BookOdyssey

Selected as a Book of the Year in The Times Literary Supplement\'This lucid and riveting new biography at once rescuses Kierkegaard from the scholars and shows why he is such an intriguing and useful figure\' ObserverSøren Kierkegaard, one of the most passionate and challenging of modern philosophers, is now celebrated as the father of existentialism - yet his contemporaries described him as a philosopher of the heart. Over about a decade in the 1840s and 1850s, writings poured from his pen analysing love and suffering, courage and anxiety, religious longing and defiance, and forging a new philosophical style rooted in the inward drama of being human.As Christianity seemed to sleepwalk through a changing world, Kierkegaard dazzlingly revealed its spiritual power while exposing the poverty of official religion. His restless creativity was spurred on by his own failures: his relationship with the young woman whom he promised to marry, then left to devote himself to writing, haunted him throughout his life.Though tormented by the pressures of celebrity, he deliberately lived amidst the crowds in Copenhagen, known by everyone but, he felt, understood by no one. When he collapsed exhausted at the age of 42, he was still pursuing the question of existence: how to be a human being in this world?Clare Carlisle\'s innovative and moving biography writes Kierkegaard\'s remarkable life as far as possible from his own perspective, conveying what it was like to be this Socrates of Christendom - as he put it, living life forwards yet only understanding it backwards. Σελίδες: 368, Διαστάσεις: 13.2x13.2cm

SUNDAY TIMES and GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2015What does it mean to devote yourself wholly to helping others? In Strangers Drowning, Larissa MacFarquhar seeks out people living lives of extreme ethical commitment, and tells their intimate stories: their stubborn integrity and their compromises; their bravery and their recklessness; their wrenching dilemmas.A couple adopts two children in distress. But then they think: if they can change two lives, why not four? Or ten? They adopt twenty. But how do they weigh the needs of unknown children in distress against the needs of the children they already have?Another couple founds a leprosy colony in the wilderness in India, living in huts with no walls, knowing that their two small children may contract leprosy or be eaten by panthers. The children survive. But what if they hadn\'t? How would their parents\' risk have been judged?We honour such generosity and high ideals; but when we call people \'do-gooders\' there is scepticism in it, even hostility. Why do moral people make us uneasy? Between her stories, MacFarquhar threads a lively history of the novels, philosophy, social science, and self-help that have contributed to a deep suspicion of do-gooders in Western culture.Through its sympathetic and beautifully vivid storytelling, Strangers Drowning confronts us with fundamental questions about what it means to be human. In a world of strangers drowning in need, how much should we help, and how much can we help? Is it right to care for strangers even at the expense of those we are closest to? Moving and provocative, Strangers Drowning challenges us to think about what we value most, and why. Σελίδες: 336, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. Resonant with the confusions of existence, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a touching and transcendent book of life. Σελίδες: 432, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

An odyssey into life\'s challenging philosophical questions during an unforgettable summer motorcycle trip, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance transformed a generation and continues to inspire millions.One of the most influential books written in the past half-century, Robert Pirsig\'s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful examination of how we live and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Following a father and his young son on a summer motorcycle trip across America\'s Northwest, to complete the Chautauqua spiritual journey, it is a story of love, fear, growth, discovery and acceptance. Both personal and philosophical, it is a compelling study of relationships, values, and eventually, enlightenment and meaning - resonant with the confusions and wonders of existence.Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974.\'The book is inspired, original...the analogies with Moby-Dick are patent\' New Yorker\'Mr Pirsig has written a work of great, perhaps urgent, importance... Read this book\' Observer Σελίδες: 432, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

A fascinating exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives. In this dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths show us how the simple, precise algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. Modern life is constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? The authors explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one\'s inbox to understanding the workings of human memory, Algorithms To Live By is full of practical takeaways to help you solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind. Σελίδες: 368, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Spirituality, like morality, has historically been tied to religion - and yet it is possible for one to exist without the other. In this meditative and highly personal account, Richard Holloway considers the nature of the spiritual, and what it means to live with the inevitability of death.Both celebration of the possibilities that life affords and an examination of how doubts and fears too often paralyse, especially as we age, Looking in the Distance is an inspiration, told with the compassion and good humour characteristic of its author. Σελίδες: 240, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Should we believe in God? In this new book, written for a new generation, the brilliant science writer and author of The God Delusion, explains why we shouldn\'t.Should we believe in God? Do we need God in order to explain the existence of the universe? Do we need God in order to be good? In twelve chapters that address some of the most profound questions human beings confront, Dawkins marshals science, philosophy and comparative religion to interrogate the hypocrisies of all the religious systems and explain to readers of all ages how life emerged without a Creator, how evolution works and how our world came into being.For anyone hoping to grapple with the meaning of life and what to believe, Outgrowing God is a challenging, thrilling and revelatory read.-------------------------------- Σελίδες: 304, Διαστάσεις: 12.7x12.7cm

