The Books Most Compatible with Sterling's Philosophical Commitments

Looking across ALL of philosophy and literature, here are the books most compatible with Sterling's six commitments: 

PERFECT ALIGNMENT (All 6 Commitments Strongly): 

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY:

### 1. **PLATO'S REPUBLIC**

**Why Perfect:**

- **Substance Dualism** ✓✓✓ - Soul distinct from body, rational soul rules

- **Libertarian Free Will** ✓✓ - Genuine choice between justice and injustice

- **Ethical Intuitionism** ✓✓✓ - Form of the Good directly apprehensible by reason

- **Foundationalism** ✓✓✓ - Systematic derivation from first principles

- **Correspondence Theory** ✓✓✓ - Knowledge as correspondence to Forms

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓✓ - Justice objectively exists as Form 

### 2. **ARISTOTLE'S NICOMACHEAN ETHICS**

**Why Perfect:**

- **Substance Dualism** ✓✓ - Rational soul distinct from vegetative/animal souls

- **Libertarian Free Will** ✓✓✓ - Voluntary action essential to virtue

- **Ethical Intuitionism** ✓✓✓ - Practical wisdom grasps moral truths

- **Foundationalism** ✓✓ - Systematic ethics from human nature

- **Correspondence Theory** ✓✓ - Right reason corresponds to moral reality

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓✓ - Virtue objectively good, vice objectively bad 

### 3. **AQUINAS'S SUMMA THEOLOGICA**

**Why Perfect:**

- **Substance Dualism** ✓✓✓ - Soul as form of body but separable

- **Libertarian Free Will** ✓✓✓ - Free will essential to moral theology

- **Ethical Intuitionism** ✓✓✓ - Natural law knowable through reason

- **Foundationalism** ✓✓✓ - Systematic theology from first principles

- **Correspondence Theory** ✓✓✓ - Truth as correspondence to reality

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓✓ - Natural law objectively binding 

### **MODERN PHILOSOPHY:** 

### 4. **DESCARTES'S MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY**

**Why Perfect:**

- **Substance Dualism** ✓✓✓ - Mind and body as distinct substances

- **Libertarian Free Will** ✓✓ - Will as infinite, can choose error or truth

- **Ethical Intuitionism** ✓✓ - Clear and distinct moral perceptions

- **Foundationalism** ✓✓✓ - Method of systematic doubt to certain foundations

- **Correspondence Theory** ✓✓✓ - Truth as correspondence to reality

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓ - Objective moral truths guaranteed by God 

### 5. **KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PRACTICAL REASON**

**Why Strong (with one tension):**

- **Substance Dualism** ✓✓ - Noumenal self distinct from empirical self

- **Libertarian Free Will** ✓✓✓ - Transcendental freedom essential to morality

- **Ethical Intuitionism** ✓✓✓ - Categorical imperative known through pure reason

- **Foundationalism** ✓✓✓ - Systematic moral philosophy from pure reason

- **Correspondence Theory** ~ - Complex relationship to correspondence

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓✓ - Moral law objectively binding 

## NEAR-PERFECT ALIGNMENT (5 Strong Commitments): 

### **CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY:** 

### 6. **AUGUSTINE'S CONFESSIONS**

- **Substance Dualism** ✓✓✓ - Soul distinct from body

- **Libertarian Free Will** ✓✓✓ - Central to theodicy and conversion

- **Ethical Intuitionism** ✓✓ - Moral truths illuminated by divine light

- **Correspondence Theory** ✓✓ - Truth corresponds to eternal reality

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓✓ - Eternal moral law 

### 7. **C.S. LEWIS'S THE ABOLITION OF MAN**

(Already covered - perfect alignment) 

### 8. **RICHARD HOOKER'S LAWS OF ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY**

- **Substance Dualism** ✓✓ - Rational soul participates in eternal law

- **Ethical Intuitionism** ✓✓✓ - Natural law knowable through reason

- **Foundationalism** ✓✓ - Systematic theology and politics

- **Correspondence Theory** ✓✓ - Human law corresponds to natural law

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓✓ - Eternal law objectively binding 

