BookOdyssey

One of the most influential books in human history, in a revelatory new translation.China\'s first and greatest teacher, Confucius traveled from state to state as an itinerant philosopher. The Analects preserves his major teachings, as compiled by his disciples after his death - everything from how people should relate to each other (the Golden Rule, which he was the first to define), to how a country should be organized (like a family), to how to lie in bed (not like a corpse).This new translation, by one of the pre-eminent scholars of Confucius, draws on the most recent excavated texts and latest scholarship. The historian Annping Chin sets out to illuminate the historical context of Confucius\'s teachings, explaining who the many local figures referenced in The Analects are, and navigating a rich tradition of historical commentaries to provide a map of Confucian thought that brings us as close as possible to experiencing Confucius as his followers might have 2,500 years ago.Confucius (551-479 B.C.) was a philosopher, political figure and founder of one of the major schools of thought in Chinese history.Annping Chin is a senior lecturer in the history department at Yale and is the author of The Authentic Confucius: A Life of Thought and Politics and a coauthor, with Jonathan Spence, of The Chinese Century: A Photographic History of the Last Hundred Years. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut. Σελίδες: 256, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

\'A landmark contribution to humanity\'s understanding of itself\' The New York TimesWhy can it sometimes feel as though half the population is living in a different moral universe? Why do ideas such as \'fairness\' and \'freedom\' mean such different things to different people? Why is it so hard to see things from another viewpoint? Why do we come to blows over politics and religion?Jonathan Haidt reveals that we often find it hard to get along because our minds are hardwired to be moralistic, judgemental and self-righteous. He explores how morality evolved to enable us to form communities, and how moral values are not just about justice and equality - for some people authority, sanctity or loyalty matter more. Morality binds and blinds, but, using his own research, Haidt proves it is possible to liberate ourselves from the disputes that divide good people. Σελίδες: 528, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

Encountering an eccentric cast of characters along the way, Sebald confronts the frailty of human existence as he voyages along the Suffolk coast on foot. What begins as the record of a journey on foot through coastal East Anglia becomes the great, constellated story of people and cultures past and present: of Chateaubriand, Thomas Browne, Swinburne and Conrad, of fishing fleets, skulls and silkworms. A rich meditation on the past via a melancholy trip along the Suffolk coast, The Rings of Saturn is an intricately patterned and haunting book on the transience of all things human.VINTAGE VOYAGES: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mind Σελίδες: 320, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

Questions of ethics - about how we should act, our responsibilities to one another, the difference between right and wrong - have long been debated by philosophers the world over and form the foundations of government, culture and religion. Here, in concise, easy-to-read chapters, Ben Dupré explains the fundamentals of this discipline and how it is relevant to our lives today. Covering essential ethical concepts, including relativism, the golden rule and utilitarianism, as well as high-profile issues such as terrorism, censorship and the death penalty, 50 Ethics Ideas You Really Need to Know will lead you through the moral maze - and rattle your conscience in the process. Σελίδες: 208, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1001, Διαστάσεις: 17.8x17.8cm

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2023 A New York Times \'Critics\' Pick\' Book of 2023 \'A real achievement\' New Statesman \'Beautifully portrays - and exemplifies - the combined wit and profundity, exuberance and rigour, of Oxford analytic philosophy\' TLS A Country Life Best Book of 2023 What are the limits of language? How to bring philosophy closer to everyday life? What makes a good human being? These were among the questions that philosophers wrestled with in mid-twentieth-century Britain, a period shadowed by war and the rise of fascism. In response to these events, thinkers such as Gilbert Ryle, J. L. Austin, Elizabeth Anscombe and Iris Murdoch aspired to a new level of watchfulness and self-awareness about language. Being vigilant about their words was their way to keep philosophy true to everyday experience. A Terribly Serious Adventure traces the friendships and the rivalries, the shared preoccupations and the passionate disagreements of Oxford\'s most brilliant thinkers. Nikhil Krishnan brings his knowledge and understanding of philosophy to bear on the lives and intellectual achievements of a large and lively cast of characters. Together, they stood for a compelling moral vision of philosophy that is still with us today. Σελίδες: 416, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