The maverick philosopher returns to explore today\'s idealogical, political and economic battles, and asks whether radical change is possibleIn these troubled times, even the most pessimistic diagnosis of our future ends with an uplifting hint that things might not be as bad as all that, that there is light at the end of the tunnel.Yet, argues Slavoj Žižek, it is only when we have admit to ourselves that our situation is completely hopeless - that the light at the end of the tunnel is in fact the headlight of a train approaching us from the opposite direction - that fundamental change can be brought about. Surveying the various challenges in the world today, from mass migration and geopolitical tensions to terrorism, the explosion of rightist populism and the emergence of new radical politics - all of which, in their own way, express the impasses of global capitalism - Žižek explores whether there still remains the possibility for genuine change. Today, he proposes, the only true question is,or should be, this: do we endorse the predominant acceptance of capitalism as fact of human nature, or does today\'s capitalism contain strong enough antagonisms to prevent its infinite reproduction? Can we, he asks, move beyond the failure of socialism, and beyond the current wave of populist rage, and initiate radical change before the train hits? \'Žižek is a thinker who regards nothing as outside his field: the result is deeply interesting and provocative\' - Guardian \'Žižek leaves no social or cultural phenomenon untheorized, and is master of the counterintuitive observation\' -New Yorker Σελίδες: 336, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

The Joyous Science is a liberating voyage of discovery as Nietzsche\'s realization that \'God is dead\' and his critique of morality, the arts and modernity give way to an exhilarating doctrine of self-emancipation and the concept of eternal recurrence. Here is Nietzsche at his most personal and affirmative; in his words, this is a book of \'exuberance, restlessness, contrariety and April showers\'. With its unique voice and style, its playful combination of poetry and prose, and its invigorating quest for self-emancipation, The Joyous Science is a literary tour de force and quite possibly Nietzsche\'s best book. Σελίδες: 368, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

Timaeus and Critias is a Socratic dialogue in two parts. A response to an account of an ideal state told by Socrates, it begins with Timaeus’s theoretical exposition of the cosmos and his story describing the creation of the universe, from its very beginning to the coming of man. Timaeus introduces the idea of a creator God and speculates on the structure and composition of the physical world. Critias, the second part of Plato’s dialogue, comprises an account of the rise and fall of Atlantis, an ancient, mighty and prosperous empire ruled by the descendents of Poseidon, which ultimately sank into the sea. Σελίδες: 176, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

AN ORIGIN STORY BOOK\'Provides clarity, scholarship, wit and essential insight into why our world is the way it is\' Adam Rutherford\'I wish I could make Ian and Dorian\'s work mandatory\' Sathnam SangheraWhy is \'fascist\' used to describe everyone from dictators to parking wardens? Does the word \'fascism\' describe a historical movement or an enduring ideology? And could we see it rise again today, in an age of populism?Unlike most major political ideologies, fascism has no clear-cut intellectual foundation. It appeals to some of the very darkest instincts in human nature: the hatred of difference, the desire to control, the delight in violence. The story of fascism shows us what happens when these instincts consume entire nations.In Fascism: The Story of an Idea, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey lay out in clear and accessible terms the origins of fascism: what happened, how it happened and why. It is only by understanding fascism\'s beginnings that we can start to understand what it means today - and guard against those who seek its return. Σελίδες: 192, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0121, Διαστάσεις: 12.6x12.6cm

AN ORIGIN STORY BOOK\'Provides clarity, scholarship, wit and essential insight into why our world is the way it is\' Adam Rutherford\'I wish I could make Ian and Dorian\'s work mandatory\' Sathnam SangheraWhat makes people believe in conspiracy theories? Why have they taken over our political sphere? And how do we counter them before it\'s too late?The world has always had conspiracy theories. From the Illuminati to the deep state, the JFK assassination to the death of Princess Diana - there have always been those who believe that events are manipulated by shadowy forces with sinister intent. But in recent years, conspiracism has colonised the mainstream. These days, it is a booming industry, a political strategy and a pseudo-religion - and it\'s threatening the foundations of liberal democracy.Where once political battles were fought over ideas and values, it now feels as though we\'re arguing over the nature of reality itself. The problem is bigger than lizard people or UFOs: left unchecked, conspiracy theories have the power to warp the fabric of society and justify unspeakable crimes.In Conspiracy Theory: The Story of an Idea, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey pull back the curtain on conspiracy theories: where they come from, who promotes them, how they work and what they\'re doing to us. From biblical myth to online hysteria, this book explains what happens when the human gift for storytelling goes wrong - and how we might restore our common reality. Σελίδες: 192, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0121, Διαστάσεις: 12.6x12.6cm

