Philosophical traditions and schools of thought Books

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAn optimistic historian sifts through the past in his mission to prove that mankind might not be so bad . . . A superb read - brisk, accessible and full of great stories * Sunday Times *This is the book we need right now . . . Entertaining, uplifting . . . If Bregman is right, this book might just make the world a kinder place * Telegraph *Here, we visit the blitz, Lord of the Flies – both the novel and a very different real-life version – a Siberian fox farm, an infamous New York murder and a host of discredited psychological studies . . . There’s a great deal of reassuring human decency to be taken from this bold and thought-provoking book . . . It makes a welcome change to read such a sustained and enjoyable tribute to our better natures * Observer *Filled with compelling tales of human goodness . . . Bregman’s book is a thrilling read and it represents a necessary correction * The Times *Humankind displays [Bregman's] gift for synthesising libraries full of academic research into spellbinding reads. I whizzed through Humankind’s 480 pages, engrossed * Financial Times *The notion that we already have the capacity to radically improve the world is both an exhilarating and a daunting one * New Statesman *Bregman argues convincingly that what we teach and report about ourselves, we become . . . Bold, entertaining and uplifting * Spectator *Bregman’s book is something of a beacon at the moment, when many are looking for values to profess in our traumatised and altered society . . . People have started to talk about this book: perhaps the moment of this entirely positive, heartening message is about to come -- Alexander McCall Smith * Scotsman *Lively and illuminating . . . Even a few months ago, [the idea that most people behave well in most circumstances] might have seemed, as Bregman claims, “a radical idea”. The coronavirus crisis has made it blindingly obvious * Irish Times *This book must be read by as many people as possible - only when people change their view of human nature will they begin to believe in the possibility of building a better world -- Grace BlakeleyOne of the most powerful books I have read for a long time, and a book I have absolutely no hesitation about saying everyone needs to read, and that it will change your life if you do so -- Matthew Taylor, RSARutger Bregman’s extraordinary new book is a revelation . . . Humankind is masterful in its grasp of history, both ancient and modern -- Susan Cain, author of 'Quiet'Cynicism is a theory of everything, but, as Rutger Bregman brilliantly shows, an elective one. This necessary book widens the aperture of possibility for a better future, and radically -- David Wallace-Wells, author of 'The Uninhabitable Earth'This important book is almost preternatural in its timing and argument. Rutger Bregman is poetic in his rejection of a Hobbesian view of our true natures. The gigantic upheavals of 2020 have proved him right. Reading this during lockdown changed the way I think about our humanity. We are good -- Dan SnowRutger Bregman is out on his own, thinking for himself, using history to give the rest of us a chance to build a much better future than we can presently imagine -- Timothy Snyder, Holocaust historian and author of 'On Tyranny'A devastating demolition of the misanthrope’s mantra. A beacon of hope for a frighted world -- Professor Danny Dorling, author of 'Inequality and the 1%'

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Book Synopsis''We must learn to love, learn to be kind, and this from our earliest youth ... Likewise, hatred must be learned and nurtured, if one wishes to become a proficient hater''This volume contains a selection of Nietzsche''s brilliant and challenging aphorisms, examining the pleasures of revenge, the falsity of pity, and the incompatibility of marriage with the philosophical life.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin''s 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). Nietzsche''s works available in Penguin Classics are A Nietzsche Reader, Beyond Good and Evil, Ecce Homo, Human, All Too Human, On the Genealogy of Morals, The Birth of Tragedy, The Portable Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Twilight of Idols and Anti-Christ.

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Book SynopsisFriedrich Nietzsche''s most accessible and influential philosophical work, misquoted, misrepresented, brilliantly original and enormously influentialNietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and subversive thinkers in Western philosophy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra remains his most famous and influential work. It describes how the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra descends from his solitude in the mountains to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman, the human embodiment of divinity, is his successor. Nietzsche''s utterance ''God is dead'', his insistence that the meaning of life is to be found in purely human terms, and his doctrine of the Superman and the will to power were all later seized upon and unrecognisably twisted by, among others, Nazi intellectuals. With blazing intensity and poetic brilliance, Nietzsche argues that the meaning of existence is not to be found in religious pieties or meek submission to authority, but in an all-powerful life force: passionate, chaotic and free.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators.Table of ContentsPart 1 Zarathustra's discourses: of the three metamorphoses; of the chairs of virtue; of the afterworldsmen; of the despisers of the body; of joys and passions; of the pale criminal; of reading and writing; of the tree on the mountainside; of the preachers of death; of war and warriors; of the new idol; of the flies of the market-place; of chastity; of the friend; of the thousand and one goals; of love of one's neighbour; of the way of the creator; of old and young women; of the Adder's bite; of marriage and children; of voluntary death; of the bestowing virtue. Part 2: the child with the mirror; on the blissful islands; of the compassionate; of the priests; of the virtuous; of the rabble; of the tarantulas; of the famous philosophers; of the night song; the dance song; the funeral song; of self-overcoming; of the sublime men; of the land of culture; of immaculate perception; of scholars; of poets; of great events; the prophet; of redemption; of manly prudence; the stillest hour. Part 3: the wanderer; of the vision and the riddle; of involuntary bliss; before sunrise; of the virtue that makes small; on the mount of olives; of passing by; of the apostates; the home-coming; of the three evil things; of the spirit of gravity; of old and new law-tables; the convalescent; of the great longing; the second dance song; the seven seals (or - the song of Yes and Amen). Part 4: the honey offering; the cry of distress; conversation with the kings; the leech; the sorcerer; retired from service; the ugliest man; the voluntary beggar; the shadow; at noontide; the greeting; the last supper; of the higher man; the song of melancholy; of science; among the daughters of the desert; the awakening; the ass festival; the intoxicated song; the sign.