Reissue of a profound exploration of the concept of human need by the esteemed author of On Consolation What does a person need, not just to survive, but to flourish? In this profound, searching book, Michael Ignatieff explores the many human needs that go beyond basic sustenance: for love, for respect, for community and consolation. In a society of strangers, how might we find a common language to express such needs? Ignatieff\'s lucid, penetrating enquiry takes him back to great works of philosophy, literature and art, from St. Augustine to Hieronymus Bosch to Shakespeare. Reissued with a new preface, The Needs of Strangers builds to a moving meditation on the possibility of accommodating claims of difference within a politics based on common need. Σελίδες: 176, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

In 1937, Elias Canetti began collecting notes for the project that ‘by definition, he could never live to complete’, as translator Peter Filkins writes in his afterword. The Book Against Death is the work of a lifetime: a collection of Canetti’s aphorisms, diatribes, musings and commentaries on and against death – published in English for the first time since his death in 1994 – interspersed with material from philosophers and writers including Goethe, Walter Benjamin and Robert Walser. This major work by the 1981 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate is a disarming and often darkly comic reckoning with the inevitability of death and with its politicization, evoking despair at the loss of loved ones and the impossibility of facing one’s own death, while fiercely protesting the mass deaths incurred during war and the willingness of the despot to wield death as power. Infused with fervour and vitality, The Book Against Death ultimately forms a moving affirmation of the value of life itself. Σελίδες: 352, Διαστάσεις: 12.1x12.1cm

The Story of Philosophy sees philosophy for what it is: a passionate, exhilarating quest for human understanding that cannot be reduced to dry categories or simple definitions. It\'s a story with plot twists, a murder, accidental discoveries, disastrous love affairs, geniuses, idiots, monks, and vagabonds. At the heart of it all are the ideas and obsessions that have captured great thinkers from the very beginning. Packed with intriguing anecdotes and fascinating detail, James Garvey and Jeremy Stangroom bring us face to face with the most important philosophers in western history. Rigorous, refreshingly free of academic jargon, and highly accessible, this is the ideal introduction for anyone who wants to gain a new perspective on philosophy\'s biggest thoughts. Σελίδες: 432, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0901, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

Simone Weil, legendary French philosopher, mystic and political activist who died in England in 1943 at the age of thirty-four, belongs to a select group of thinkers: as with St Augustine, Pascal and Nietzsche, so with Weil a single phrase can permanently change one\'s life. In this book, Palle Yourgrau follows Weil on her life\'s journey, from her philosophical studies at the Ecole Normale Superieure, to her years as a Marxist labour organizer, her explosive encounter with Leon Trotsky, her abortive attempt to fight against Franco in the Spanish Civil War, her mystical experience in the town of Assisi. We see how Weil\'s struggle to make sense of a world consumed by despotism and war culminated in her monumental attempt, following St Augustine, to re-imagine Christianity along Platonistic lines, to find a bridge between human suffering and divine perfection. How seriously, however, should Weil\'s ideas be taken? They were admired by Albert Camus and T. S. Eliot, yet Susan Sontag wrote famously that \'I can\'t imagine more than a handful of the tens of thousands of readers she has won ...really share her ideas.\' If this is really true, Palle Yourgrau must count as one of the handful. Though he brings to life the pathos of Weil\'s tragi-comic journey, Yourgrau devotes equal attention to the question of truth. He shines a bright light on the paradox of Simone Weil: at once a kind of modern saint, and a bete noire, a Jew accused of having abandoned her own people in their hour of greatest need. The result is a critical biography that is in places as disturbing as Weil\'s own writings, an account that confronts head-on her controversial critique of the Hebrew Bible, as well as her radical rejection of the received wisdom that the Resurrection lies at the heart of Christianity. @font-face { font-family: Times New Roman; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: Times New Roman; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Σελίδες: 208, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