\'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. Σελίδες: 256, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

As a young woman growing up in a small, religious community, Regan Penaluna daydreamed about the big questions: Who are we and what is this strange world we find ourselves in? In college she discovered philosophy and fell in love with its rationality, its abstractions, its beauty.What Penaluna didn\'t realize was that philosophy - at least the canon that\'s taught in Western universities, as well as the culture that surrounds it - would slowly grind her down through its devaluation of women and their minds. Women were nowhere in her curriculum, and feminist philosophy was dismissed as marginal, unserious.Until Penaluna came across the work of a seventeenth-century woman named Damaris Cudworth Masham. Reading Masham\'s work was like reaching through time: writing three hundred years ago, Masham was speaking directly to her about knowledge and God, but also the condition of women. Her work eventually led Penaluna to other remarkable women philosophers of the era: Mary Astell, Catharine Cockburn and Mary Wollstonecraft.Together these women rekindled Penaluna\'s love of philosophy and taught her how to live a truly philosophical life. She combines memoir with biography to tell the stories of these four women, weaving throughout an alternative history of philosophy as well as her own search for beauty and truth. Formally inventive and keenly intelligent, How to Think Like a Woman is a moving meditation on what philosophy could look like if women were treated equally. Σελίδες: 320, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

From one of the most important contemporary thinkers we have, a compelling, forceful tract about women and motherhood that demands immediate attention. Moving commandingly between pop cultural references such as Roald Dahl\'s \'Matilda\' to observations about motherhood in the ancient world, from and thoughts about the stigmatization of single mothers in the UK, Mothers delivers a groundbreaking report into something so prevalent we hardly notice. Σελίδες: 256, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

The challenges we face are enormous. But we can still secure a positive future for our planet, and for everyone on it. In What We Owe The Future, philosopher William MacAskill persuasively argues for longtermism, the idea that positively influencing the distant future is a moral priority of our time. It isn’t enough to mitigate climate change or avert the next pandemic. We can ensure that civilization would rebound if it collapsed; cultivate value pluralism; and prepare for a planet where the most sophisticated beings are digital and not human. \'Unapologetically optimistic and bracingly realistic, this is the most inspiring book on ‘ethical living’ I’ve ever read.\' Oliver Burkeman, Guardian ‘A monumental event.\' Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind ‘A book of great daring, clarity, insight and imagination. To be simultaneously so realistic and so optimistic, and always so damn readable… well that is a miracle for which he should be greatly applauded.’ Stephen Fry Σελίδες: 368, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1128, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Scruton argues that the tragedies and disasters of the history of the European continent have been the consequences of a false optimism and the fallacies that derive from it. In place of these fallacies, Scruton mounts a passionate defence of both civil society and freedom. He shows that the true legacy of European civilisation is not the false idealisms that have almost destroyed it - in the shapes of Nazism, fascism and communism - but the culture of forgiveness and irony which we must now protect from those whom it offends. The Uses of Pessimism is a passionate plea for reason and responsibility, written at a time of profound change. Σελίδες: 240, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Truth has always been a thorny topic. How does it work? Who decides what it is? And why is it seen as so important? In this lucid introduction to the topic, leading scholar Simon Blackburn describes the main approaches to the notion of truth and considers how these relate to different perspectives on belief, interpretation, facts, knowledge and action. He then looks at how these ideas can be applied to: - aesthetics, taste and the judgement of art; - ethics and how people decide how they should (or should not) live; - reason and rational truth and whether these may be found or learnt in conversation, agreement and disagreement; - religious belief and the ultimate cause of the cosmos. Understanding what constitutes truth has practical value in every aspect of life, and whether you are voting in an election or finding an excuse for being late, Professor Blackburn\'s clear and incisive account will illuminate your choice, and stimulate, inform and entertain you along the way. Σελίδες: 108, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0302, Διαστάσεις: 13.2x13.2cm

