Philosophy

The issue of relativism looms large in many contemporary discussions of knowledge, reality, society, religion, culture and gender. Is truth relative? To what extent is knowledge dependent on context? Are...

"Its publication should be a major event for cognitive linguistics and should pose a major challenge for cognitive science. In addition, it should have repercussions in a variety of disciplines,...

He that is to govern a whole nation, must read in himself, not this, or that particular man; but mankind. Leviathan is both a magnificent literary achievement and the greatest...

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, InspiringPoststructuralism challenges traditional ways of thinking about human beings and our relation to the world. Language, meaning, and culture are all reappraised, and with them...

Ask a dozen people to name a genius and the odds are that 'Einstein' will spring to their lips. Ask them the meaning of 'relativity' and few of them will...

In May 2005 Penguin will publish 70 unique titles to celebrate the company's 70th birthday. The titles in the Pocket Penguins series are emblematic of the renowned breadth of quality...

About the Series: The aim of this series is to bring together important recent writings in major areas of philosophical inquiry, selected from a variety of sources, mostly periodicals, which...

This comprehensive anthology of Bertrand Russell's writings brings together his definitive essays from the period 1903 to 1959. It covers the most fertile and the most lasting work on every...

For Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), love was the supreme way of achieving self-realization and completeness as a human being. Such themes as love, passion and marriage dominate the section on love...

Hume is one of the greatest of all British philosophers, and even in his own lifetime was celebrated as one of the pivotal figures of the Enlightenment. Hume's "naturalist" approach...

Many people regard Hegel's work as obscure and extremely difficult, yet his importance and influence are universally acknowledged. Professor Singer eliminates any excuse for remaining ignorant of the outlines of...

This provocative book is a tractate-a treatise-on beauty in Japanese art, written in the manner of a zuihitsu, a free-ranging assortment of ideas that "follow the brush" wherever it leads....

Are you still the person who lived 15, 10 or five years ago? 15, 10 or five minutes ago? Can you plan for your retirement if the you of 30...

The contributions in this volume make an important effort to resurrect a rather old fashioned form of foundationalism. They defend the position that there are some beliefs that are justified,...

John Locke is the greatest English philosopher. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, one of the most influential books in the history of thought, is his greatest work. In this study...

The four essays here collected show Mill applying his liberal utilitarian philosophy to a range of issues that are still regarded as vital today - issues of the nature of...

In recent years the question of madness and how to define it has become the centre of a great deal of discussion. This is the question the distinguished French psychologist...

Why do millions of Americans support a system that is making them poorer, sicker, and lesssecure every day? If modern capitalism routinely exploits working people, then why do so manyflock...

'The life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short' Written during the chaos of the English Civil War, Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan asks how, in a world of violence and...

Throughout history civilisation has been shaped by war. Now, after a century of unprecedented devastation, it seems humankind is preparing to embark on another cycle of violence. Are we condemned...

The masterpiece of the sage Sun Tzu is a military treatise written in China more than 2,500 years ago. He recognised that we live in a world of conflict, which...

A look at the philosophical underpinnings of the hit TV show, Mad Men With its swirling cigarette smoke, martini lunches, skinny ties, and tight pencil skirts, Mad Men is unquestionably...

A philosophical memoir about becoming a father in an increasingly terrible world. Can I hope the child growing in my partner's womb will have a good-enough life?For Kant, philosophy boiled...

In a series of 50 accessible essays, Ben Dupre introduces and explains the philosophical questions around knowledge, consciousness, identity, ethics and justice that have engaged the minds of thinkers from...

'What is so appealing about the ideas in this book is that we could pivot coffee from being the driving force behind excessive hours and a poor work-life balance into...

In this new translation the brilliant and impassioned descriptions of Augustine's colourful early life are conveyed to the English reader with accuracy and art. Augustine tells of his wrestlings to...

Celebrated thinker Rowan Williams explores the shared hopes and burdens that make solidarity possible.From its use as a rallying cry by the labour movement to its central place in struggles...

The clearest, boldest and most systematic statement of Simon Critchley's influential views on philosophy, ethics, and politics, Infinitely Demanding identifiesa massive political disappointment at the heart of liberal democracy. Arguing...

Gentleness is an enigma. Taken up in a double movement of welcoming and giving, it appears on the threshold of passages signed off by birth and death. Because it has...

'A gem of a book, serious and clever yet funny and playful' Financial Times 'Professor of philosophy and a public intellectual for the internet age, Callard shows how Socrates can...

Understanding the modern city and the powerful forces within it is the life's work of Harvard urban economist Edward Glaeser, who at forty is hailed as one of the world's...

Is there a right to die?Is a system of assisted death really compassionate?Are we sleepwalking into a moral disaster?In Do Not Go Gentle, acclaimed writer and philosopher Kathleen Stock tackles...

St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) saw religion as part of the natural human propensity to worship. His ability to recognize the naturalness of this phenomenon and simultaneously to go beyond it,...

Simon Goldhill examines the most basic areas of our lives today, from marriage and sex to politics and entertainment. Whether we are falling in love or waging wars in the...

Philosophers on Education offers us the most comprehensive available history of philosopher's views and impacts on the directions of education. As Amelie Rorty explains, in describing a history of education,...