In this terse, brilliant translation, Simon Leys restores the human dimension to Confucius. He emerges a full-blooded character with a passion for politics and a devotion to the ideals of a civilization he saw in decline. Leys\'s notes draw Confucius into conversation with the great thinkers of the Western tradition. In all, this volume provides new readers the perfect introduction to a classic work. Σελίδες: 256, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0108, Διαστάσεις: 12.7x12.7cm

In this remarkable little book, Andre Comte-Sponville introduces the reader to the western philosophical tradition in a series of sparkling chapters on the \'big questions\'. In doing so he reveals the essential bones of philosophical thought and shows why philosophy is relevant in our day-to-day lives. In his brilliant and concise writing on morality, politics, love, death, knowledge, freedom, God, atheism, art, time, Man, and wisdom, he inspires the central question of philosophy - how should we live? - and provides the reader with signposts towards a happier, wiser life. Σελίδες: 176, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

When the woman who would become Indra Devi was born in Russia in 1899, yoga was virtually unknown outside of India. By the time of her death, in 2002, it was being practiced everywhere, from Brooklyn to Berlin to Ulaanbaatar. In The Goddess Pose, New York Times best-selling author Michelle Goldberg traces the life of the incredible woman who brought yoga to the West and in so doing paints a sweeping picture of the twentieth century.Born into the minor aristocracy (as Eugenia Peterson), Devi grew up in the midst of one of the most turbulent times in human history. Forced to flee the Russian Revolution as a teenager, she joined a famous Berlin cabaret troupe, dove into the vibrant prewar spiritualist movement, and, at a time when it was nearly unthinkable for a young European woman to travel alone, followed the charismatic Theosophical leader Jiddu Krishnamurti to India. Once on the subcontinent, she performed in Indian silent cinema and hobnobbed with the leaders of the independence movement. But her greatest coup was convincing a recalcitrant master yogi to train her in the secrets of his art. Devi would go on to share what she learned with people around the world, teaching in Shanghai during World War II, then in Hollywood, where her students included Gloria Swanson and Greta Garbo. She ran a yoga school in Mexico during the height of the counterculture, served as spiritual adviser to the colonel who tried to overthrow Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, and, in her eighties, moved to Buenos Aires at the invitation of a besotted rock star. Everywhere she went, Indra Devi evangelized for yoga, ushering in a global craze that continues unabated. Written with vivid clarity, The Goddess Pose brings her remarkable story as an actress, yogi, and globetrotting adventuress to life. Σελίδες: 336, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0411, Διαστάσεις: 20x20cm

Rich in drama and humour, they include the controversial Ion, a debate on poetic inspiration; Laches, in which Socrates seeks to define bravery; and Euthydemus, which considers the relationship between philosophy and politics. Together, these dialogues provide a definitive portrait of the real Socrates and raise issues still keenly debated by philosophers, forming an incisive overview of Plato\'s philosophy. Σελίδες: 400, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

\'The life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short\' Written during the chaos of the English Civil War, Thomas Hobbes\' Leviathan asks how, in a world of violence and horror, can we stop ourselves from descending into anarchy? Hobbes\' case for a \'common-wealth\' under a powerful sovereign - or \'Leviathan\' - to enforce security and the rule of law, shocked his contemporaries, and his book was publicly burnt for sedition the moment it was published. But his penetrating work of political philosophy opened up questions about the nature of statecraft and society that influenced governments across the world. Edited with an Introduction by Christopher Brooke Σελίδες: 688, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

Σελίδες: 336, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Edmund Burke was one of the foremost philosophers of the eighteenth century and wrote widely on aesthetics, politics and society. In this landmark work, he propounds his theory that the sublime and the beautiful should be regarded as distinct and wholly separate states - the first, an experience inspired by fear and awe, the second an expression of pleasure and serenity. Eloquent and profound, A Philosophical Enquiry is an involving account of our sensory, imaginative and judgmental processes and their relation to artistic appreciation. Burke\'s work was hugely influential on his contemporaries and also admired by later writers such as Matthew Arnold and William Wordsworth. This volume also contains several of his early political works on subjects including natural society, government and the American colonies, which illustrate his liberal, humane views. Σελίδες: 528, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