Exploring the question of what exactly makes good people good, Protagoras and Meno are two of the most enjoyable and accessible of all of Plato\'s dialogues. Widely regarded as his finest dramatic work, the Protagoras, set during the golden age of Pericles, pits a youthful Socrates against the revered sophist Protagoras, whose brilliance and humanity make him one the most interesting and likeable of Socrates\' philosophical opponents, and turns their encounter into a genuine and lively battle of minds. The Meno sees an older but ever ironic Socrates humbling a proud young aristocrat as they search for a clear understanding of what it is to be a good man, and setting out the startling idea that all human learning may be the recovery of knowledge already possessed by our immortal souls. Σελίδες: 208, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

\'Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt it?\' Philosophy is the attempt to answer such ultimate questions, not carelessly and dogmatically, as we might deal with them in ordinary life, but critically, after analysing how and why the questions arise and clarifying the assumptions and concepts on which they are based. This classic work, first published in 1912, has never been supplanted as an approachable introduction to the theory of philosophical enquiry. It gives Russell\'s views on such subjects as the distinction between appearance and reality, the existence and nature of matter, idealism, knowledge by acquaintance and by description, induction, and the limits and value of philosophical knowledge. This edition includes an introduction by John Skorupski contextualizing Russell\'s work, and a guide to further reading. Σελίδες: 128, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Taking the form of a dialogue between Socrates, Gorgias, Polus and Callicles, GORGIAS debates perennial questions about the nature of government and those who aspire to public office. Are high moral standards essential or should we give our preference to the pragmatist who gets things done or negotiates successfully? Should individuals be motivated by a desire for personal power and prestige, or genuine concern for the moral betterment of the citizens? These questions go to the heart of Athenian democratic principles and are more relevant than ever in today\'s political climate. Σελίδες: 208, Διαστάσεις: 12.7x12.7cm

After his father\'s early death Jean-Paul Sartre was brought up at his grandfather\'s home in a world even then eighty years out of date. In Words Sartre recalls growing up within the confines of French provincialism in the period before the First World War, an illusion-ridden childhood made bearable by his lively imagination and passion for reading and writing. A brilliant work of self-analysis, Words provides an essential background to the philosophy of one of the profoundest thinkers of the twentieth century. Σελίδες: 160, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

One of the greatest philosophers of the nineteenth century, Schopenhauer (1788-1860) believed that human action is determined not by reason but by \'will\' - the blind and irrational desire for physical existence. This selection of his writings on religion, ethics, politics, women, suicide, books and many other themes is taken from Schopenhauer\'s last work, Parerga and Paralipomena, which he published in 1851. These pieces depict humanity as locked in a struggle beyond good and evil, and each individual absolutely free within a Godless world, in which art, morality and self-awareness are our only salvation. This innovative - and pessimistic - view has proved powerfully influential upon philosophy and art, directly affecting the work of Nietzsche, Wittgenstein and Wagner among others. Σελίδες: 256, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

For the Pre-Socratic philosophers the soul was the source of movement and sensation, while for Plato it was the seat of being, metaphysically distinct from the body that it was forced temporarily to inhabit. Plato\'s student Aristotle was determined to test the truth of both these beliefs against the emerging sciences of logic and biology. His examination of the huge variety of living organisms - the enormous range of their behaviour, their powers and their perceptual sophistication - convinced him of the inadequacy both of a materialist reduction and of a Platonic sublimation of the soul. In De Anima, he sought to set out his theory of the soul as the ultimate reality of embodied form and produced both a masterpiece of philosophical insight and a psychology of perennially fascinating subtlety. Σελίδες: 256, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAs Heard on NPR\'s This American Life\'The delights he extols here (music, laughter, generosity, poetry, lots of nature) are bulwarks against casual cruelties . . . contagious in their joy\' New York TimesThe winner of the NBCC Award for Poetry offers up a spirited collection of short lyric essays, written daily over a tumultuous year, reminding us of the purpose and pleasure of praising, extolling, and celebrating ordinary wonders.Among Gay\'s funny, poetic, philosophical delights: a friend\'s unabashed use of air quotes, cradling a tomato seedling aboard an aeroplane, the silent nod of acknowledgement between the only two black people in a room. But Gay never dismisses the complexities, even the terrors, of living in America as a black man or the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture or the loss of those he loves. More than anything other subject, though, Gay celebrates the beauty of the natural world - his garden, the flowers peeking out of the sidewalk, the hypnotic movements of a praying mantis.The Book of Delights is about our shared bonds, and the rewards that come from a life closely observed. These remarkable pieces serve as a powerful and necessary reminder that we can, and should, stake out a space in our lives for delight.***\'These charming, digressive \"essayettes\" surprise and challenge more than a reader might expect . . . experiences of \"delight,\" recorded daily for a year, vary widely but yield revealing patterns through insights about everything from nature and the body to race and masculinity.\' New Yorker\'Pure balm for your soul. Savor one at a time every morning, this summer, or wolf them all down en masse on a gorgeous sunny day.\' Celeste Ng\'A reminder of what the personal essay is best at: finding the profound in the mundane . . . His delight is infectious. It\'s hard to read Gay and not to be won over.\' Seattle Times Σελίδες: 288, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0908, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