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Book SynopsisDeeply interesting a superb critique of contemporary self-obsession' Steven Poole, Guardian'Engrossing bracing incendiary and timely' Stuart Jeffries, Daily TelegraphA philosopher explains why the search for identity is meaningless, and how we should escape the self Modern life encourages us to pursue the perfect identity. Whether we aspire to become the best lawyer or charity worker, life partner or celebrity influencer, we emulate exemplars that exist in the world hoping it will bring us happiness. But this often leads to a complex game of envy and pride. We achieve these identities but want others to imitate us. We disagree with those whose identities contradict ours leading to polarisation and even violence. And yet when they thump against us, we are ashamed to ring hollow. In Against Identity, philosopher Alexander Douglas seeks an alternative wisdom. Searching the work of three thinkers ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, Dutch Enlightenment thinker Benedict de Spinoza, and 20th Century French theorist René Girard he explores how identity can be a spiritual violence that leads us away from truth. Through their worlds and radically different cultures, we discover how, at moments of historical rupture, our hunger for being grows: and yet, it is exactly these times when we should make peace with our indeterminacy and discover the freedom of escaping our selves. Lucid and absorbing One of my highlight books of the year' Stuart Kelly, Scotsman

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Book SynopsisThis is a book about the big questions in life: knowledge, consciousness, fate, God, truth, goodness, justice. It is for anyone who thinks there are big questions lurking out there, but does not know how to approach them. Written by the author of the bestselling Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Think sets out to explain what they are and why they are important.Trade ReviewBlackburn has produced the one book every smart person should read to understand, and even enjoy, the key questions of philosophy, ranging from those about free will and morality to what we can really know about the world around us. * Walter Isaacson, Time Magazine *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Knowledge ; 2. Mind ; 3. Free Will ; 4. The Self ; 5. God ; 6. Reasoning ; 7. The World ; 8. What To Do ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisWith an Introduction by Dr Richard Serjeantson, Trinity College, CambridgeSince its first publication in 1651, Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan has been recognised as one of the most compelling, and most controversial, works of political philosophy written in English. Forged in the crucible of the civil and religious warfare of the mid-seventeenth century, it proposes a political theory that combines an unequivocal commitment to natural human liberty with the conviction that the sovereign power of government must be exercised absolutely. Leviathan begins from some shockingly naturalistic starting-points: an analysis of human nature as being motivated by vain-glory and pride, and a vision of religion as simply the fear of invisible powers made up by the mind. Yet from these deliberately unpromising elements, Hobbes constructs with unparalleled forcefulness an elaborate, systematic, and comprehensive account of how political society ought to be: ordered, law-bound, peaceful. In Leviathan, Hobbes presents us with a portrait of politics which depicts how a state that is made up of the unified body of all its citizens will be powerful, fruitful, protective of each of its members, and — above all — free from internal violence.

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Book SynopsisIn Either/Or, using the voices of two characters - the aesthetic young man of part one, called simply ''A'', and the ethical Judge Vilhelm of the second section - Kierkegaard reflects upon the search for a meaningful existence, contemplating subjects as diverse as Mozart, drama, boredom, and, in the famous Seducer''s Diary, the cynical seduction and ultimate rejection of a young, beautiful woman. A masterpiece of duality, Either/Or is a brilliant exploration of the conflict between the aesthetic and the ethical - both meditating ironically and seductively upon Epicurean pleasures, and eloquently expounding the noble virtues of a morally upstanding life.Table of ContentsEither/Or Translator's NoteIntroductionPart One: Containing the Papers of APreface1. Diapsalmata2. The Immediate Erotic Stages or the Musical Erotic3. Ancient Tragedy's Reflection in the Modern4. Shadowgraphs5. The Unhappiest One6. Crop Rotation7. The Seducer's DiaryPart Two: Containing the Papers of B: Letters to A1. The Aesthetic Validity of Marriage2. Equilibrium between the Aesthetic and the Ethical in the Development of Personality3. Last Word4. The Edifying in the Thought that Against God We Are Always in the WrongNotes

