The founding father of modern political philosophy, Thomas Hobbes, living in an era of horrific violence, saw human life as meaningless and cruel; here, he argues the only way to escape this brutality is for all to accept a 'social contract' that acknowledges the greater authority of a Sovereign leader.
In A Discourse on Inequality Rousseau sets out to demonstrate how the growth of civilization corrupts man s natural happiness and freedom by creating artificial inequalities of wealth, power and social privilege.
In what remains one of his most seminal papers, Freud considers the incompatibility of civilisation and individual happiness, and the tensions between the claims of society and the individual.
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.
'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?
One of the most important works of the Enlightenmentin the first new, unabridged English translation in more than two centuriesPublished in four volumes between 1784 and 1791, Herder's Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind is one of the most important works of the Enlightenmenta bold, original, and encyclopedic synthesis of, and contribution to, the era's philosophical debates over nature, history, culture, and the very meaning of human experience.
Provocative essays on real-world ethical questions from the world's most influential philosopherPeter Singer is often described as the world's most influential philosopher.
A sweeping history of libertarian thought, from radical anarchists to conservative defenders of the status quoLibertarianism emerged in the mid-nineteenth century with an unwavering commitment to progressive causes, from women's rights and the fight against slavery to anti-colonialism and Irish emancipation.
Why leaders, not citizens, are the driving force in Europe's crisis of democracyAn apparent explosion of support for right-wing populist parties has triggered widespread fears that liberal democracy is facing its worst crisis since the 1930s.
A panoramic history of American individualism from its nineteenth-century origins to today's bitterly divided politicsIndividualism is a defining feature of American public life.
A trenchant defense of hierarchy in different spheres of our lives, from the personal to the politicalAll complex and large-scale societies are organized along certain hierarchies, but the concept of hierarchy has become almost taboo in the modern world.
Why "e;aporophobia"e;-rejection of the poor-is one of the most serious problems facing the world today, and how we can fight itIn this revelatory book, acclaimed political philosopher Adela Cortina makes an unprecedented assertion: the biggest problem facing the world today is the rejection of poor people.
A new and comprehensive look at the reasons behind successful or failed nation buildingNation Building presents bold new answers to an age-old question.
How looking beautiful has become a moral imperative in today's worldThe demand to be beautiful is increasingly important in today's visual and virtual culture.
A compelling exploration of how reputation affects every aspect of contemporary lifeReputation touches almost everything, guiding our behavior and choices in countless ways.
Timeless wisdom on death and dying from the celebrated Stoic philosopher Seneca"e;It takes an entire lifetime to learn how to die,"e; wrote the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c.
How four revolutionary ideas from the Enlightenment shaped today's worldThis panoramic book tells the story of how revolutionary ideas from the Enlightenment about freedom, equality, evolution, and democracy have reverberated through modern history and shaped the world as we know it today.
A major intellectual history of the American Revolution and its influence on later revolutions in Europe and the AmericasThe Expanding Blaze is a sweeping history of how the American Revolution inspired revolutions throughout Europe and the Atlantic world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Hume's Politics provides a comprehensive examination of David Hume's political theory, and is the first book to focus on Hume's monumental History of England as the key to his distinctly political ideas.
The story of the greatest of all philosophical friendships-and how it influenced modern thoughtDavid Hume is widely regarded as the most important philosopher ever to write in English, but during his lifetime he was attacked as "e;the Great Infidel"e; for his skeptical religious views and deemed unfit to teach the young.
A comprehensive intellectual biography of the Enlightenment philosopherIn George Berkeley: A Philosophical Life, Tom Jones provides a comprehensive account of the life and work of the preeminent Irish philosopher of the Enlightenment.
The past thirty years have seen a surge of empirical research into political decision making and the influence of framing effects--the phenomenon that occurs when different but equivalent presentations of a decision problem elicit different judgments or preferences.
A major new history of classical Greece-how it rose, how it fell, and what we can learn from itLord Byron described Greece as great, fallen, and immortal, a characterization more apt than he knew.
Europe's long sixteenth century-a period spanning the years roughly from the voyages of Columbus in the 1490s to the English Civil War in the 1640s-was an era of power struggles between avaricious and unscrupulous princes, inquisitions and torture chambers, and religious differences of ever more violent fervor.
How propaganda undermines democracy and why we need to pay attentionOur democracy today is fraught with political campaigns, lobbyists, liberal media, and Fox News commentators, all using language to influence the way we think and reason about public issues.
In Natural Rights and the New Republicanism, Michael Zuckert proposes a new view of the political philosophy that lay behind the founding of the United States.
Why equality cannot be conditional on a shared human ';nature' but has to be for allFor centuries, ringing declarations about all men being created equal appealed to a shared human nature as the reason to consider ourselves equals.
