Showing results for "classics" in Philosophy

Plato's Allegory of the Cave is what many believe to be the foundation of Western Philosophy. It addresses what is visible and invisible, seen and observed versus intuited and imagined, and what is public versus private and just versus unjust. It also concerns the meaning and importance of education, the state of the soul, the conflict between truth and beauty, animal urges versus higher aspirations, knowledge versus ignorance, and on and on.

“It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil.” Deep issues of conscience are explored in Ayn Rand’s dystopian tale of a man who dares to fight against a system that invades his very mind and identity.

Rousseau's Social Contract remains, after a quarter of a millennium, one of the most controversial texts in the history of political philosophy, variously seen as a model for participatory democracy, a blueprint for totalitarianism, and several points in between. In addition to Rousseau’s magnum opus, this production includes an introduction by George Douglas Howard Cole, an English political theorist, economist, writer and historian. Also included are three discourses that Rousseau composed apart from The Social Contract.

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Arinzé Kene, writer and performer of Olivier Award nominated Misty, and also known for his roles in Youngers, Informer and Eastenders. This definitive recording includes an Introduction by Gareth Stedman Jones. The Communist...

Featuring texts by Saul Alinsky, Edmund Burke, Rachel Carson, Carl von Clausewitz, Francis Fukuyama, Mahatma Gandhi, Friedrich Hayek, Thomas Hobbes, Martin Luther King, Niccolo Machiavelli, Karl Marx, J. S. Mill, George Orwell, Thomas Paine, Plato, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Alexis De Tocqueville, Mary Wollstonecraft, and many more.

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Jim Barclay, best known for their roles in The Young Ones and Jeeves and Wooster. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Christopher Rowe, also read by Jim Barclay. 'We set about founding the best city we could...

Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and laws.

At Independence, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, embarked upon a political and an economic project. His political project―to put India on the democratic path―was a resounding success.This success, though, was marred by an equally resounding failure of Nehru’s...

Claimed to be one of the first works of modern philosophy, this unabridged version of The Prince is read by Emma Topping. This classic of political writing is Machiavelli's most notorious work. A treatise on gaining and maintaining political power, this is the work that inspired the use of the term "Machiavellian".

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, widely known as NTR, was not merely a film star who strayed into politics and captured power in Andhra Pradesh. The actor-politician redefined the political culture in the state and scripted a new political idiom.His rather dramatic entry into politics, the profound...

Master the political philosophy driving human history's greatest struggles for power, justice, and civic order. Perfect for an engaging morning commute or an evening of deep focus, this thought-provoking journey connects ancient debates to modern governance. Witness how abstract theories sparked...

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Simon Callow, actor and director, known for his roles in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love, and the BBC adaptation of A Christmas Carol. As a diplomat in turbulent fifteenth-century Florence, Niccolò Machiavelli knew...

A new history of the world's most embattled idea. Today, democracy is the world's only broadly accepted political system, and yet it has become synonymous with disappointment and crisis. How did it come to this? In Can Democracy Work? James Miller, the author of the classic history of 1960s...

Published in 1532 five years after Machiavelli’s death, the philosophies and implications introduced in the manifesto are continually referenced by today’s top business executives for insight into leadership, political theory, and ethics.

The English philosopher and physician John Locke (1632 - 1704) is widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. His work had a significant effect on the development of epistemology and political philosophy. The Second Treatise on Civil Government places sovereignty in the hands of the people, as Locke's fundamental argument is that people are equal and invested with natural rights in a state of nature in which they live free from outside rule.

The Prince is considered the all-time best book on political strategy. It has of late become a much-referred-to book for all competitive situations. Machiavelli's name is associated closely with his philosophy, as he well deserves. His other works are worth reading or hearing, as well, especially his Art of War and Belfagor: The Devil Who Took a Wife.

Brought to you by Penguin. 'Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.' These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has stirred vigorous debate ever since its first publication in 1762. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau...

The Prince is a treatise that systematically charts the best strategies for successful governing. It unapologetically places realism above idealism, showing would-be kings how to get what they want while appearing to be generous and honourable, and advocates that the means — cruelty, duplicity and horror —justify the ends of secure monarchical rule. But it can also be read as the work of a secret republican subtly undermining the despotism of the ruling Medici family.

First published in 1516, Utopia is a political and philosophical satire presented as a dialogue between More and the traveller Raphael Hythlodaeus. Raphael recounts his time visiting the island of Utopia, where private property ceases to exist, all citizens work, and the laws promote equality, education and religious tolerance. Through this imagined society, More indirectly challenges the injustices of European politics, and cleverly reflects on the meaning of justice, governance and what it takes to create a ‘perfect’ society.

Discourses on Livy, written in 1531, is as essential to understanding Machiavelli as his famous treatise, The Prince. Equally controversial, it reveals his fundamental preference for a republican state. Comparing the practice of the ancient Romans with that of his contemporaries provided Machiavelli with a consistent point of view in all his works. Machiavelli's close analysis of Livy's history of Rome led him to advance his most original and outspoken view of politics--the belief that a healthy political body was characterized by social friction and conflict rather than by rigid stability.