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Book SynopsisFriedrich Nietzsche''s Beyond Good and Evil is translated from the German by R.J. Hollingdale with an introduction by Michael Tanner in Penguin Classics. Beyond Good and Evil confirmed Nietzsche''s position as the towering European philosopher of his age. The work dramatically rejects the tradition of Western thought with its notions of truth and God, good and evil. Nietzsche demonstrates that the Christian world is steeped in a false piety and infected with a ''slave morality''. With wit and energy, he turns from this critique to a philosophy that celebrates the present and demands that the individual imposes their own ''will to power'' upon the world. This edition includes a commentary on the text by the translator and Michael Tanner''s introduction, which explains some of the more abstract passages in Beyond Good and Evil. Frederich Nietzsche (1844-1900) became the chair of classical philology at Basel University at the age of 24 until his bad health forced him to retire in 1879. He divorced himself from society until his final collapse in 1899 when he became insane. A powerfully original thinker, Nietzsche''s influence on subsequent writers, such as George Bernard Shaw, D.H. Lawrence, Thomas Mann and Jean-Paul Sartre, was considerable. If you enjoyed Beyond Good and Evil you might like Nietzsche''s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, also available in Penguin Classics. ''One of the greatest books of a very great thinker'' Michael TannerTable of ContentsOn the prejudices of philosophers; the free spirit; the religious nature; maxims and interludes; on the natural history of morals; we scholars; our virtues; people and fatherlands; what is noble?; from high mountains - epode.

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLEROne of the most influential voices in modern philosophy - the author of The Course of Love, Religion for Atheists, The Art of Travel and The School of LifeAlain de Botton presents a one-stop shop for solving the problems of everyday life through the wisdom of history''s great philosophers''Singlehandedly, de Botton has taken philosophy back to its simplest and most important purpose: helping us live our lives'' Independent''Few discussions on the great philosophers can have been so entertaining... An ingenious, imaginative book'' The Sunday Times''Witty, thoughtful, entertaining... It manages to make philosophy both enjoyable and relevant'' Anthony Clare, Literary Review''No doubt about it, philosophy is the new rock and roll and Alain de Botton is its Colonel Tom Parker... A pleasure to read. And good writing, like good philosophy, is always a consolaTrade ReviewWitty, thoughful, entertaining ... a stylish book, which manages to make philosophy both enjoyable and relevant, at the same time providing a very sensible digest of consolations for many of our current psychological ills Literary Review Single-handedly, de Botton has taken philosophy back to its simplest and most important purpose: helping us to live our lives Independent A pleasure to read. And good writing, like good philosophy, is always a consolation -- John Banville Irish Times

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Book SynopsisOne of the most iconoclastic philosophers of all time, Nietzsche dramatically rejected notions of good and evil, truth and God. Beyond Good and Evil demonstrates that the world is steeped in false piety and infected with a 'slave morality'. With wit and subversive energy, Nietzsche demands that the individual impose their own 'will to power' upon the world.

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Book Synopsis''The noblest and most lovable of the great philosophers ... ethically he is supreme'' Bertrand RussellPublished shortly after his death in 1677, the Ethics is Spinoza''s greatest work - a fully cohesive philosophical system that strives to provide a picture of reality and to comprehend the meaning of an ethical life. It defines in turn the nature of God, the mind, human bondage to the emotions and the power of understanding - moving from a consideration of the eternal, to speculate upon humanity''s place in the natural order and the path to attainable happiness. A work of elegant simplicity, the Ethics is a brilliantly insightful consideration of the possibility of redemption through philosophical reflection.Translated by Edwin Curley with an Introduction by Stuart HampshireTrade ReviewThe noblest and most lovable of the great philosophers ... ethically he is supreme. (Bertrand Russell)"

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Book SynopsisDevelops a theory of contemporary culture that relies on displacing economic notions of cultural production with notions of cultural expenditure. This book represents an effort to rethink cultural theory from the perspective of a concept of cultural materialism, one that radically redefines postmodern formulations of the body.

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Book Synopsis90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin BooksI am not a man, I am dynamiteWeeks before his final mental breakdown, Nietzsche set out to compose his autobiography, and Ecce Homo is the result. A summary of his life's work as a philosopher, with chapter headings including Why I Am So Wise' and Why I Write Such Good Books', it is part mocking self-judgement and part battle cry, and remains one of the most singular, strange examples of the genre ever written.

