Philosophy

An exhilarating, genre-bending exploration of curiosity’s powerful capacity to connect ideas and people. Curious about something? Google it. Look at it. Ask a question. But is curiosity simply information seeking? According to this exhilarating, genre-bending book, what’s left out of the conventional ...

The new book from TED speaker and author of The Optimism Bias, Tali Sharot, The Influential Mind challenges the wisdom of the crowd.

Explains what the sciences have to say about planning and action, language, memory, attention, emotions and vision. This book traces the historical development of ideas about the brain and its function from antiquity to the age of neuro-imaging.

The Enlightenment of the 18th century was a crucial time in human history - a vast moral, scientific and political movement, the work of intellectuals across Europe and the New World, who began to free themselves from despotism, bigotry and superstition and tried to change the world. This title offers a guide to the giants of the Enlightenment.

Philosophers have various reasons to be interested in individual autonomy. Individual self-rule is widely recognized to be important. But what, exactly, is autonomy? In what ways is it important? And just how important is it? This book introduces contemporary philosophical thought about the nature and ...

Engaging with contemporary issues responsibly and creatively can become a very abstract activity. We can sometimes find ourselves talking in terms of theories and philosophies which bear very little resemblance to how life is actually lived and experienced. In Thinking in the World, Jill Bennett and ...

The French philosopher and theologian Nicolas Malebranche was one of the most important thinkers of the early modern period. He tried to synthesize the new philosophy of Descartes with religious Platonism. This is the first collection of essays to address Malebranche's thought comprehensively and systematically.

Kierkegaard translator Walter Lowrie presents a charming and warmly appreciative introduction to the life and work of the great Danish writer. Lowrie tells the story of Kierkegaard's emotionally turbulent life with a keen sense of drama and an acute understanding of how his life shaped his thought.

Freddie Ayer (1910-89) was one of the most influential philosophers of his generation, while his television and radio appearances, especially in the original `Brains Trust', made him Britain's first 'media philosopher'. In this lively, penetrating study - the first, fully authorised, biography - Ben ...

Offers an introduction to Alain Badiou's work and thought, laying out the central themes of his major works, including "Being and Event" and "Logics of Worlds". This book explores the fundamental questions through which Badiou's philosophy constantly evolves and identifies the key turning points in his ideas.

Is mercy more important than justice?Since antiquity, mercy has been regarded as a virtue. The power of monarchs was legitimated by their acts of clemency, their mercy demonstrating their divine nature. Yet by the end of the eighteenth century, mercy had become "an injustice committed against society ...

Rethinking the role of the radical public intellectual

Introducing you to some of the great themes of philosophical thought and the ideas of the individuals who have shaped them. From Socrates to Sartre, Avicenna to Angela Davis, this accessible guide will get you up to speed on the world's greatest minds and help you to think like them. You've heard of ...

Provides an in-depth analysis of the differences between the Greek and Hebrew philosophies and religions while exaimining the consequences of both the Hellenic and Hebrew ethics codes.

This examination of Simone de Beauvoir's form of existentialism pays special attention to her work, "The Ethics of Ambiguity", in which de Beauvoir draws from many thinkers in the continental tradition to argue that one's own freedom is intertwined with that of others.

Trace the inspirational teachings of peace from some of the greatest minds of all time with The Peace Book.

"Brought to light at last--the fourth volume in the famous History of Sexuality series by one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, his final work, which he had completed, but not yet published, upon his death in 1984 Michel Foucault's philosophy has made an indelible impact on Western ...

First published in 1974 and republished following the success of Frayn's masterly work of philosophy, The Human Touch, Constructions is a dazzling, thought-provoking and fascinating book which explores some of the great problems in philosophy and of everyday life.

In this book, Professor Randal sets forth the relevance of philosophy's past to present day concerns and issues. He shows how philosophizing has arisen out of and played a central role in the complex process of cultural change.

Offers a route through the tangled jungle of competing ideas and provides an essential historical context, situating these theories within tradition of critical analysis going back to the rise of Marxism. This book presents the essential methods and objectives of each theoretical school.