\'Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.\' Thus ends David Hume\'s Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, the definitive statement of the greatest philosopher in the English language. His arguments in support of reasoning from experience, and against the \'sophistry and illusion\' of religiously inspired philosophical fantasies, caused controversy in the eighteenth century and are strikingly relevant today, when faith and science continue to clash. The Enquiry considers the origin and processes of human thought, reaching the stark conclusion that we can have no ultimate understanding of the physical world, or indeed our own minds. In either sphere we must depend on instinctive learning from experience, recognizing our animal nature and the limits of reason. Hume\'s calm and open-minded scepticism thus aims to provide a new basis for science, liberating us from the \'superstition\' of false metaphysics and religion. His Enquiry remains one of the best introductions to the study of philosophy, and this edition places it in its historical and philosophical context. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World\'s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford\'s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. Σελίδες: 304, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

\'A ripping read ... fascinating, charming, enjoyably unorthodox\' Daily TelegraphWas Niccolò Machiavelli really the cynical schemer of legend - or was he a profound ethical thinker, who tried to save the democratic freedom of Renaissance Florence as it was threatened by ruthless dynasties? This revelatory biography shows us a man of fox-like dissimulation: a master of disguise in dangerous times. \'A gripping portrait of a brilliant political thinker, who understood the dangers of authoritarianism and looked for ways to curb them\' The New Yorker\'Compelling ... this unconventional biography questions whether the philosopher deserves his reputation as an advocate for tyranny\' Julian Baggini, Financial Times Σελίδες: 384, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERFrom one of our greatest voices in modern philosophy, author of The Course of Love, The Consolations of Philosophy, Religion for Atheists and The School of Life - an accessible and eye-opening exploration of our relationship with \'the news\'\'His gift is to prompt us to think about how we live and how we might change things\' The Times\'De Botton analyses modern society with great charm, learning and humour. His remedies come as a welcome relief\' Daily Mail\'Like all classic de Botton, there are plenty of insightful observations here, peppered with some psychology, a dash of philosophy, a big dollop of commonsense\' Scotsman \'The news\' occupies a range of manic and peculiar positions in our lives. We invest it with an authority and importance which used to be the preserve of religion - but what does it do for us?Mixing current affairs with philosophical reflections, de Botton offers a brilliant illustrated guide to the precautions we should take before venturing anywhere near the news and the \'noise\' it generates. Witty and global in reach, The News will ensure you\'ll never look at reports of a celebrity story or political scandal in quite the same way again. Σελίδες: 272, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

What is \'truth\' in today\'s freewheeling, pluralistic world, without certainties or fixed ideas? Does it lie in the Reason of Descartes and Kant? Is it Derrida\'s idea of an event, still being made? Or, according to Nietzsche, an ensemble of fictions? Internationally renowned philosopher John D. Caputo explores truth in the postmodern age. Σελίδες: 272, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

Big Ideas in Brief provides an accessible and easily understood tour of 200 key concepts that really matter. The ideas covered come from a wide range of subjects - Philosophy, Religion, Science, Politics, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology and the Arts. A series of short and lively articles accompanied by 100 illustrations, introduce a host of diverse topics, from Existentialism to Expressionism, from Consciousness to Constitutionalism, from Feminism to Free Trade, from Class to Cognitive Theory, from Reincarnation to Relativity - all explained simply and clearly. Incredibly quick - clear artworks and simple explanations that can be easily remembered. Based on scientific research that the brain best absorbs information visually. Compact and portable format - the ideal, handy reference. Σελίδες: 416, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0301, Διαστάσεις: 12.6x12.6cm

