Showing titles in Modern

“Probably the only book published this year which will outlive the century” – ARTHUR KOESTLER Karl Popper’s THE POVERTY OF HISTORICISM is one of the most important books on the social sciences to have appeared since the Second World War. It is also the work of one of the most original...

Madness, sexuality, power, knowledge—are these facts of life or simply parts of speech? In a series of works of astonishing brilliance, historian Michel Foucault excavated the hidden assumptions that govern the way we live and the way we think. The Archaeology of Knowledge begins at the level of things aid and moves quickly to illuminate the connections between knowledge, language, and action in a style at once profound and personal. A summing up of Foucault's own methodological assumptions, this book is also a first step toward a genealogy of the way we live now.

Explore an intellectual rebellion in European history, as radical philosophers risk their lives to defy absolute power. Perfect for an engaging daily commute or a session of focused learning, this immersive journey transports curious listeners to the smoky print shops and elegant salons of the...

Alain de Botton believes that philosophy can help people enjoy happier lives. And in his numerous best sellers, from Status Anxiety to The Art of Travel, his unique blend of erudition and self-help has reached an audience eager to listen. In On Seeing and Noticing, Alain de Botton takes everyday concerns such as expressing sadness or being romantic and dispenses advice and observations based on the works of some of history's greatest writers, artists and thinkers.

In his groundbreaking and controversial book The DIM Hypothesis, Dr. Leonard Peikoff casts a penetrating new light on the process of human thought and thereby on Western culture and history. In this far-reaching study, Peikoff identifies the three methods people use to integrate concrete data into a whole, as when connecting diverse experiments by a scientific theory, separate laws into a constitution, or single events into a story.

Timothy Williamson tackles some of the key questions surrounding philosophy in new and provocative ways, showing how philosophy begins in common sense curiosity, and develops through our capacity to dispute rationally with each other. Discussing philosophy's ability to clarify our thoughts, he explains why such clarification depends on the development of philosophical theories, and how those theories can be tested by imaginative thought experiments, and compared against each other by standards similar to those used in the natural and social sciences.

At the age of eight, Karl Popper was puzzling over the idea of infinity and by fifteen was beginning to take a keen interest in his father's well-stocked library of books. Unended Quest recounts these moments and many others in the life of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth...

Step into the mind of one of history's most influential thinkers as Nietzsche takes you on a profound journey through morality, truth, and the nature of human existence. This groundbreaking work, brought to life in captivating audio format, explores Nietzsche's bold and revolutionary ideas that continue to resonate in our modern world.

What if the Western world does not have its ultimate origins in a single cultural bloodline but rather a messy bramble of ancestors and influences? As battles over privilege, identity and prejudice rock the cultural wars, it's never been more important to understand how the concept of The West came to be. This book tells a bold, empowering new story of how the idea of the West was created, how it has been used to justify imperialism and racism, and also why it's still a powerful ideological tool to understand our world.

"The Twilight of the Idols", Nietzsche says in Ecce Homo: “If anyone should desire to obtain a rapid sketch of how everything before my time was standing on its head, he should begin reading me in this book. That which is called ‘Idols’ on the title-page is simply the old truth that has been believed in hitherto. In plain English, The Twilight of the Idols means that the old truth is on its last legs.

Celebrated Spanish philosopher Jose Carlos Ruis brings the wisdom of great philosophers to life in this entertaining guide to sharpening our minds. The witty and empowering international bestseller from celebrated Spanish philosopher Jose Carlos Ruis: how the timeless wisdom of our Great...

To define 'progress' is to lay claim to the future. Seminal thinker Slavoj Žižek turns essayist to interrogate the competing visions which form the horizons of human possibility and ask: Can things, which have never seemed worse, get better? What would a better world be? And how, when we are...

The Conquest of Happiness (1930) is Bertrand Russell’s short, practical guide to living more happily in the modern world. Russell argues that much unhappiness comes from patterns of thought and social pressures—like envy, fear of opinion, boredom, and the obsessive pursuit of status—and that these can be unlearned.

Since its publication in 1968, Difference and Repetition, an exposition of the critique of identity, has come to be considered a contemporary classic in philosophy and one of Gilles Deleuze's most important works. The text follows the development of two central concepts, those of pure difference...

Der "Tractatus logico-philosophicus" ist das frühe Hauptwerk des Philosophen Ludwig Wittgenstein und das einzige philosophische Buch, das er zu Lebzeiten veröffentlicht. Diese gerade einmal etwa 100 Seiten zählende Abhandlung, an der Wittgenstein 7 Jahre gearbeitet hat, ist nicht nur einer der Meilensteine der modernen Sprachphilosophie, sondern besitzt heute den Rang eines Klassikers der Philosophie überhaupt.

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to a succinct account of the philosophy of Hegel in just one hour. With Hegel philosophy became very difficult indeed – even the great man himself conceded that ‘only one man understands me, and even he does not.’ His dialectical method produced the most...

Philosophy for busy people. Listen to this succinct account of the philosophy of Descartes in just one hour. Descartes was the first modern philosopher. His scepticism led him to doubt all certainties, until finally he arrived at his famous maxim 'I think therefore I am'. He would also apply his...

The Birth of Tragedy: Out of the Spirit of Music is Friedrich Nietzsche’s groundbreaking first major work, exploring the origins of ancient Greek tragedy and the profound connection between art, music, and human existence. In this thought-provoking audiobook, Nietzsche introduces his influential concepts of the Apollonian and Dionysian forces—representing order and reason on one side, and passion, instinct, and creative energy on the other. He examines how these opposing forces come together to create powerful forms of art and expression.

Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) is now generally recognized as one of the most influential thinkers of the last century. This Very Short Introduction explores his extraordinary life and thought. His complex system of criticism is difficult for many, but it is coherent in its combination of a Judaic...

Expanding on his ideas from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche's radical polemic Beyond Good and Evil undermines the assumptions of traditional morality and encourages us to think more critically about the world in which we live. In this famous text, Nietzsche considers past philosophers and religious leaders from Socrates to Descartes to Schopenhauer with a critical and pessimistic eye.