### **RATIONAL PHILOSOPHY:** 

### 9. **SPINOZA'S ETHICS**

**Complicated Case:**

- **Substance Dualism** X - Monist (mind and body as attributes)

- **Libertarian Free Will** X - Strict determinism

- **Ethical Intuitionism** ✓✓✓ - Moral truths knowable through reason

- **Foundationalism** ✓✓✓ - Geometric method from definitions

- **Correspondence Theory** ✓✓ - Adequate ideas correspond to reality

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓✓ - Objective good and evil based on human nature 

### 10. **LEIBNIZ'S THEODICY**

- **Substance Dualism** ✓✓ - Monads as non-material substances

- **Libertarian Free Will** ✓✓ - Sufficient reason compatible with freedom

- **Ethical Intuitionism** ✓✓✓ - Eternal truths knowable by reason

- **Foundationalism** ✓✓✓ - Systematic metaphysics

- **Correspondence Theory** ✓✓ - Truth as correspondence

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓✓ - This is the best possible world 

## STRONG PHILOSOPHICAL ALIGNMENT: 

### **CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY:** 

### 11. **ROBERT KANE'S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FREE WILL**

- **Libertarian Free Will** ✓✓✓ - Sophisticated defense of ultimate responsibility

- **Substance Dualism** ~ - Neutral on mind-body problem

- **Foundationalism** ✓✓ - Systematic argument structure

- **Moral Realism** ✓ - Assumes objective moral responsibility 

### 12. **RICHARD SWINBURNE'S THE EXISTENCE OF GOD**

- **Substance Dualism** ✓✓✓ - Soul distinct from body

- **Libertarian Free Will** ✓✓✓ - Essential to theodicy

- **Foundationalism** ✓✓✓ - Systematic natural theology

- **Correspondence Theory** ✓✓ - Truth about God's existence

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓ - Objective moral obligations 

### 13. **ALASDAIR MACINTYRE'S AFTER VIRTUE**

- **Moral Realism** ✓✓✓ - Objective virtues and vices

- **Ethical Intuitionism** ✓✓ - Practical reason grasps moral truth

- **Foundationalism** ✓ - Return to Aristotelian foundations

- **Correspondence Theory** ✓ - Moral judgments can be true/false 

## THE ULTIMATE STERLING LIBRARY: 

**Tier 1 (Perfect - All 6 Commitments):**

1. **Plato's Republic**

2. **Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics** 

3. **Aquinas's Summa Theologica**

4. **Descartes's Meditations**

5. **C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man** 

**Tier 2 (Near-Perfect - 5 Commitments):**

6. **Augustine's Confessions**

7. **Kant's Critique of Practical Reason**

8. **C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity**

9. **Hooker's Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity** 

**Tier 3 (Strong - 4 Commitments):**

10. **Contemporary Christian Philosophy** (Swinburne, Plantinga, Craig)

11. **Natural Law Theorists** (Finnis, Grisez)

12. **Rational Choice Theorists** with moral realism 

## WHY THESE ARE MOST COMPATIBLE: 

**Ancient Sources:** The classical tradition that Sterling draws from - especially Plato, Aristotle, and their Christian interpreters. 

**Rational Theology:** Systematic attempts to demonstrate objective moral truths through reason. 

**Dualist Metaphysics:** Philosophers who maintain genuine mind-body distinction. 

**Foundationalist Method:** Building comprehensive systems from self-evident first principles. 

**The Pattern:** Sterling's commitments align best with the **classical philosophical tradition** (Ancient + Medieval + some Modern), especially **Christian Platonism** and **Thomistic Aristotelianism**. These traditions share his confidence in reason's ability to discover objective truth about reality and morality. 

**Most Compatible Single Work:** **Plato's Republic** - the ultimate source for foundationalist, dualist, realist, intuitive moral philosophy.