\'Foucault leaves no reader untouched or unchanged\' Edward SaidAesthetics, the second volume of the complete collection of Michel Foucault\'s courses, articles and interviews, focuses on the philosophy, literature and art which informed his engagement with ethics and power, including brilliant commentaries on the work of de Sade, Rousseau, Marx, Magritte, Nietzsche, Freud and Wagner. He also explores a number of avant-garde authors who challenge our traditional notions of humanism, extends his theories on power relations and looks back over the whole of his extraordinary \'critical history of thought\'.Edited by James D. FaubionTranslated by Robert Hurley and Others Σελίδες: 528, Διαστάσεις: 13.1x13.1cm

In What Do We Really Know? Simon Blackburn addresses the twenty most-asked philosophical questions, including \'Can machines think?\', \'What is the meaning of life?\', \'Is death to be feared?\', \'Why be good?\', \'What am I?\' and \'What do we really know?\' Each 3000-word essay examines a question that has eternally perplexed enquiring minds, and provides answers from history\'s great thinkers. Σελίδες: 272, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0101, Διαστάσεις: 13.1x13.1cm

Confucius is one of the most humane, rational, and lucid of moral teachers, concerned not with arcane metaphysics, but with practical issues of life and conduct. What is virtue? What sort of life is most conducive to happiness? How should the state be ruled? What is the proper relationship between human beings and their environment? In this classic translation by Arthur Waley, the questions Confucius addressed two and a half millennia ago remain as relevant as ever. Σελίδες: 320, Διαστάσεις: 13.2x13.2cm

Discover the world\'s greatest thinkers and their groundbreaking notions!Too often, textbooks turn the noteworthy theories, principles, and figures of philosophy into tedious discourse that even Plato would reject. Philosophy 101 cuts out the boring details and exhausting philosophical methodology, and instead, gives you a lesson in philosophy that keeps you engaged as you explore the fascinating history of human thought and inquisition. From Aristotle and Heidegger to free will and metaphysics, Philosophy 101 is packed with hundreds of entertaining philosophical tidbits, illustrations, and thought puzzles that you won\'t be able to find anywhere else. So whether you\'re looking to unravel the mysteries of existentialism, or just want to find out what made Voltaire tick, Philosophy 101 has all the answers--even the ones you didn\'t know you were looking for. Σελίδες: 288, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1018, Διαστάσεις: 13.3x13.3cm

\'This world is the will to power - and nothing besides!\'One of the great minds of modernity, Friedrich Nietzsche smashed through the beliefs of his age. These writings, which did much to establish his reputation as a philosopher, offer some of his most powerful and troubling thoughts: on how the values of a new, aggressive elite will save a nihilistic, mediocre Europe, and, most famously, on the \'will to power\' - ideas that were seized upon and twisted by later readers. Taken from Nietzsche\'s unpublished notebooks and assembled by his sister after his death, The Will to Power now appears with previous errors corrected.Translated by R. Kevin Hill and Michael A. Scarpitti with an Introduction and Notes by R. Kevin Hill Σελίδες: 688, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

From the cutting edge of science and living spirituality: a guide to understanding our identity and purpose in the world • Explains how we can evolve consciously, become connected with each other, and flourish on this planet • \"From the time when the conscious universe was a preposterous notion to today, when it\'s a cutting-edge idea full of promise for your future, Ervin Laszlo has been its staunch champion.\" - Deepak Chopra, author of You Are the Universe. For the outdated mainstream paradigm the world is a giant mechanism functioning in accordance with known and knowable laws and regularities. The new paradigm emerging in science offers a different concept: The world is an interconnected, coherent whole, and it is informed by a cosmic intelligence. We are conscious beings who emerge and co-evolve as complex, cosmic-intelligence in-formed vibrations in the Akashic Field of the universe. Ervin Laszlo and his collaborators from the forefront of science, cosmology, and spirituality show how the re-discovery of who we are and why we are here integrates seamlessly with the new emerging worldview in the sciences, revealing a way forward for humanity on this planet. Offering a guidepost to orient this evolution, Laszlo examines the nature of consciousness in the universe, showing how our bodies and minds act as transmitters of consciousness from the intelligence of the cosmos and how understanding science’s new concept of the world enables us to re-discover our identity and our purpose in our world. With bold vision and forward thinking, Laszlo and his contributors Maria Sagi, Kingsley L. Dennis, Emanuel Kuntzelman, Dawna Jones, Shamik Desai, Garry Jacobs, and John R. Audette outline the new idea of the world and of ourselves in the world. They help us discover how we can overcome these divisive times and blossom into a new era of peace, coherence, connection, and global wellbeing. Σελίδες: 192, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1116, Διαστάσεις: 15.2x15.2cm