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Book Synopsis''The best book ever written'' Nicholas Lezard, GuardianRobert Burton''s labyrinthine, beguiling, playful masterpiece is his attempt to ''anatomize and cut up'' every aspect of the condition of melancholy, from which he had suffered throughout his life. Ranging over beauty, digestion, the planets, alcohol, goblins, kissing, poetry and the restorative power of books, among many other things, The Anatomy of Melancholy has fascinated figures from Samuel Johnson to Jorge Luis Borges since the seventeenth century, and remains an incomparable examination of the human condition in all its flawed, endless variety.Edited with an introduction by Angus GowlandTrade ReviewThe best book ever written -- Nick Lezard * Guardian *The greatest work of prose of the greatest period of English prose-writing -- Llewelyn PowysBurton's masterpiece. It is one of the finest prose works in English . . . it is funny, a laugh-aloud book, one that seems to convey the character of its writer with a rare clarity. It is an ode to reading that overflows with allusions and quotations, making it a book that feels, at times, as if it is about the whole of human knowledge. In its wonderfully capacious digressiveness, it pulsates with a life force that is, in itself, a charm against the terrors, the fears and the loneliness of melancholy * The Guardian *This is the best popular edition ever produced of one of the most amusing books in our language, a masterpiece of scholarship. It belongs on the shelves of everyone who loves English literature and all those who aspire to do so * The Critic *

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Book SynopsisFeatures three essays that offer insights into Nietzsche's theories of morality and human psychology.

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Book SynopsisOne of the most remarkable philosophical works of the nineteenth century, The Sickness Unto Death is also famed for the depth and acuity of its modern psychological insights. Writing under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus, Kierkegaard explores the concept of ''despair'', alerting readers to the diversity of ways in which they may be described as living in this state of bleak abandonment - including some that may seem just the opposite - and offering a much-discussed formula for the eradication of despair. With its penetrating account of the self, this late work by Kierkegaard was hugely influential upon twentieth-century philosophers including Karl Jaspers, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. The Sickness unto Death can be regarded as one of the key works of theistic existentialist thought - a brilliant and revelatory answer to one man''s struggle to fill the spiritual void.Table of ContentsThe Sickness Unto Death Translator's NoteIntroductionThe Sickness Unto DeathPrefaceIntroductionPart One: The Sickness Unto Death Is DespairPart Two: Despair Is SinNotes

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Book SynopsisWidely regarded as the father of modern Western philosophy, Descartes sought to look beyond established ideas and create a thought system based on reason. In this profound work he meditates on doubt, the human soul, God, truth and the nature of existence itself.GREAT IDEAS. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

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Book SynopsisThis selection of thoughts on religion, ethics, politics, women, suicide, books, and much more is taken from Schopenhauer's last work, Parerga and Paralipo-mena, published in 1851.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Table of ContentsEssays and Aphorisms - Arthur Schopenhauer Selected and Translated with an Introduction by R. J. HollingdaleIntroductionEssaysOn the Suffering of the WorldOn the Vanity of ExistenceOn the Antithesis of Thing in Itself and AppearanceOn Affirmation and Denial of the Will to LiveOn the Indestructibility of our Essential Being by DeathOn SuicideOn WomenOn Thinking for YourselfOn Religion: A DialogueAphorismsOn Philosophy and the IntellectOn EthicsOn Law and PoliticsOn AestheticsOn PsychologyOn ReligionOn Books and WritingOn Various SubjectsList of Correspondences

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Book SynopsisThroughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are. One of the most important thinkers ever to write in English, the Empiricist David Hume liberated philosophy from the superstitious constraints of religion; here, he argues that all are free to choose between life and death, considers the nature of personal taste and succinctly criticises common philosophies of the time.

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Book SynopsisSlavoj Zizek, the maverick philosopher, author of over 30 books, acclaimed as the "Elvis of cultural theory", and today's most controversial public intellectual. His work traverses the fields of philosophy, psychoanalysis, theology, history and political theory, taking in film, popular culture, literature and jokes-all to provide acute analyses of the complexities of contemporary ideology as well as a serious and sophisticated philosophy. His recent films The Pervert's Guide to the Cinema and Zizek! reveal a theorist at the peak of his powers and a skilled communicator. Now Verso is making his classic titles, each of which stand as a core of his ever-expanding life's work, available as new editions. Each is beautifully re-packaged, including new introductions from Zizek himself. Simply put, they are the essential texts for understanding Zizek's thought and thus cornerstones of contemporary philosophy.The Sublime Object of Ideology: Slavoj Zizek's first book is a provocative and original work looking at the question of human agency in a postmodern world. In a thrilling tour de force that made his name, he explores the ideological fantasies of wholeness and exclusion which make up human society.Trade ReviewThe Elvis of cultural theory. * Chronicle of Higher Education *The giant of Ljubljana provides the best intellectual high since Anti-Oedipus. * The Village Voice *The most formidably brilliant exponent of psychoanalysis, indeed of cultural theory in general, to have emerged in many decades. -- Terry EagletonUnafraid of confrontation and with a near limitless grasp of pop symbolism * The Times *Zizek is a thinker who regards nothing as outside his field: the result is deeply interesting and provocative. * Guardian *Zizek is one of the few living writers to combine theoretical rigor with compulsive readability. * Publishers Weekly *Zizek leaves no social or cultural phenomenon untheorized, and is master of the counterintuitive observation * New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisTraditionally attributed to Lao Tzu, an older contemporary of Confucius (551 - 479 BC), it is now thought that the work was compiled in about the fourth century BC. An anthology of wise sayings, it offers a model by which the individual can live rather than explaining the human place in the universe. The moral code it encourages is based on modesty and self-restraint, and the rewards reaped for such a life are harmony and flow of life.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Trade Review"It would be hard to find a fresh approach to a text that ranks only behind the Bible as the most widely translated book in the world, but Star achieves that goal. . . . As fascinating to the casual scholar as it is for the serious student." -NAPRA ReView "Jonathan Star's Tao Te Ching achieves the essential: It clarifies the meaning of the text without in the slightest reducing its mystery." -Jacob NeedlemanTable of ContentsLao Tzu " cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" border="0"IntroductionLAO TZUBook OneBook TwoList of Passages for ComparisonAppendices:1. The Problem of Authorship2. The Nature of the WorkChronological TableGlossaryNotes

