The Yeats anthology of the poems of William Blake is that great rarity: one great visionary poet's anthology of everything that moves him about another, even greater one. Yeats prepared it in 1905 and it probably remains the single greatest single one-volume edition of William Blake extant, the one that, in less than 250 pages, presents as sensibly compressed and canny an edition as you'll ever find of perhaps the least sensible and most chaotic genius of English poetry. Even those who have the complete Blake in a couple of editions will find Yeats' Blake all-but-indispensable. –Buffalo News, April 6, 2003 This selection of Blake's work was commissioned in 1905 by the firm of George Routledge from W.B. Yeats. Yeats, one of the few poets comparable to Blake, prepared a unique selection of his poetic and prose writings.
The "Meditations" of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius are areadable exposition of the system of metaphysics known as stoicism.Stoics maintained that by putting aside great passions, unjustthoughts and indulgence, man could acquire virtue and live at onewith nature.
Building on the crucial insight that jokes use many of thesame mechanisms he had already discovered in dreams, Freuddeveloped one of the richest and most comprehensive theories ofhumor that has ever been produced. Jokes, he argues, provideimmense pleasure by allowing us to express many of our deepestsexual, aggressive and cynical thoughts and feelings which wouldotherwise remain repressed. In elaborating this central thesis, hebrings together a dazzling set of puns, anecdotes, snappyone-liners, spoonerisms and beloved stories of Jewish beggars andmarriage-brokers. Many remain highly amusing, while others throw avivid light on the lost world of early twentieth-centuryVienna.
A brilliant account of the life of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Popper also explains some of the central ideas in his work, making this ideal reading for anyone coming to his life and work for the first time.
The author's final work, presented in a one-volume edition, is arich, challenging analysis of man's mental activity, considered interms of thinking, willing, and judging. Edited by Mary McCarthy;Indices.
What is right ? What is wrong ? How do we decide ? To a remarkable extent, our decision-making is determined by the origins of the ethical ideas that we employ and the history of their development. A Short History of Ethics is widely acknowledged to be the perfect introduction to the subject, presenting in concise form an insightful yet exceptionally complete history of moral philosophy in the West, from the Greeks to contemporary times. In clear and readable prose, Alasdair MacIntyre, one of the finest living philosophers, leads the reader towards a greater understanding of what lies behind our ethical decisions.
Hailed for its searing emotional insights, and for theastonishing originality with which it weaves together personalhistory, cultural essay, and readings of classical texts bySophocles, Ovid, Euripides, and Sappho, The Elusive Embrace is aprofound exploration of the mysteries of identity. It is alsoa meditation in which the author uses his own divided life toinvestigate the "rich conflictedness of things," the double livesall of us lead. Daniel Mendelsohn recalls the deceptively quiet suburb where hegrew up, torn between his mathematician father's pursuit ofscientific truth and the exquisite lies spun by his Orthodox Jewishgrandfather; the streets of manhattan's newest "gay ghetto," where"desire for love" competes with "love of desire;" and the quietmoonlit house where a close friend's small son teaches him themeaning of fatherhood. And, finally, in a neglected Jewishcemetery, the author uncovers a family secret that revealsthe universal need for storytelling, for inventing myths of theself.
This must-have hardcover edition--the only official guide--is the definitive encyclopedic reference to the TwilightSaga and provides readers with everything they need to furtherexplore the unforgettable world Stephenie Meyer created in Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn .With exclusive new material, character profiles, genealogicalcharts, maps, extensive cross-references, and much more, thiscomprehensive handbook is essential for every Twilight Sagafan.
‘It is in every sense an epoch-making book: one that has been needed and expected for years.’ - Cambridge Magazine ‘The author maintains a fresh and brilliant yet easy style which always makes his writings a pleasure to read.’ - Nature The very relevance and legitimacy of philosophy is examined in this explosive and controversial work which investigates the relationship between ‘individual’ and ‘scientific’ knowledge, and questions the means by which we come to understand the physical world.
The first edition of The Interpretation of Dreams is muchshorter than its subsequent editions; each time the text wasreissued, from 1909 onwards, Freud added to it. The mostsignificant, and in many ways the most unfortunate addition, is a50-page section devoted to the kind of mechanical reading of dreamsymbolism--long objects equal male genitalia, etc.--that has gainedpopular currency and partially obscured Freud's more profoundinsights into dreams. In the original version presented here,Freud's emphasis falls more clearly on the use of words in dreamsand on the difficulty of deciphering them. Without the strata oflater additions, readers will find here a clearer development ofFreud's central ideas--of dream as wish-fulfillment, of the dream'smanifest and latent content, of the retelling of dreams as acontinuation of the dreamwork, and much more. Joyce Crick'stranslation is lighter and faster-moving than previous versions,enhancing the sense of dialogue with the reader, one of Freud'ssyllogistic strengths, a
The ancient Taoist text that forms the central part of thisbook was discovered by Wilhelm, who recognized it as essentially apractical guide to the integration of personality. Foreword andAppendix by Carl Jung; illustrations. Translated by Cary F.Baynes.A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
Did Newton "unweave the rainbow" by reducing it to itsprismatic colors, as Keats contended? Did he, in other words,diminish beauty? Far from it, says acclaimed scientist RichardDawkins; Newton's unweaving is the key to much of modern astronomyand to the breathtaking poetry of modern cosmology. Mysteries don'tlose their poetry because they are solved: the solution often ismore beautiful than the puzzle, uncovering deeper mysteries. Withthe wit, insight, and spellbinding prose that have made him abest-selling author, Dawkins takes up the most important andcompelling topics in modern science, from astronomy and genetics tolanguage and virtual reality, combining them in a landmarkstatement of the human appetite for wonder. This is the bookRichard Dawkins was meant to write: a brilliant assessment of whatscience is (and isn't), a tribute to science not because it isuseful but because it is uplifting.