\'Imaginative, illuminating and innovative\' The New York Times Book ReviewThe grisly spectacle of public executions and torture of centuries ago has been replaced by the penal system in western society - but has anything really changed?In his revolutionary work on control and power relations in our public institutions, Michel Foucault argues that the development of prisons, police organizations and legal hierarchies has merely changed the focus of domination from our bodies to our souls. Even schools, factories, barracks and hospitals, in which an individual\'s time is controlled hour by hour, are part of a disciplinary society. \'Foucault\'s genius is called forth into the eloquent clarity of his passions ... his best book\' Washington Post Σελίδες: 352, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

WINNER 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. Σελίδες: 448, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Can it ever be right to kill? Is terrorism ever justified? Should euthanasia be legal? Are some people superior to others? Do animals have rights? Some ethical judgements are easy: one side is wrong and the other is right. But how do we handle the really tough \'right vs right\' dilemmas, where each side has strong moral arguments? In Without God, is Everything Permitted? bestselling author and philosopher Julian Baggini clear-sightedly and compassionately examines 20 of the most complex contemporary ethical dilemmas. Whether it\'s asking if torture is always wrong, or if discrimination can ever be good, this book will help you sort out what you really believe about the issues that matter most. Σελίδες: 272, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1111, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

The Atlantis story remains one of the most haunting and enigmatic tales from antiquity, and one that still resonates very deeply with the modern imagination. But where did Atlantis come from, what was it like, and where did it go to?Atlantis was first introduced by the Greek philosopher Plato in two dialogues the Timaios and Kritias, written in the fourth century BC. As he philosophises about the origins of life, the Universe and humanity, the great thinker puts forward a stunning description of Atlantis, an island paradise with an ideal society. But the Atlanteans degenerate and become imperialist aggressors: they fight against antediluvian Athens, which heroically repels their mighty forces, before a cataclysmic natural disaster destroys the warring states. His tale of a great empire that sank beneath the waves has sparked thousands of years of debate over whether Atlantis really existed. But did Plato mean his tale as history, or just as a parable to help illustrate his philosophy?The book is broken down into two main sections plus a coda - firstly the translations/commentaries which will have the discussions of the specifics of the actual texts; secondly a look at the reception of the myth from then to now; thirdly a brief round-off bringing it all together. Σελίδες: 432, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1114, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

The most important investigation of genetic science since The Selfish Gene, from the author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling The Red Queen and The Origins of Virtue. The genome is our 100,000 or so genes. The genome is the collective recipe for the building and running of the human body. These 100,000 genes are sited across 23 pairs of chromosomes. Genome, a book of about 100,000 words, is divided into 23 chapters, a chapter for each chromosome. The first chromosome, for example, contains our oldest genes, genes which we have in common with plants. By looking at our genes we can see the story of our evolution, what makes us individual, how our sexuality is determined, how we acquire language, why we are vunerable to certain diseases, how mind has arisen. Genome also argues for the genetic foundations of free will. While many believe that genetics proves biological determinism, Ridley will show that in fact free will is itself in the genes. Everything that makes us human can be read in our genes. Early in the next century we will have determined the function of every one of these 100,000 genes. Σελίδες: 352, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Written by Dr Roy Jackson, who is Course Leader in Religion, Philosophy and Ethics at the University of Gloucestershire, Nietzsche: A Complete Introduction is designed to give you everything you need to succeed, all in one place. It covers the key areas that students are expected to be confident in, outlining the basics in clear jargon-free English, and then providing added-value features like summaries of key books, and even lists of questions you might be asked in your seminar or exam.The book uses a structure that mirrors the way Nietzsche is studied on many university courses, with chapters looking at Nietzsche\'s life, The Birth of Tragedy, the revaluation of all values, the will to power, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, truth and perspectivism, religion, politics, and Nietsche\'s legacy. Σελίδες: 240, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0708, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

