A provocative new look at concepts of the present, their connection to ideas about time, and their effect on literature, art, and cultureThe problem of the present-what it is and what it means-is one that has vexed generations of thinkers and artists.
An in-depth look at the consequences of New York City's dramatically expanded policing of low-level offensesFelony conviction and mass incarceration attract considerable media attention these days, yet the most common criminal-justice encounters are for misdemeanors, not felonies, and the most common outcome is not prison.
The first book to explore the modern history of Islam in South AsiaThe first modern state to be founded in the name of Islam, Pakistan was the largest Muslim country in the world at the time of its establishment in 1947.
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.
Why our belief in government by the people is unrealistic-and what we can do about itDemocracy for Realists assails the romantic folk-theory at the heart of contemporary thinking about democratic politics and government, and offers a provocative alternative view grounded in the actual human nature of democratic citizens.
A compelling exploration of how reputation affects every aspect of contemporary lifeReputation touches almost everything, guiding our behavior and choices in countless ways.
How secularism has been used to justify the subordination of womenJoan Wallach Scott's acclaimed and controversial writings have been foundational for the field of gender history.
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 bracingly provocative challenge to one of our most cherished ideas and institutionsMost people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government.
What would stoic ethics be like today if stoicism had survived as a systematic approach to ethical theory, if it had coped successfully with the challenges of modern philosophy and experimental science?
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.
How the Ottomans refashioned and legitimated their rule through mystical imageries of authorityThe medieval theory of the caliphate, epitomized by the Abbasids (750-1258), was the construct of jurists who conceived it as a contractual leadership of the Muslim community in succession to the Prophet Muhammed's political authority.
A fresh look at how three important twentieth-century British thinkers viewed capitalism through a moral rather than material lensWhat's wrong with capitalism?
How we came to seek absolute good in religion and nature-and why that quest often leads us astrayPeople have long looked to nature and the divine as paths to the good.
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 competing visions of world order in the 1940s gave rise to the modern concept of globalismDuring and after the Second World War, public intellectuals in Britain and the United States grappled with concerns about the future of democracy, the prospects of liberty, and the decline of the imperial system.
In the years between the Revolutionary War and the drafting of the Constitution, American gentlemen-the merchants, lawyers, planters, and landowners who comprised the independent republic's elite-worked hard to maintain their positions of power.
A colorful history of utilitarianism told through the lives and ideas of Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and its other foundersIn The Happiness Philosophers, Bart Schultz tells the colorful story of the lives and legacies of the founders of utilitarianism-one of the most influential yet misunderstood and maligned philosophies of the past two centuries.
In recent years, North American and European nations have sought to legally remake religion in other countries through an unprecedented array of international initiatives.
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 essential guide to the life, thought, and legacy of Adam SmithAdam Smith (1723-90) is perhaps best known as one of the first champions of the free market and is widely regarded as the founding father of capitalism.
A fascinating exploration of our past, present, and future relationship with foodFor the first time in human history, there is food in abundance throughout the world.
This book presents a new approach to the epistemology of mathematics by viewing mathematics as a human activity whose knowledge is intimately linked with practice.
A major new account of one of the leading philosopher-statesmen of the eighteenth centuryEdmund Burke (1730-97) lived during one of the most extraordinary periods of world history.
Why churches in some democratic nations wield enormous political power while churches in other democracies don'tIn some religious countries, churches have drafted constitutions, restricted abortion, and controlled education.
A concise and authoritative introduction to Islamic political ideasIn sixteen concise chapters on key topics, this book provides a rich, authoritative, and up-to-date introduction to Islamic political thought from the birth of Islam to today, presenting essential background and context for understanding contemporary politics in the Islamic world and beyond.
In this book, Scott Soames argues that the revolution in the study of language and mind that has taken place since the late nineteenth century must be rethought.
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.
A compelling reevaluation of the Enlightenment from one of its leading historiansIn this concise and powerful book, one of the world's leading historians of the Enlightenment provides a bracing and clarifying new interpretation of this watershed period.
This is the first complete, one-volume English translation of the ancient Chinese text Xunzi, one of the most extensive, sophisticated, and elegant works in the tradition of Confucian thought.
The best-selling author of Why the West Rules-for Now examines the evolution and future of human values Most people in the world today think democracy and gender equality are good, and that violence and wealth inequality are bad.
A lively and accessible introduction to the Greek and Roman origins of our political ideasIn The Birth of Politics, Melissa Lane introduces the reader to the foundations of Western political thought, from the Greeks, who invented democracy, to the Romans, who created a republic and then transformed it into an empire.