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Book SynopsisTranslated by Antony M. Ludovici. With an Introduction by Ray Furness. The three works in this collection, all dating from Nietzsche's last lucid months, show him at his most stimulating and controversial: the portentous utterances of the prophet (together with the ill-defined figure of the Übermensch) are forsaken, as wit, exuberance and dazzling insights predominate, forcing the reader to face unpalatable insights and to rethink every commonly accepted 'truth'. Thinking with Nietzsche, in Jaspers' words, means holding one's own against him, and we are indeed refreshed and challenged by the vortex of his thoughts, by concepts which test and probe. In The Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, and Ecce Homo Nietzsche writes at breakneck speed of his provenance, his adversaries and his hopes for mankind; the books are largely epigrammatic and aphoristic, allowing this poet-philosopher to bewilder and fascinate us with their strangeness and their daring. He who fights with monsters, Nietzsche once told us, should look to it that he himself does not become one, and when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. Reader, beware.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE GRAND PRIX DU LIVRE D''IDÉESThe French: serious and frivolous, charming and infuriating, rational and mystical, pessimistic, pleasure-loving - and perhaps more than any other people, intellectual. This original and entertaining book shows exactly what makes the French so ... French.Trade ReviewThere could be no wiser or more witty guide to the problems of France today. -- Julian Jackson * Times Literary Supplement *A first-rate book... Sudhir Hazareesingh, brings an engaging personal angle to his ambitious cavalcade through four centuries of French intellectual thought... This vast, opinionated and wholly original book reminds us that ideas still count and that intellectual endeavour still has resonance in the face of the mercantile plutocracy that so much defines the way we live now. -- Douglas Kennedy * New Statesman *This book depicts Parisian society like a Cambridge party in which everyone knows the jokes, and everyone knows where the bodies are buried. You will read it not just with fascination, but with relish. -- Jonathan Clark * Times Literary Supplement (Books of the Year) *

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Book SynopsisBriefly: Mill's Utilitarianism is a summarized version of John Stuart Mill's original treatise, which is designed to assist university and sixth-form students in acquiring knowledge and understanding of this key text. Based on, and page referenced to, George Sher's Hackett edition an important feature of the book is its close adherence to Mill's text, enabling the reader to follow each development in the argument as it occurs. It will be of particular value in helping students to revise for university examinations in Philosophy and Theology and for A-level examinations in Religious Studies. The introduction contains a brief biography of Mill, examines and assesses the importance of the main issues covered by his Utilitarianism, and indicates where they are to be found in the text. There is a comprehensive glossary of terms.

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Book SynopsisFind inspiration from one of the most important books in the world''s literature . . . __________The I Ching is a book of oracles containing the whole of human experience. Used for divination, it is a method of exploring the unconscious; through the symbolism of its hexagrams we are guided towards the solution of difficult problems and life situations. It can also be read as a book of wisdom revealing the laws of life to which we must all attune ourselves if we are to live in peace and harmony.''The I Ching'', or ''Book of Changes'', a common source for both Confucianist and Taoist philosophy, is one of the first efforts of the human mind to place itself within the universe. It has exerted a living influence in China for 3,000 years, and interest in it has been rapidly spreading in the West.

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Book SynopsisMany people regard Hegel''s work as obscure and extremely difficult, yet his importance and influence are universally acknowledged. Professor Singer eliminates any excuse for remaining ignorant of the outlines of Hegel''sphilosophy by providing a broad discussion of his ideas and an account of his major works. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition an excellent introduction to Hegel's thought... Hegel is neatly placed in historical context; the formal waltz of dialectic and the dialectic master and slave are economically illumined; Singer's use of analogy is at times inspired.' * Sunday Times *Table of Contents1. Hegel's times and life ; 2. History with a purpose ; 3. Freedom and community ; 4. The odyssey of the mind ; 5. Logic and dialectics ; 6. Aftermath ; Notes on sources, further reading, index

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Book SynopsisTen essays on how reading and meaningfully engaging with literature can help us live better, more purposeful lives.How do we live fully?How do we live successfully?Adrift in an anchorless world, we often worry about where we are heading. What meaning can we hope to find in our modern, secular life? The answer, Ben Hutchinson explains, can be found by looking to writers and thinkers to help us live more purposefully, more mindfully more fully.Interweaving his own (mis-)adventures with those of authors such as T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust and Joan Didion, On Purpose proposes ten ways in which reading and writing encourage us to ask difficult questions, project our minds into the past and future, and see ourselves and others differently.Engaging, uplifting and aphoristic, this book is for anyone who has lost their sense of direction or wishes to radically transform the way they live.

