Philosophy

Why did Marcel Proust have bonsai beside his bed? What was Jane Austen doing, coveting an apricot? How was Friedrich Nietzsche inspired by his `thought tree'? Philosopher Damon reveals one...

Demystifying the key ideas of the world's greatest philosophers, and exploring all of the most important branches of thought including philosophy of science, philosophy of religion and feminist philosophy in...

'IB was one of the great affirmers of our time.' John Banville, New York Review of BooksThe title of this final volume of Isaiah Berlin's letters is echoed by John...

That is full. This is full. From the full comes the full. Remove the full from the full and what remains? The full. This first line of the Isha Upanishad,...

Ten essays on how reading and meaningfully engaging with literature can help us live better, more purposeful lives. How do we live fully? How do we live successfully? Adrift in...

How do we explain what Perry Anderson has called the "bizarre prominence of Bernard-Henri Levy, far the best-known 'thinker' under sixty in the country?" Anderson continues: "It would be difficult...

"Postmodern Geographies" stands as the cardinal broadcast and defence of theory s spatial turn. From the suppression of space in modern social science and the disciplinary aloofness of geography to...

The English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903) was a colossus of the Victorian age. His works ranked alongside those of Darwin and Marx in the development of disciplines as...

Housing is more than bricks and mortar. The home is where our hopes and dreams play out, and it lies at the heart of our lives. This is where we...

The collapse of communism was one of the most defining moments of the twentieth century. At its peak, more than a third of the world's population had lived under communist...

HOUSE AND PHILOSOPHY Is being nice overrated? Are we really just selfish, base animals crawling across Earth in a meaningless existence? Would reading less and watching more television be good...

Part of the Chiltern Classics range.Believed to have been first published more than two thousand years ago, The Art of War is the classic Chinese book of military strategy. It...

An inspiring curated selection of 40 photographs and artworks with accompanying essays examining the skill of confidence. The difference between success and failure often comes down to an ingredient that...

Part of the Chiltern Classics range.Meditations, by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, is one of the definitive texts on Stoicism.In Meditations Taken from A.S.L Farquharson's Translation. Aurelius shares his thoughts about...

'Viktor Frankl gives us the gift of looking at everything in life as an opportunity' - Edith Eger, bestselling author of The ChoiceAn inspirational new collection on turning tragedy into...

A passionate, highly accessible clarion call to a world dangerously threatened by irrational superstitions of all kinds.'Truly a book for our time' Steven Pinker 'In Sweden's public square, Christer Sturmark...

"If you buy one book this year make sure it's this one... Enchanting."Daily Mail"This charming book weaves hedgehogs into our hearts, our lives and our national identity."John WitherowA few days...

Provocative and enlightening, Richard Sennett's The Craftsman is an exploration of craftsmanship - the desire to do a job well for its own sake - as a template for living....

From the bestselling author of Jews Don't Count ' A hugely heartfelt, funny, kind, fascinating, human and clever book ' ALAIN DE BOTTON' Magnificent. Breathtaking. And shockingly rare ... another...

This edition includes a preface, introduction and appendix. "Ancient Sources" gives readers the opportunity to consider the epic, dramatic, philosophical and rhetorical texts that influenced the Poetics. Modern interpretations speak...

In these two devastating late works, Nietzsche offers a powerful attack on the morality and the beliefs of his timeNietzsche's Twilight of the Idols is a 'grand declaration of war'...

Are you studying Nietzsche but don't know where to start? Would you like a guide that will make Nietzsche's often complex thought easy to understand? Do you want to understand...

In the 1960s a radical concept emerged from the great French thinker Jacques Derrida. Read the book that changed the way we think; read Writing and Difference, the classic introduction.

Manners, order and respect... these are all ideals we subscribe to. In opposed positions, we ought to be able to 'agree to disagree'. Today's world is built from structures of...

In his celebrated masterpiece, Symposium, Plato imagines a high-society dinner-party in Athens in 416 BC at which the guests - including the comic poet Aristophanes and, of course, Plato's mentor...

Tracing the development of Levi-Strauss's thought, this book covers his early proposition that the function of the incest taboo is to initiate an exchange of women between groups, to his...

'The Master said, "If a man sets his heart on benevolence, he will be free from evil"'The Analects are a collection of Confucius's sayings brought together by his pupils shortly...

This translation captures the terse and enigmatic beauty of the ancient original and resists the tendency toward interpretive paraphrase found in many other editions. Along with the complete translation, Lombardo...

The teachings of Epicurus-about life and death, religion and science, physical sensation, happiness, morality, and friendship-attracted legions of adherents throughout the ancient Mediterranean world and deeply influenced later European thought....

Timeless wisdom on death and dying from the celebrated Stoic philosopher Seneca"It takes an entire lifetime to learn how to die," wrote the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC-65...