How Robespierre's career and legacy embody the dangerous contradictions of democracyMaximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) is arguably the most controversial and contradictory figure of the French Revolution, inspiring passionate debate like no other protagonist of those dramatic and violent events.
A modern translation of the ancient Roman poet Ovid's Remedies for Lovea witty and irreverent work about how to fall out of loveBreakups are the worst.
Tracing the rise of evangelicalism and the decline of mainline Protestantism in American religious and cultural lifeHow did American Christianity become synonymous with conservative white evangelicalism?
How decolonization and the cold war influenced literature from Africa, Asia, and the CaribbeanHow did superpower competition and the cold war affect writers in the decolonizing world?
The surprising story of how Greek classics are being pressed into use in contemporary China to support the regime's political agendaAs improbable as it may sound, an illuminating way to understand today's China and how it views the West is to look at the astonishing ways Chinese intellectuals are interpreting-or is it misinterpreting?
An energetic new translation of an ancient Roman masterpiece about a failed coup led by a corrupt and charismatic politicianIn 63 BC, frustrated by his failure to be elected leader of the Roman Republic, the aristocrat Catiline tried to topple its elected government.
A compelling collection of the life-changing writings of William JamesWilliam James-psychologist, philosopher, and spiritual seeker-is one of those rare writers who can speak directly and powerfully to anyone about life's meaning and worth, and whose ideas change not only how people think but how they live.
Civil Society and Government brings together an unprecedented array of political, ethical, and religious perspectives to shed light on the complex and much-debated relationship between civil society and the state.
An eminent philosopher explains why we owe it to future generations to take immediate action on global warmingClimate change is the supreme challenge of our time.
An intellectual history of the philosophers who grappled with the problem of evil, and the case for why pessimism still holds moral value for us todayIn the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, philosophers engaged in heated debates on the question of how God could have allowed evil and suffering in a creation that is supposedly good.
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.
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.
The acknowledged masterpiece of Unamuno expresses the anguish of modern man as he is caught up in the struggle between the dictates of reason and the demands of his own heart.
How Tocqueville's ideas can help us build resilient liberal democracies in a divided worldHow can today's liberal democracies withstand the illiberal wave sweeping the globe?
A Japanese woman living in California attempts parent-child suicide, an ancient Japanese custom called "e;oyako-shinju,"e; in order to rid herself of shame upon learning that her husband has a mistress.
An engaging account of how Shaftesbury revolutionized Western philosophyAt the turn of the eighteenth century, Anthony Ashley Cooper, the third Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713), developed the first comprehensive philosophy of beauty to be written in English.
A provocative and timely case for how the science of genetics can help create a more just and equal societyIn recent years, scientists like Kathryn Paige Harden have shown that DNA makes us different, in our personalities and in our health-and in ways that matter for educational and economic success in our current society.
A compelling account of how a group of Hasidic Jews established its own local government on American soilSettled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish historybut many precedents among religious communities in the United States.
A bold new interpretation of Augustine's virtue of hope and its place in political lifeWhen it comes to politics, Augustine of Hippo is renowned as one of history's great pessimists, with his sights set firmly on the heavenly city rather than the public square.
A delightful anthology of classical Greek and Roman writings celebrating country living-ranging from a philosophy of compost to hymns to the gods of agricultureWhether you farm or garden, live in the country or long to move there, or simply enjoy an occasional rural retreat, you will be delighted by this cornucopia of writings about living and working on the land, harvested from the fertile fields of ancient Greek and Roman literature.
A bold reevaluation of Spinoza that reveals his powerful, inclusive vision of religion for the modern ageSpinoza is widely regarded as either a God-forsaking atheist or a God-intoxicated pantheist, but Clare Carlisle says that he was neither.
Inspired by the work of Wilfrid Sellars, Michael Williams launches an all-out attack on what he calls "e;phenomenalism,"e; the idea that our knowledge of the world rests on a perceptual or experiential foundation.
What we can learn about fostering innovation and creative thinking from some of the most inventive people of all times-the ancient GreeksWhen it comes to innovation and creative thinking, we are still catching up with the ancient Greeks.
A superb introduction to the ethical aspects of war and peace, this collection of tightly integrated essays explores the reasons for waging war and for fighting with restraint as formulated in a diversity of ethical traditions, religious and secular.
The philosophical theory of scientific explanation proposed here involves a radically new treatment of causality that accords with the pervasively statistical character of contemporary science.
The idea of civil society has long been central to the Western liberal-democratic tradition, where it has been seen as a crucial site for the development and pursuit of basic liberal values such as individual freedom, social pluralism, and democratic citizenship.
Dealing with a diverse set of problems in practical and theoretical ethics, these fourteen essays, three of them previously unpublished, reconfirm Joel Feinberg's leading position in the field of legal philosophy.
Arguing that the prevalence of evil presents a fundamental problem for our secular sensibility, John Kekes develops a conception of character-morality as a response.
From the celebrated cultural historian and bestselling author, a provocative history of the evolution of our ideas about art since the early nineteenth centuryIn this witty, provocative, and learned book, acclaimed cultural historian and writer Jacques Barzun traces our changing attitudes to the arts over the past 150 years, suggesting that we are living in a period of cultural liquidation, nothing less than the ending of the modern age that began with the Renaissance.
When we read that scientists have come close to pinpointing the "e;origin of the universe"e; by means of a Big Bang cosmology, or are engaged in formulating a "e;theory of everything,"e; as in current ten-dimensional superstring theories of particle physics, can we doubt that such inquiries or their results inevitably raise important philosophical questions?
An engaging new translation of a timeless masterpiece about coping with the death of a loved oneIn 45 BCE, the Roman statesman Cicero fell to pieces when his beloved daughter, Tullia, died from complications of childbirth.
Why you don't have a self-and why that's a good thingIn Losing Ourselves, Jay Garfield, a leading expert on Buddhist philosophy, offers a brief and radically clear account of an idea that at first might seem frightening but that promises to liberate us and improve our lives, our relationships, and the world.