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Book SynopsisIn one of the most influential philosophical works ever writen, John Stuart Mill explores the risks and responsibilities of liberty. Examining the tyranny that can come both from government and from the herd-like opinion of the majority, Mill proposes a freedom to think, unite, and pursue our pleasures as the most important freedoms, as long as we cause no harm to others. GREAT IDEAS. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

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Book Synopsis''A poetic, erudite exploration of history and myth'' Financial TimesAn unforgettable journey through centuries and across cultures to the pivotal moment in evolution - when humans did something that no species had yet tried - when we became the hunter and no longer the prey. Informed by Greek and Egyptian myth, the stories of poets, shamans and gods, Roberto Calasso''s expansive exploration of our relationship to animals and sacrifice, encourages us to reframe our understanding of our place in history, and in the world. ''Calasso has created a much discussed original genre for these books ... a dense pastiche of myth, biography, criticism, philosophy, history and minutiae ... woven together by Calasso''s unflagging vision'' The New YorkerTrade ReviewBeguiling, captivating, vital ... Informed by myth, this damning exploration of man's detachment from the animal world is ninth in a staggeringly learned series -- Stuart Jeffries * Guardian *The Celestial Hunter is an "initiation through the book", speculative but capable of changing how you see things -- Dominic Green * Spectator *A spellbinding modern magus . . . he writes like a poet, not a professor, in glinting, enigmatic nuggets of narrative. At a moment when atavistic kinds of peril, awe and terror seem close at hand, it feels no great stretch to share Calasso's core belief that "the gods always return" -- Boyd Tonkin * Financial Times *Calasso is especially good at describing the characters of myth and legend with a novelist's omniscient authority ... leaves you feeling not out of your depth, but smarter and better read -- A. E. Stallings * New York Times *

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Book Synopsis'Baggini offers us a tempting smorgasbord of some of the most baffling, weird and occasionally downright creepy scenarios ever envisaged... enjoy these mind-boggling tales from the outer limit of thought' Guardian Is it right to eat a pig that wants to be eaten? Are you really reading this book cover, or are you in a simulation? If God is all-powerful, could he create a square circle? Here are 100 of the most intriguing thought experiments from the history of philosophy and ideas - questions to leave you inspired, informed and scratching your head, dumbfounded. A collection of short, accessible philosophical quandaries to stimulate, challenge and entertain. 'This book is like the Sudoku of moral philosophy: apply your mind to any of its "thought experiments" while stuck on the Tube, and quickly be transported out of rush-hour hell' New StatesmanTrade ReviewBaggini offers us a tempting smorgasbord of some of the most baffling, weird and occasionally downright creepy scenarios ever envisaged... enjoy these mind-boggling tales from the outer limit of thought * Guardian *This book is like the Sudoku of moral philosophy: apply your mind to any of its "thought experiments" while stuck on the Tube, and quickly be transported out of rush-hour hell * New Statesman *Thinking again is what this taut, incisive, bullet-hard book is dedicated to promoting * Sunday Times *An eloquent and engaging introduction to the major philosophical quandaries * Scotland on Sunday *An engaging read ... It's one to which I'll keep returning - whenever I feel like an argument and have nobody to argue with * Sunday Herald *An eloquent and engaging introduction to the major philosophical quandaries about identity, knowledge, morality and rationality.It is the best kind of popularising work: amusing enough to provide an easy way into difficult questions, but uncompromising in terms of the meanings deduced from the fables * Scotland on Sunday *Baggini frames various philosophical conundrums so that we focus on the nub of the matter without the extraneous considerations that complicate them in real life... helpfully cross- referenced and ideal for reading aloud * Metro (London) *