How did we find ourselves in a \"post-truth\" world of \"alternative facts\"? And can we get out of it? A Short History of Truth sets out to answer these questions by looking at the complex history of truth and falsehood. It identifies ten types of supposed truth and explains how easily each can become the midwife of falsehood. There is no species of truth that we can rely on unquestioningly, but that does not mean the truth can never be established. Attaining truth is an achievement we need to work for, and each chapter will end up with a truth we can have some confidence in.This history builds into a comprehensive and clear explanation of why truth is now so disputed by exploring 10 kinds of truth:1. Eternal truths.2. Authoritative truths.3. Esoteric truths.4. Reasoned truths.5. Evidence-based truths.6. Creative truths.7. Relative truths. 8. Powerful truths9. Moral truths.10. Holistic truths. Baggini provides us with all we need to restore faith in the value and possibility of truth as a social enterprise. Truth-seekers need to be sceptical not cynical, autonomous not atomistic, provisional not dogmatic, open not empty, demanding not unreasonable. Σελίδες: 192, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0710, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

Marx\'s Capital is one of the most important texts of the modern era. The three volumes, published between 1867 and 1883, changed the destiny of countries, politics and people across the world - and continue to resonate today. In this book, David Harvey lays out their key arguments. In clear and concise language, Harvey describes the architecture of capital according to Marx, placing his observations in the context of capitalism in the second half of the nineteenth century. He considers the degree to which technological, economic and industrial change during the last 150 years means Marx\'s analysis and its application may need to be modified. Marx\'s trilogy concerns the circulation of capital: volume I, how labour increases the value of capital, which he called valorisation; volume II, on the realisation of this value, by selling it and turning it into money or credit; volume III, on what happens to the value next in processes of distribution. The three volumes contain the core of Marx\'s thinking on the workings and history of capital and capitalism. David Harvey explains and illustrates the profound insights and enormous analytical power they continue to offer in terms that, without compromising their depth and complexity, will appeal to a wide range of readers, including those coming to the work for the first time. Σελίδες: 256, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0404, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

From the theory of \'deliberative democracy\' to the politics of the \'third way\', the present Zeitgeist is characterized by attempts to deny what Chantal Mouffe contends is the inherently conflictual nature of democratic politics. Far from being signs of progress, such ideas constitute a serious threat to democratic institutions. Taking issue with John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas on one side, and the political tenets of Blair, Clinton and Schröder on the other, Mouffe brings to the fore the paradoxical nature of modern liberal democracy in which the category of the \'adversary\' plays a central role. She draws on the work of Wittgenstein, Derrida, and the provocative theses of Carl Schmitt, to propose a new understanding of democracy which acknowledges the ineradicability of antagonism in its workings. Σελίδες: 144, Διαστάσεις: 13.2x13.2cm

\'One of our best-known living philosophers\' GuardianHow do we respond to the refugee crisis - by opening our doors, or pulling up the drawbridge? Both solutions, argues Slavoj Žižek, offer ideological blackmail, and both are wrong. He proposes that instead we see the crisis as an opportunity: a unique chance for Europe to redefine itself and its future. \'Žižek identifies the refugee crisis as one of the major global challenges of our time ... he argues for a politics of solidarity\' The Times Literary Supplement Σελίδες: 128, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

\'Man defines himself by his deeds - and what kind of image of man do we see in the mirror of our present times?\' The poet and dramatist Friedrich Schiller was also a profound philosopher, who described his work On the Aesthetic Education of Man as \'the best thing that I have done in my life\'. This impassioned treatise analyses politics, revolution and human nature to define the relationship between beauty, art and morality. Expressed as a series of letters to a patron, it argues that only an aesthetic education - rather than government reform, religion or moral teachings - can achieve a truly free society, and must be placed at the heart of human experience. One of the most important works of German philosophy, its arguments remain as arresting and inspiring as when they were first written. Translated by Keith Tribe with an introduction and notes by Alexander Schmidt Σελίδες: 224, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2016\'Gray must be one of the best read of contemporary philosophers, trawling insouciantly through high-, middle- and low-brow literature with the sharp-eyed eclecticism of a magpie of genius\' John Banville, Guardian\'Like Isaiah Berlin with a thing for sci-fi\' Tibor Fischer, SpectatorEveryone thinks they want to be free - or do they? John Gray\'s thought-stirring new book on freedom draws together insights from Gnosticism, science fiction, ancient sacrifice and the occult to show that freedom is an illusion and that, like fairground puppets, humans dream of escaping the burden of choice altogether. Σελίδες: 192, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm