason, by most editions, gave 375 records: Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781) first, with an edition credited to J. M. D. Meiklejohn and Kemp Smith's 1918 commentary in the first six. A card's year is the work's first, as πολιτεία's 1554 shows, and a new date is not a new translation: Nicomachean Ethics, newest first, put 2023 editions naming D. P. Chase and R. Williams as translators near the top.
What each card offers, and what Max adds
A card carries the cover, author names, publisher and year, and says whether you can open the book in the Library or will need to buy it. The same card links a paid book to a shop page and to nearby libraries holding a copy, saves it to My Books, and turns it into a reference in one click. Max opens more than 5 million books for reading and borrowing, EdCitation's own compiled collection, so Plato, his translators and his critics share one shelf.
Everything short of reading and borrowing needs only a free EdCitation account; those two are Max's, $24 each month or $216 paid yearly (Pricing). Sister guides cover history and English literature.
Quick questions
Which translation of Plato's Republic should I read?
Whichever your module sets: Reeve's 2004 Hackett translation at Southampton, Griffith's 2000 Cambridge one at Edinburgh. Name the translator, and cite passages by Stephanus numbers such as 201d, with the dialogue's title.
How do I cite Kant's Critique of Pure Reason with A and B pagination?
Give the A and B pages from your translation's margin, as in A51/B75, beside the author and year, and add the translator when EdCitation's Cite a source shows the record lacks one.
How do I cite the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy?
Cite the archived edition named by the entry's Author and Citation Info link, such as Summer 2026, with its editors and fixed address.
Where can I find philosophy books in one place?
Search EdCitation's Library under Philosophy and ethics, one of its 31 disciplines. Bookmark what you need into My Books; on Max, more than 5 million books open for reading or borrowing.
References
- Becker, D. (2021, April 5). Citing classical and religious works. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/citing-classical-religious-works
- Brown, E. (2026). Plato's ethics and politics in The Republic. In E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Summer 2026 ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2026/entries/plato-ethics-politics/
- Hackett Publishing Company. (n.d.-a). Nicomachean ethics (Reeve, second edition). Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://hackettpublishing.com/nicomachean-ethics-reeve-second-ed
- Hackett Publishing Company. (n.d.-b). Republic (Reeve edition). Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://hackettpublishing.com/republic
- Kant, I. (2007). Critique of pure reason (N. Kemp Smith, Trans.; 2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-10016-0 (Original work published 1781)
- Kraut, R. (2026). Aristotle's ethics. In E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Fall 2026 ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2026/entries/aristotle-ethics/
- Modern Language Association. (2018, January 24). How do I cite an entry in a reference work? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/citing-entries-in-reference-works/
- Oxford Scholarly Editions Online. (2019, January 28). Stephanus numbers, navigation, and precise URLs in OSEO. Oxford University Press. https://www.oxfordscholarlyeditions.com/newsitem/200/stephanus-numbers-navigation-and-precise-urls-in-oseo
- Rohlf, M. (2024). Immanuel Kant. In E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Fall 2024 ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2024/entries/kant/
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (n.d.). How to cite the SEP. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://plato.stanford.edu/cite.html
- University College London. (n.d.). Guide to referencing for coursework. Department of Philosophy. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanities/philosophy/current-students/guide-referencing-coursework
- University of Cambridge Faculty of Philosophy. (2025). Philosophy Tripos: Guide to courses (syllabus) 2025–2026 [PDF]. https://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/files/gtc_2025-26_-_final_2025_07.pdf
- University of Edinburgh. (2026). Plato's Republic (GREE10038) [Course descriptor, 2026/27]. Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study. https://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/26-27/dpt/cxgree10038.htm
- University of Edinburgh Philosophy. (2020). Reference style in philosophy (Version 2) [PDF]. https://edwebcontent.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/atoms/files/reference_style_in_philosophy.pdf
- University of Southampton. (2026a). Ancient Greek philosophy (PHIL1003) [Module, 2026-27]. https://www.southampton.ac.uk/courses/2026-27/modules/phil1003
- University of Southampton. (2026b). Kant's Copernican revolution in philosophy (PHIL2027) [Module, 2026-27]. https://www.southampton.ac.uk/courses/2026-27/modules/phil2027
- University of York Department of Philosophy. (2026a). First-year undergraduate handbook 2026/27 [Word document]. https://www.york.ac.uk/media/philosophy/documents/depthandbook/2026_7%201st%20Year%20Handbook.docx
- University of York Department of Philosophy. (2026b). Philosophy undergraduate handbook 2026/27 [Word document]. https://www.york.ac.uk/media/philosophy/documents/depthandbook/UG%20department%20handbook%202026_27.docx
- University of York Library. (n.d.). Harvard. Referencing styles. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://subjectguides.york.ac.uk/referencing-style-guides/harvard