Rene Descartes(1569-1650),the 'father' of modern philosophy,is without doubt one of the greatest thinkers in history:his genius lies at the core of our contemporary intellectual identity.Breaking with the conventions of his own time and suffering persecution by the Church as a consequence,Descartes in his writings-most of which are philosophical classics-attempted to answer the central questions surrounding the self,God,free-will and knowledge,using the science of thought as opposed to received wisdom based on the tenets of faith.This edition,the most comprehensive one-volume selection of Descartes' works available in English,includes his great essay,Discourse on Method.
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.
Whether we love or hate Sigmund Freud, we all have to admit that he revolutionized the way we think about ourselves. Much of this revolution can be traced to The Interpretation of Dreams, the turn-of-the-century tour de force that outlined his theory of unconscious forces in the context of dream analysis. Introducing the id, the superego, and their problem child, the ego, Freud advanced scientific understanding of the mind immeasurably by exposing motivations normally invisible to our consciousness. While there's no question that his own biases and neuroses influenced his observations, the details are less important than the paradigm shift as a whole. After Freud, our interior lives became richer and vastly more mysterious. These mysteries clearly bothered him--he went to great (often absurd) lengths to explain dream imagery in terms of childhood sexual trauma, a component of his theory jettisoned mid-century, though now popular among recovered-memory therapists. His dispassionate analyses of his own dr
In On the Nature of the Psyche Jung presents a masterly overview of his theories of the unconscious, and its relation to the conscious mind. Jung's discovery of the 'collective unconscious', a psychic inheritance common to all humankind, transformed the understanding of the self and the way we interpret the world. In On the Nature of the Psyche Jung describes this remarkable theory in his own words, and presents a masterly overview of his theories of the unconscious, and its relation to the conscious mind. Also contained in this collection is On Psychic Energy , where Jung defends his interpretation of the libido, a key factor in the breakdown of his relations with Freud. For anyone seeking to understand Jung's insights into the human mind, this volume is essential reading.
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
Insightful and highly accessible, this selection of seven essays displays Russell's signature brilliance of exposition in the examination of ethical subjects and the nature of truth, and marks an important period in the evolution of thought of one of the world’s most influential thinkers.
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.
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 "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.
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 new "Penguin Freud", under Adam Phillips' generaleditorship, offers a fantastic opportunity to see Freud in a freshlight. This endlessly beguiling, suggestive, thought-provokingwriter can be appreciated nowhere more vividly than in "The CaseHistories": "Little Hans", "The Rat Man", "The Wolf Man" and "SomeCharacter Types Met within Psychoanalytic Work".
Contains a complete synthesis of Piaget's thoughts on the mechanisms of intellectual development: it is an extraordinary volume by an extraordiary writer.
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.
A collection of some of Freud's most famous essays, including"On The Introduction of Narcissism", "Remembering, Repeating andWorking Through", "Beyond the Pleasure Principle", "The Ego and theID" and "Inhibition, Symptom and Fear".
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!
THE SIXTIES IN PICTURES is one of a series of books that together provide a comprehensive pictoriaL history of the 20th century, decade by decade.With over 250 pictures, this voLume is a unique record of the moments of wonder and terror that can never be forgotten: from the assassination of JFK to the massacre at SharpeviLle, from the building of the BerLin WaLl to the first manned space fLight, from the March on Washington to BeatLemania, from the CuLtural RevoLution to the coming of Bond. Here are the Swinging Sixties in aLL their dizzy detaiL.
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.
Review 'Must have come on like punk rock to a public groaning under the weight of over-cooked Augustanisms.' - The Guardian Must have come on like punk rock to a public groaning under the weight of over-cooked Augustanisms. - The Guardian Product De*ion "... must have come on like punk rock to a public groaning under the weight of over-cooked Augustanisms." The Guardian "The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure." --William Wordsworth, from the Advertisement prefacing the original 1798 edition When it was first published, Lyrical Ballads enraged the critics of the day: Wordsworth and Coleridge had given poetry a voice, one decidedly different to what had been voiced before. For Wordsworth, as he so clearly stated in his celebrated preface to the 1800 edition (a
'Michael Norton is a one-man ideas factory whose new book suggests some wacky ways in which, with a little bit of effort, people really can change the world for the better. Don't just sit back and do nothing.' THE GUARDIAN 'If you want to make a difference this year then I can do no better than recommend 365 Ways to Change the World by Michael Norton. His handbook makes it easy.' Roy Greenslade, THE TELEGRAPH --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
When it was first published in 1781, The Confessions scandalisedEurope with its emotional honesty and frank treatment of theauthor's sexual and intellectual development. Since then, it hashad a more profound impact on European thought. Rousseau leftposterity a model of the reflective life - the solitary,uncompromising individual, the enemy of servitude and habit and theselfish egoist who dedicates his life to a particular ideal. TheConfessions recreates the world in which he progressed fromincompetent engraver to grand success; his enthusiasm forexperience, his love of nature, and his uncompromising charactermake him an ideal guide to eighteenth-century Europe, and he wasthe author of some of the most profound work ever written on therelation between the individual and the state.
Jean-Paul Sartre, the seminal smarty-pants of mid-century thinking, launched the existentialist fleet with the publication of Being and Nothingness in 1943. Though the book is thick, dense, and unfriendly to careless readers, it is indispensable to those interested in the philosophy of consciousness and free will. Some of his arguments are fallacious, others are unclear, but for the most part Sartre's thoughts penetrate deeply into fundamental philosophical territory. Basing his conception of self-consciousness loosely on Heidegger's "being," Sartre proceeds to sharply delineate between conscious actions ("for themselves") and unconscious ("in themselves"). It is a conscious choice, he claims, to live one's life "authentically" and in a unified fashion, or not--this is the fundamental freedom of our lives. Drawing on history and his own rich imagination for examples, Sartre offers compelling supplements to his more formal arguments. The waiter who detaches himself from his job-role sticks in the reader'
