In Plato's "e;Ion,"e; Socrates discusses with the titular character, a professional rhapsode who also lectures on Homer, the question of whether the rhapsode, a performer of poetry, gives his performance on account of his skill and knowledge or by virtue of divine possession.
This book offers new perspectives on the history of analytical philosophy, surveying recent scholarship on the philosophical study of mind, language, logic and reality over the course of the last 200 years.
Aristotle was the first philosopher in the Western tradition to address politics systematically and empirically, and he remains a central figure in political theory.
How the role of the philosopher has changed over time and across cultures-and what it reveals about philosophy todayWhat would the global history of philosophy look like if it were told not as a story of ideas but as a series of job descriptions-ones that might have been used to fill the position of philosopher at different times and places over the past 2,500 years?
A masterful new translation of one of Kierkegaard's most engaging worksIn the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers to let go of earthly concerns by considering the lilies of the field and the birds of the air.
Timeless wisdom on growing old gracefully from one of ancient Rome's greatest philosophersWorried that old age will inevitably mean losing your libido, your health, and possibly your marbles too?
There is a growing recognition that philosophy isn't unique to the West, that it didn't begin only with the classical Greeks, and that Greek philosophy was influenced by Near Eastern traditions.
A compelling look at the problem of evil in modern thought, from the Inquisition to global terrorismEvil threatens human reason, for it challenges our hope that the world makes sense.
The second and final volume of the most authoritative English-language edition of Spinoza's writingsThe Collected Works of Spinoza provides, for the first time in English, a truly satisfactory edition of all of Spinoza's writings, with accurate and readable translations, based on the best critical editions of the original-language texts, done by a scholar who has published extensively on the philosopher's work.
The first volume in a landmark commentary on an important and influential work of ancient philosophyThis is the first volume of a groundbreaking commentary on one of the most important works of ancient philosophy, the Enneads of Plotinus-a text that formed the basis of Neoplatonism and had a deep influence on early Christian thought and medieval and Renaissance philosophy.
In this collection of recent and unpublished essays, leading analytic philosopher Scott Soames traces milestones in his field from its beginnings in Britain and Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, through its subsequent growth in the United States, up to its present as the world's most vigorous philosophical tradition.
How a famous painting opens a window into the life, times, and philosophy of Rene DescartesIn the Louvre museum hangs a portrait that is considered the iconic image of Rene Descartes, the great seventeenth-century French philosopher.
"e;In the vast literature of love, The Seducer's Diary is an intricate curiosity--a feverishly intellectual attempt to reconstruct an erotic failure as a pedagogic success, a wound masked as a boast,"e; observes John Updike in his foreword to Soren Kierkegaard's narrative.
A comprehensive look at the intellectual and cultural innovations of the Weimar periodDuring its short lifespan, the Weimar Republic (1918-33) witnessed an unprecedented flowering of achievements in many areas, including psychology, political theory, physics, philosophy, literary and cultural criticism, and the arts.
A brilliant brief account of romanticism and its influence from one of the most important philosophers and intellectual historians of the twentieth centuryIn The Roots of Romanticism, one of the twentieth century's most influential philosophers dissects and assesses a movement that changed the course of history.
Walter Lowrie's classic, bestselling translation of Soren Kierkegaard's most important and popular books remains unmatched for its readability and literary quality.
The definitive account of Aristotle's life and schoolThis definitive biography shows that Aristotle's philosophy is best understood on the basis of a firm knowledge of his life and of the school he founded.
A small, insignificant-looking intellectual with absurdly long legs, Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a veritable Hans Christian Andersen caricature of a man.
Between 1945 and 1953, while the Soviet Union confronted postwar reconstruction and Cold War crises, its unchallenged leader Joseph Stalin carved out time to study scientific disputes and dictate academic solutions.
In this outstanding collection of essays, Isaiah Berlin, one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century, discusses the importance of dissenters in the history of ideas--among them Machiavelli, Vico, Montesquieu, Herzen, and Sorel.
A primer on campaigning in ancient Rome that reads like a strategy memo from a modern political consultantHow to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines.
How the I Ching became one of the most widely read and influential books in the worldThe I Ching originated in China as a divination manual more than three thousand years ago.
Why democracy is the best way of deciding how decisions should be madePragmatism and its consequences are central issues in American politics today, yet scholars rarely examine in detail the relationship between pragmatism and politics.
The story of one of the most important-and incendiary-books in Western historyWhen it appeared in 1670, Baruch Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise was denounced as the most dangerous book ever published-"e;godless,"e; "e;full of abominations,"e; "e;a book forged in hell .
Though it did not yet exist as a discrete field of scientific inquiry, biology was at the heart of many of the most important debates in seventeenth-century philosophy.
We think of the Enlightenment as an era dominated by ideas of progress, production, and industry--not an era that favored the lax and indolent individual.
Ancient lessons for sustainable citizenshipAn ecologically sustainable society cannot be achieved without citizens who possess the virtues and values that will foster it, and who believe that individual actions can indeed make a difference.
In the most influential chapter of his most important philosophical work, the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel makes the central and disarming assertions that "e;self-consciousness is desire itself"e; and that it attains its "e;satisfaction"e; only in another self-consciousness.
The English philosopher Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) is known as a conservative who rejected philosophically ambitious rationalism and the grand political ideologies of the twentieth century on the grounds that no human ideas have ultimately reliable foundations.
An irreverent critical lexicon of academic life and cultureThe university: The very name evokes knowledge, culture, and the magnificently universal ambition at the heart of this essential institution.
An in-depth history of the linguistic turn in analytic philosophy, from a leading philosopher of languageThis is the second of five volumes of a definitive history of analytic philosophy from the invention of modern logic in 1879 to the end of the twentieth century.
In recent years, most political theorists have agreed that shame shouldn't play any role in democratic politics because it threatens the mutual respect necessary for participation and deliberation.
Reading Nietzsche's works as the "e;political biography of his soul,"e; Leslie Thiele presents an original and accessible essay on the great thinker's attempt to lead a heroic life as a philosopher, artist, saint, educator, and solitary.
