Showing titles in Philosophers

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Russell in just one hour. Bertrand Russell claimed to be driven by three great passions that drove his personal as well as his intellectual life: a longing for love, a quest for knowledge and a heart-rending pity for...

Brought to you by Penguin. On 28 February 2013, a 600-year-old tradition was shattered: the conservative Pope Benedict XVI made a startling announcement. He would resign. Reeling from the news, the College of Cardinals rushed to Rome to congregate in the Sistine Chapel to pick his successor...

In Becoming a Philosopher Jonathan Rée describes the extraordinary lives of some of most influential thinkers of the past four hundred years and the radical and sometimes bizarre ideas that emerged from them. This collection of ten biographical pieces, originally published as book reviews in the London Review of Books, begins with Spinoza, the excommunicated lens grinder who sought as little attention as possible for his anonymously published work; and ends with Sartre, the most public of public intellectuals whose funeral was marked by thousands on the streets of Paris.

In this Christian Encounter Series biography, author Mitch Stokes explores the life of Isaac Newton, the man behind the atomic theory. As an inventor, astronomer, physicist, and philosopher, Isaac Newton forever changed the way we see and understand the world. At one point, he was the world’s...

Beyond the rehashed clichés, this book inspires us to rediscover Diogenes' philosophical legacy—whether it be the challenge to the established order, the detachment from materialism, the choice of a return to nature, or the formulation of a cosmopolitan ideal strongly rooted in the belief that virtue is better revealed in action than in theory.

Since the publication of The Prince five centuries ago, Machiavelli has been associated with political amorality. But that characterization is unfair. In Be Like the Fox, Erica Benner sets the record straight: far from the ruthless "Machiavellian" henchman that people think he was, Machiavelli emerges here as a profound ethical thinker who fought to uphold high moral standards and restore the democratic freedoms of his beloved Florence.

Jacques Derrida had a major influence on twentieth century philosophy and the idea of postmodernism. Challenging some of the deepest assumptions of the Western philosophical tradition, he is most renowned—or condemned—for his engagement with the movement that he called 'deconstruction.' In...

From Leonardo Da Vinci to John Dee and Comenius, from George Eliot to Oliver Sacks and Susan Sontag, polymaths have moved the frontiers of knowledge in countless ways. But history can be unkind to scholars with such encyclopaedic interests. All too often these individuals are remembered for just one part of their valuable achievements. In this engaging, erudite account, renowned cultural historian Peter Burke argues for a more rounded view. 

Considered by many to be the most important philosopher ever, Plato was born into a well-to-do family in wartime Athens at the end of the fifth century BCE. He finally decided to go into politics, but became disillusioned, especially after the Athenians condemned his teacher, Socrates, to death. He began teaching in his twenties and later founded the Academy, the world's first higher-educational research and teaching establishment. Eventually, he returned to practical politics and spent a considerable amount of time and energy trying to create a constitution for Syracuse in Sicily.

Machiavelli's very name is synonymous with strategy and cunning. This is no hyperbole—the term "Machiavellian" has long been part of our vocabulary. And it all traces back to one man: Niccolo Machiavelli. Yet for all the associations his name conjures—cunning strategy, swift reversals of fate, ruthless political calculation—most of us know surprisingly little about Machiavelli himself. Who was the man behind the legend?

In the era of Black Lives Matter, Frantz Fanon's shadow looms larger than ever. He was the intellectual activist of the postcolonial era, and his writings about race, revolution, and the psychology of power continue to shape radical movements across the world. In this searching biography, Adam Shatz tells the story of Fanon's stunning journey, which has all the twists of a Cold War-era thriller, and offers a dramatic reconstruction of Fanon's extraordinary life—and a guide to the books that underlie today's most vital efforts to challenge white supremacy and racial capitalism.

In How to Think Like a Woman, Penaluna blends memoir, biography, and criticism to tell the stories of four women, weaving throughout an alternative history of philosophy. Funny, honest, and wickedly intelligent, this is a moving meditation on what philosophy could look like if women were treated equally.

This audiobook contains biographies on five prominent Stoics: Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, Cato, and Zeno. Get an inside look at the lives of the men who made Stoicism famous.

Inspired by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and Bertrand Russell and David Hilbert's pursuit of the fundamental rules of mathematics, some of the most brilliant minds of the generation came together in post-World War I Vienna to present the latest theories in mathematics, science, and philosophy and to build a strong foundation for scientific investigation. Composed of such luminaries as Kurt Gödel and Rudolf Carnap, and stimulated by the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper, the Vienna Circle left an indelible mark on science.   

A dazzling biographical study of the greatest German philosopher of the nineteenth century by one of the most widely read German-language authors of the twentieth century. In this vivid and eloquent biography, Zweig largely eschews the traditional academic discourse on the philosopher's work, instead concentrating entirely on Nietzsche as a person, his habits, his passions and his obsessions. Stefan Zweig describes the tragedy of Nietzsche's existence, his seclusion from the world, in self-imposed isolation, in a compelling and impressive way.

Bloomsbury presents The Age of Genius by A. C. Grayling, read by Gordon Griffin What happened to the European mind between 1605, when an audience watching Macbeth at the Globe might believe that regicide was such an aberration of the natural order that ghosts could burst from the ground, and...

Vividly written, The Infidel and the Professor is a compelling account of a great friendship of two towering Enlightenment thinkers that had great consequences for modern thought. David Hume is widely regarded as the most important philosopher ever to write in English, but during his lifetime, he was attacked as "the Great Infidel" for his skeptical religious views and deemed unfit to teach the young. In contrast, Adam Smith was a revered professor of moral philosophy and is now often hailed as the founding father of capitalism.

Born in Vienna into an extremely wealthy and highly cultured family, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) grew up surrounded by art, music, and a disturbing amount of dysfunctional behavior. After studying mechanical engineering and developing an interest in aeronautics, he became obsessed with mathematics and logic, which led to his life's work exploring the relationship between language, philosophy, and reality.

The first volume of the Cosmic Trigger series describes in vivid elucidation the perils of a spiritual journey. Volume two of the series presents the author’s “bridge”—how Bob grew into his expanded perspective of the Multiverse. In this third and final volume, Bob digs even deeper and uncovers the masks of reality and the reality of masks. Warning: This book may reveal more about what is "real" in reality than you might find comfortable!

In Albert Einstein, Jasmine Dyggan explores the defining breakthroughs and moments that made Einstein an icon—not just of science, but of human intellect and courage. With clarity and depth, this book delves into Einstein’s groundbreaking theories, including special and general relativity, quantum theory, and E=mc², tracing how these radical ideas not only transformed physics but redefined our understanding of reality itself. It also explores the lesser-known dimensions of his legacy—his commitment to human rights, pacifism, and intellectual freedom.