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Book Synopsis'FORGET HYGGE. IT'S ALL ABOUT IKIGAI (THAT'S JAPANESE FOR A HAPPY LIFE)' The Times'WHEN IT COMES TO TRANSATLANTIC ASPIRATIONAL LIVING, IT'S NOW ALL ABOUT IKIGAI' ELLE'THE NEW LIFESTYLE MANTRA' Sunday TimesFind out how to live a long and happy life thanks to the ikigai miracle, a Japanese philosophy that helps you find fulfilment, joy and mindfulness in everything you do.It is extraordinary that Japanese men's longevity ranks 4th in the world, while Japanese women's ranks 2nd. But perhaps this comes as no surprise when you know that the Japanese understanding of ikigai is embedded in their daily life and in absolutely everything that they do. In their professional careers, in their relationships with family members, in the hobbies they cultivate so meticulously. Ken Mogi identifies five key pillars to ikigai:Pillar 1: Starting smallPillar 2: Releasing yourselfPillar 3:Harmony and sustainabilityPillar 4:The joy of little thingsPillar 5:Being in the here and nowThe Japanese talk about ikigai as 'a reason to get up in the morning'. It is something that keeps one's enthusiasm for life going, whether you are a cleaner of the famous Shinkansen bullet train, the mother of a newborn child or a Michelin-starred sushi chef. The Five Pillars at the heart of everything they do.But how do you find your own ikigai? How does ikigai contribute to happiness? Neuroscientist and bestselling Japanese writer Ken Mogi provides an absorbing insight into this way of life, incorporating scientific research and first-hand experience, and providing a colourful narrative of Japanese culture and history along the way.

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Book SynopsisThe book Nietzsche called the most personal of all my books. It was here that he first proclaimed the death of God—to which a large part of the book is devoted—and his doctrine of the eternal recurrence.Walter Kaufmann''s commentary, with its many quotations from previously untranslated letters, brings to life Nietzsche as a human being and illuminates his philosophy. The book contains some of Nietzsche''s most sustained discussions of art and morality, knowledge and truth, the intellectual conscience and the origin of logic.Most of the book was written just before Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the last part five years later, after Beyond Good and Evil. We encounter Zarathustra in these pages as well as many of Nietzsche''s most interesting philosophical ideas and the largest collection of his own poetry that he himself ever published.Walter Kaufmann''s English versions of Nietzsche represent one of the major translation enterprises of our time. He is the first philosopher to have translated Nietzsche''s major works, and never before has a single translator given us so much of Nietzsche.

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Book SynopsisThroughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Fundamental to Chinese philosophy and religion, this title includes topics ranging from political advice to common wisdom.

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Book SynopsisOne of the foundation-stones of modern philosophy Descartes was prepared to go to any lengths in his search for certainty—even to deny those things that seemed most self-evident. In his Meditations of 1641, and in the Objections and Replies that were included with the original publication, he set out to dismantle and then reconstruct the idea of the individual self and its existence. In doing so, Descartes developed a language of subjectivity that has lasted to this day, and he also took his first steps towards the view that would eventually be expressed in the epigram Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am), one of modern philosophy's most famous—and most fiercely contested—claims. The first part of a two-volume edition of Descartes' works in Penguin Classics, the second of which is Discourse on Method & Related Writings.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speakingTable of ContentsThe Penguin DescartesAcknowledgmentsIntroductionFurther ReadingMeditations on First PhilosophyLetter of Dedication to the SorbonnePreface to the ReaderSummary of the Following Six MeditationsMeditationsObjections and Replies (Selections)The Principles of PhilosophyLetter to Princess ElizabethPart One: The Principles of Human KnowledgeDescartes' Correspondence: Selections, 1643-9Comments on a Certain ManifestoNotesIndexNotes

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Book SynopsisThroughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.The Father of Existentialism, Kierkegaard transformed philosophy with his conviction that we must all create our own nature; in this great work of religious anxiety, he argues that a true understanding of God can only be attained by making a personal ''leap of faith''.

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Book SynopsisHuman, All Too Human (1878) marks the point where Nietzsche abandons German romanticism for the French Enlightenment. At a moment of crisis in his life (no longer a friend of Richard Wagner, forced to leave academic life through ill health), he sets out his views in a scintillating and bewildering series of aphorisms which contain the seeds of his later philosophy (e.g. the will to power, the need to transcend conventional Christian morality). The result is one of the cornerstones of his life's work. It well deserves its subtitle ‘A Book for Free Spirits’, and its original dedication to Voltaire, whose project of radical enlightenment here finds a new champion. Beyond Good and Evil (1886) is a scathing and powerful critique of philosophy, religion and science. Here Nietzsche presents us with problems and challenges that are as troubling as they are inspiring, while at the same time outlining the virtues, ideas, and practices which will characterise the philosophy of the future. Relentless, energetic, tirelessly probing, he both determines that philosophy's agenda and is himself the embodiment of the type of thought he wants to foster.

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Book SynopsisVolume 1 of the definitive English translation of one of the most important philosophical works of the 19th century, the basic statement in one important stream of post-Kantian thought. Corrects nearly 1,000 errors and omissions in the older Haldane-Kemp translation. For the first time, this edition translates and locates all quotes and provides full index.

