本书为“北京市高等教育精品教材”，可用作高等学校英语专业高年级文化课教材，旨在通过对西方文化史的纵向考察和对西方思想经典文献的深度阅读，帮助学生拓宽知识面，提高人文素养，培养思辨能力。《西方思想经典导读》有如下特点：详尽注释化解原著阅读障碍，精心导读引领学子登堂入室。
  　　在学术训练中延伸英语学习，在英语学习中深化学术训练。
　　文学、史学、哲学融为一体，阅读、写作、讨论贯穿始终。
　　  走近西方思想巨擘，品味西方思想经典，领悟西方文化精髓。
　　 文化与经典同步展开，历史与思想交相辉映。

“新经典”高等学校英语专业系列教材根据《高等掌校英语专业英语教学大纲》，弄结合英语专业教学的最新发展而编写，包括英语语言技能、英语专业知识和相哭专业细识三个粪剔，涵盖高校英语专业本料至研究生各阶段、各方向量要课程。本系列教材T隹者仅威，内容经典，注重聍代性和实用性，有助于掌习者琏一步提高语言技能，扩充专业知识，培养应用能力，提升综合素养。

Chapter1 Greek Culture
The Funeral Oration of Pericles Thucydides
The Apology Plato
Politics Aristotle
Chapter2 Roman Culture
Roman Oration Aelius Aristides
The Meditations Marcus Aurelius
Chapter3 Early Christianity
The Gospel According to St. Matthew
The City of God Saint Augustine
Chapter4 Middle Ages
Summa Theologica Thomas Aquinas
The Christian Way of Life St. Benedict of Nursia
Chapter5 Renaissance
Oration on the Dignity of Man Pico della Mirandola

Chapter1 Greek Culture
  The Funeral Oration of Pericles Thucydides
  The Apology Plato
  Politics Aristotle
Chapter2 Roman Culture
  Roman Oration Aelius Aristides
  The Meditations Marcus Aurelius
Chapter3 Early Christianity
  The Gospel According to St. Matthew
  The City of God Saint Augustine
Chapter4 Middle Ages
  Summa Theologica Thomas Aquinas
  The Christian Way of Life St. Benedict of Nursia
Chapter5 Renaissance
  Oration on the Dignity of Man Pico della Mirandola
  The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli
Chapter6 The Reformation
  On Papal Power; Justification by Faith;
  The Interpretation of the Bible Martin Luther
  The Institutes John Calvin
Chapter7 The Scientific Revolution
  Attack on Authority and Advocacy of ExperimentalScience
  Francis Bacon
  Discourse on Method Rene Descartes
Chapter8 The Enlightenment
  What is Enlightenment? Immanuel Kant
  The Age of Reason Thomas Paine
  The Second Treatise of Government John Locke
Chapter9 Romanticism
  Preface to Lyrical Ballads; The Tables Turned WilliamWordsworth
  Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Chapter10 Socialism
  The Communist Manifesto Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
  The Old Curiosity Shop Charles Dickens
Chapter11 Liberalism
  The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith
  On Liberty John Stuart Mill
  Liberal Legislation and Freedom of Contract Thomas HillGreen
Chapter12 Darwinism
  On the Origin of Species; The Descent of Man CharlesDarwin
  Social Statics Herbert Spencer
Chapter13 The Challenge to the Tradition
  The Will to Power; The Antichrist Friedrich Nietzsche
  Civilization and Its Discontents Sigmund Freud
Chapter14 The Modernist Movement
  Manifesto of Surrealism Andrr Breton
  Ulysses James Joyce
  The Second Coming W.B. Yeats
  since feeling is first e.e. cummings
Chapter15 The West in an Age of Globalism
  Existentialism Is a Humanism Jean-Paul Sartre
  The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan
Appendix1 A Sketch of Western Civilization
Appendix2 Great Books of the Western World
References
Acknowledgements