Both scholarly and diverting, "Imagining Atlantis" has beenhailed as the most important book ever written about the Atlantislegend and its perennial appeal. 46 illustrations. 5 maps.
In Symposium, a group of Athenian aristocrats attend a party and talk about love, until the drunken Alcibiades bursts in and decides to discuss Socrates instead. Symposium gives an unsurpassed picture of the sparkling society that was Athens at the height of her empire. The setting of the other dialogues is more sombre. Socrates is put on trial for impiety, and sentenced to death. Euthyphro discusses the nature of piety, Apology is Socrates' speech in his own defence, Crito explains his refusal to escape punishment, and Phaedo gives an account of Socrates' last day. These dialogues have never been offered in one volume before. Tom Griffith's Symposium has been described as 'possibly the finest translation of any Platonic dialogue'. All the other translations are new.
Culler's most famous work, Structuralist Poetics has never been out of print since first publication in 1975, selling over 20,000 copies. It introduced a new way of studying literature by attempting to create a systematic account of the structure of literary works, rather than studying the meaning of the work. Culler's new preface answers some of the criticisms levelled at his approach and details how it is still as relevant today as when it was first published.
First published in English in 1959, Karl Popper's The Logic of Scientific Discovery revolutionized contemporary thinking about science and knowledge and is one of the most widely read books about science written last century. Described by the philosopher AJ Ayer as 'a work of great originality and power', Popper presents the two ideas that did more than anything else to make him famous: that the only true knowledge is scientific knowledge and that knowledge grows only when on testing a theory, it can be shown to be false. Popper's now legendary doctrine of 'falsificationism' electrified the scientific community, influencing even the methods of working scientists. It also had a profound effect on the shape of post war philosophy. Translated into many languages, it ranks alongside The Open Society and Its Enemies as one of Popper's most enduring and famous books and contains insights and arguments that demand to be read to this day.
Many appreciate Richard P. Feynman’s contributions totwentieth-century physics, but few realize how engaged he was withthe world around him—how deeply and thoughtfully he considered thereligious, political, and social issues of his day. Now, awonderful book—based on a previously unpublished, three-part publiclecture he gave at the University of Washington in 1963—shows usthis other side of Feynman, as he expounds on the inherent conflictbetween science and religion, people’s distrust of politicians, andour universal fascination with flying saucers, faith healing, andmental telepathy. Here we see Feynman in top form: nearly burstinginto a Navajo war chant, then pressing for an overhaul of theEnglish language (if you want to know why Johnny can’t read, justlook at the spelling of “friend”); and, finally, ruminating on thedeath of his first wife from tuberculosis. This is quintessentialFeynman—reflective, amusing, and ever enlightening.
Use human means as though divine ones did not exist, and usedivine means as though there were no human ones. So wrote theJesuit scholar Baltazar Gracian some 300 years ago, in a book thatwill be compared to Sun Tzu's The Art of War and Machiavelli's ThePrince. A new translation of long lost wisdom on livingsuccessfully yet responsibly.
This title is one of fifteen volumes in the new Freud seriescommissioned for Penguin by series editor Adam Phillips. It is partof a plan to generate a new, non-specialist Freud for a widereadership, which goes way beyond the institutional/clinical marketand presents material to the reader in a new way. This volume willcontain "New Introductory Lectures in Psychoanalysis" and "AnOutline of Psychoanalysis".
Conceived originally as a serious presentation of thedevelopment of philosophy for Catholic seminary students,Frederick Copleston's nine-volume A History Of Philosophyhas journeyed far beyond the modest purpose of its authorto universal acclaim as the best history of philosophyin English. Copleston, an Oxford Jesuit of immense erudition who oncetangled with A. J. Ayer in a fabled debate about theexistence of God and the possibility of metaphysics, knewthat seminary students were fed a woefully inadequatediet of theses and proofs, and that their familiarity with most of history's great thinkers was reduced tosimplistic caricatures. Copleston set out to redress thewrong by writing a complete history of Western philosophy,one crackling with incident and intellectual excitement --and one that gives full place to each thinker, presenting histhought in a beautifully rounded manner and showing hislinks to those who went before and to those who came after him.
Outrageously funny, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . . has been a breakout bestseller ever since authors—and born vaudevillians—Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein did their schtick on NPR’s Weekend Edition. Lively, original, and powerfully informative, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar . . . is a not-so-reverent crash course through the great philosophical thinkers and traditions, from Existentialism (What do Hegel and Bette Midler have in common?) to Logic (Sherlock Holmes never deduced anything). Philosophy 101 for those who like to take the heavy stuff lightly, this is a joy to read—and finally, it all makes sense!
Conceived originally as a serious presentation of thedevelopment of philosophy for Catholic seminary students, FrederickCopleston's nine-volume A History Of Philosophy hasjourneyed far beyond the modest purpose of its author to universalacclaim as the best history of philosophy in English.