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Book Synopsis'Powerful and brilliant ... Straw Dogs challenges all our assumptions about what it is to be human, and convincingly shows that most of them are delusions.' J. G. Ballard From Plato to Christianity, from the Enlightenment to Nietzsche, the Western tradition has been based on arrogant and erroneous beliefs about human beings and their place in the world. In his radical work of philosophy John Gray sets out to challenge our most cherished assumptions about what it means to be human. Philosophies such as liberalism and Marxism enthrone humankind as a species whose destiny is to transcend natural limits and conquer the Earth. Even in the present day, despite Darwin's discoveries, nearly all schools of thought take as their starting point the belief that humans are radically different from other animals. John Gray argues that this belief in human difference is a dangerous illusion and explores how the world and human life look once humanism has been finally abandoned. The result is an exhilarating, sometimes disturbing book that leads the reader to question our deepest-held beliefs.Trade ReviewThis powerful and brilliant book is an essential guide to the new Millennium. Straw Dogs challenges all our assumptions about what it is to be human, and convincingly shows that most of them are delusions. Who are we, and why are we here? John Gray's answers will shock most of us deeply. This is the most exhilarating book I have read since Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene -- J. G. BallardMy book of the year was Straw Dogs. I read it once, I read it twice and took notes. I arranged to meet its author so I could publicize the book - I thought it that good ... a devastating critique of liberal humanism, and all of it set out in easy-to-digest (although hard-to-swallow) apercus -- Will Self * New Statesman *One of the most important books published this year, and will probably prove to be one of the most important this century ... nobody can hope to understand the times in which we live unless they have read Straw Dogs -- Sue Corrigan * Mail on Sunday *There is unlikely to be a more provocative or more compelling book published this year than Straw Dogs ... Gray is one of the most consistently interesting and unpredictable thinkers in Britain -- Jason Cowley * Observer *Relentless in its upheaval of the ideology and moral framework most of us inhabit like a big comfy armchair. Progress, freedom, selfhood, morality, justice and technology - all are turned around so you doubt which direction you are going, if any. -- Marcus Coates * Frieze *A complex and concentrated read -- Hugh Lawson Tancred * Spectator *John Gray's pessimistic but challenging view of humankind among the animals, Straw Dogs enraged and engaged me more than any other book this year -- Jim Crace * Times *Gray is undeniably a force to be reckoned with.He is the most lucid and compelling writer about political theory since Isaiah Berlin, and he was understandably hailed by Will Self as "the most important living philosopher -- Johann Hari * The Independent *Exhilarating -- Daisy Waugh * Herald *

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Book SynopsisIn these two devastating late works, Nietzsche offers a powerful attack on the morality and the beliefs of his timeNietzsche''s Twilight of the Idols is a ''grand declaration of war'' on reason, psychology and theology, which combines highly charged personal attacks on his contemporaries (in particular Hegel, Kant and Schopenhauer) with a lightning tour of his own philosophy. It also paves the way for The Anti-Christ, Nietzsche''s final assault on institutional Christianity, in which he identifies himself with the ''Dionysian'' artist and confronts Christ: the only opponent he feels worthy of him.Translated by R. J. Hollingdale with an Introduction by Michael TannerTable of ContentsTwilight of the Idols/The Anti-Christ IntroductionTranslator's NoteTwilight of the Idols, or How to Philosophize with a HammerForewordMaxims and ArrowsThe Problems of Socrates"Reason" in PhilosophyHow the "Real World" at last Became a MythMorality as Anti-NatureThe Four Great ErrorsThe "Improvers" of MankindWhat the Germans LackExpeditions of an Untimely ManWhat I Owe to the AncientsThe Hammer SpeaksThe Anti-ChristForewordThe Anti-ChristGlossary of Names

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Book SynopsisIn Fear and Trembling, Søren Kierkegaard''s infamous and controversial work made a lasting impression on both modern Protestant theology and existentialist philosophers such as Sartre and Camus. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Danish with an introduction by Alistair Hannay.Writing under the pseudonym of ''Johannes de silentio'', Kierkegaard expounds his personal view of religion through a discussion of the scene in Genesis in which Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac at God''s command. Believing Abraham''s unreserved obedience to be the essential leap of faith needed to make a full commitment to his religion, Kierkegaard himself made great sacrifices in order to dedicate his life entirely to his philosophy and to God. The conviction shown in this religious polemic - that a man can have an exceptional mission in life - informed all Kierkegaard''s later writings. His ''teleological suspension of the ethical'' challenged the contemporary views of Hegel''s universal moral system, and was also hugely influential for both protestant theology and the existentialist movement. Alastair Hannay''s introduction evaluates Kierkegaard''s philosophy and the ways in which it conflicted with more accepted contemporary views. This edition also includes detailed notes to complement this groundbreaking analysis of religion, and a new chronology.Danish-born Sren Kierkegaard (1813-55) wrote on a wide variety of themes, including religion, psychology, and literature. He is remembered for his philosophy, which pioneered the idea of the Absurd, and was influential and in the development of 20th century existentialism. His other works include The Sickness unto Death, Either/Or, and Papers and Journals, all of which are available in Penguin Classics.If you enjoyed Fear and Trembling, you might like Kierkegaard''s The Sickness unto Death, also available in Penguin Classics.

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