Treatise

This article is about the literary form. For the musical composition by Cornelius Cardew, see Treatise (music).

A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject.

Noteworthy treatises

Treatises have been written by various philosophers:

• Xenophon—Oeconomicus
• Aristotle—various treatises
• Chanakya—Arthashastra
• Adi Shankara—Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (Crest-Jewel of Discrimination) and many others.
• Claudius Ptolemaeus—Almagest
• Nizam al-Mulk—Siyasatnama (The Book of Government)
• Niccolò Machiavelli—The Prince, and Discourses on Livy
• René Descartes—The World, Compendium Musicae, and Discourse on the Method
• John Locke—Two Treatises of Government
• David Hume—A Treatise of Human Nature
• Adam Smith—The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations
• Joseph Priestley—Disquisitions relating to Matter and Spirit
• Henry George—Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy
• William Godwin—Enquiry concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness
• Karl Marx—Das Kapital
• Julien Offray de La Mettrie—Man a Machine "L'Homme Machine"

• Other well-known treatises include:
  • Augustine of Hippo—various treatises
  • Sun Tzu—The Art of War
  • Carl von Clausewitz—On War
  • Euclid—Elements
  • Ptolemy—Geography (Treatise on cartography)
  • Geoffery Chaucer—The Parson's Tale
  • Thomas Paine—Rights of Man, Common Sense, and The Age of Reason
  • Charles Darwin—On the Origin of Species

• Treatises on art:
  • Shitao—Hua Yu Lu (Treatise on the Philosophy of Painting)

• Treatises on architecture:
  • Vitruvius—De architectura
  • Leon Battista Alberti—De re aedificatoria
  • Andrea Palladio—I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura

• Treatises on music:
  • Jean-Philippe Rameau —Treatise on Harmony
  • Hector Berlioz—Treatise on Instrumentation (sometimes, Treatise on Orchestration)

• Recent economics treatises have also been written:
  • Ludwig Von Mises—Human Action
  • Paul Samuelson—Foundations of Economic Analysis
  • Milton Friedman—Capitalism and Freedom
  • Murray Rothbard—Man, Economy, and State
  • George Reisman—Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics

• Treatises on Nutrition:
  • Weston A. Price—Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
  • Sally Fallon, Mary Enig—Nourishing Traditions

See also

• Compilation thesis
• Edited volume
• Essay
• Legal treatise
• Monograph