Is this the right book for me? An indispensable guide to this sometimes challenging domain. Using contemporary examples to further your understanding, it takes a broad look at theorists in a range of disciplines. Whether you\'re encountering postmodernism for the first time, or you need a quick reference to support your studies, this guide offers a comprehensive introduction to the key ideas in this thought-provoking philosophy. Understand Postmodernism includes: Chapter 1: Postmodernisms Postmodernism is everywhere Pre-history Modernity and Enlightenment Modernity and modernization In or after modernity? Nothing new? A distinction Postmodernism\'s elasticity Chapter 2: Issues in \'high\' and \'low\' culture (I): architecture and literature The demolition of modernist architecture Literature: mind the gap The cultural mix Chapter 3: Issues in \'high\' and \'low\' culture (II): visual art A preliminary note Make it new! Playing among the ruins: a brief history of postmodernism in the art world Modernism and the autonomy of art Andy Warhol The end of the world as they know it? Chapter 4: The loss of the real On television Welcome to Planet Baudrillard Baudrillard\'s influences Chapter 5: The deconstruction of meaning Structuralism Poststructuralism The influence of deconstruction Problems of meaning and value Chapter 6: Postmodern identities (I): transformations of the self The changing nature of the self The stylization of life Identity in the city Cyberpeople The next sexual revolution? You will never know the real me: Madonna Masks of femininity Identity as construction Chapter 7: Postmodern identities (II): theories of subjectivity Michel Foucault: the invention of man Let\'s talk about sex The deconstructed self: Jacques Lacan The dispersed subject Is the postmodern condition schizophrenic? The fiction of expression Chapter 8: Postmodern politics Lyotard: when worlds collide The transformation of Marxism Postmodernism, truth and history Postmodern space Theorizing the city Local versus global culture Postcoloniality Does postmodernism mean not believing in anything? Post-postmodernism? ...Learn effortlessly with a new easy-to-read page design and interactive features: Not got much time? One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started. Author insights Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author\'s many years of experience. Test yourself Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress. Extend your knowledge Extra online articles to give you a richer understanding of postmodernism. Five things to remember Quick refreshers to help you remember the key facts. Try this Innovative exercises illustrate what you\'ve learnt and how to use it. Σελίδες: 320, Διαστάσεις: 13.1x13.1cm

Smart Phones, Healthcare Robots, Wearable Computers and Self Driving Cars. They are arriving or already exists. We are becoming increasingly intimate with the machines that constantly count, control and watch the way we live. How can the growing world population of more than 7 billion people create a humane life for everyone? Let\'s find the errors and the holes in the technosphere that will give us space for free and creative thinking. What\'s at stake here is the remains of human agency. Let\'s use the brain pixels that are not taken yet. And Save the Humans! Σελίδες: 160, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0301, Διαστάσεις: 19.1x19.1cm

SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERNUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERFrom one of our greatest voices in modern philosophy, author of The Course of Love, The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel and The School of Life\'A serious and optimistic set of practical ideas that could improve and alter the way we live\' Jeanette Winterson, The Times\'A beautiful, inspiring book... offering a glimpse of a more enlightened path\' Sunday Telegraph\'Smart, stimulating, sensitive. A timely and perceptive appreciation of how much wisdom is embodied in religious traditions and how we godless moderns might learn from it\' Financial Times\'There isn\'t a page in this book that doesn\'t contain a striking idea or a stimulating parallel\' Mail on SundayAlain de Botton takes us one step further than Dawkins or Hitchens ventured - into a world of ideas beyond the God debate...All of us, whether religious, agnostic or atheist, are searching for meaning. And in this wise and life-affirming book, non-believer Alain de Botton both rejects the supernatural claims of the major religions and points out just how many good ideas they sometimes have about how we should live.And he suggests that non-believers can learn and steal from them.Picking and choosing from the thousands of years of advice assembled by the world\'s great religions, Alain de Botton presents a range of fascinating ideas and practical insights on art, community, love, friendship, work, life and death. He shows how they can be of use to us all, irrespective of whether we do or don\'t believe. Σελίδες: 336, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Aristotle\'s probing inquiry into some of the fundamental problems of philosophy, The Metaphysics is one of the classical Greek foundation-stones of western thought, translated from the with an introduction by Hugh Lawson-Tancred in Penguin Classics.The Metaphysics presents Aristotle\'s mature rejection of both the Platonic theory that what we perceive is just a pale reflection of reality and the hard-headed view that all processes are ultimately material. He argued instead that the reality or substance of things lies in their concrete forms, and in so doing he probed some of the deepest questions of philosophy: What is existence? How is change possible? And are there certain things that must exist for anything else to exist at all? The seminal notions discussed in The Metaphysics - of \'substance\' and associated concepts of matter and form, essence and accident, potentiality and actuality - have had a profound and enduring influence, and laid the foundations for one of the central branches of Western philosophy.Hugh Lawson-Tancred\'s lucid translation is accompanied by a stimulating introduction in which he highlights the central themes of one of philosophy\'s supreme masterpieces.Aristotle (384-22 BC) studied at the Academy of Plato for 20 years and then established his own school and research institute, \'The Lyceum\'. His writings, which were of extraordinary range, profoundly affected the whole course of ancient and medieval philosophy and are still eagerly studied and debated by philosophers today.If you enjoyed The Metaphysics, you might like Aristotle\'s The Nicomachean Ethics, also available in Penguin Classics. Σελίδες: 528, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

If you can\'t prove something, it is literally senseless - so argues Ayer in this irreverent and electrifying book. Statements are either true by definition (as in maths), or can be verified by direct experience. Ayer rejected metaphysical claims about god, the absolute, and objective values as completely nonsensical. Ayer was only 24 when he finished LANGUAGE, TRUTH & LOGIC, yet it shook the foundations of Anglo-American philosophy and made its author notorious. It became a classic text, cleared away the cobwebs in philosophical thinking, and has been enormously influential. Σελίδες: 224, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

Mencius was one of the great philosophers of ancient China, second only in influence to Confucius, whose teachings he defended and expanded. The Mencius, in which he recounts his dialogues with kings, dukes and military men, as well as other philosophers, is one of the Four Books that make up the essential Confucian corpus. It takes up Confucius\'s theories of jen, or goodness and yi, righteousness, explaining that the individual can achieve harmony with mankind and the universe by perfecting his innate moral nature and acting with benevolence and justice. Mencius\' strikingly modern views on the duties of subjects and their rulers or the evils of war, created a Confucian orthodoxy that has remained intact since the third century BCE. Σελίδες: 304, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

One of the greatest prodigies of his era, John Stuart Mill (1806-73) was studying arithmetic and Greek by the age of three, as part of an astonishingly intense education at his father\'s hand. Intellectually brilliant, fearless and profound, he became a leading Victorian liberal thinker, whose works - including On Liberty, Utilitarianism, The Subjection of Women and this Autobiography - are among the crowning achievements of the age. Here he describes the pressures placed on him by his childhood, the mental breakdown he suffered as a young man, his struggle to understand a world of feelings and emotions far removed from his father\'s strict didacticism, and the later development of his own radical beliefs. A moving account of an extraordinary life, this great autobiography reveals a man of deep integrity, constantly searching for truth. Σελίδες: 240, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

A Beginner\'s Guide to Reality is an introduction to philosophy for people who don\'t read philosophy. Jim Baggott\'s sources range from Aristotle to The Matrix. He examines the major developments in Western philosophical thought on the nature of reality, at each of three levels - social, perceptual and physical. (Do money, colour, or photons exist?) The book systematically investigates these levels, peeling away the assumptions we make about those parts of reality that we take for granted. Σελίδες: 272, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm