Showing titles in Ethics & Morality

In Man for Himself, Erich Fromm examines the confusion of modern women and men who, because they lack faith in any principle by which life ought to be guided, become the helpless prey forces both within and without. From the broad, interdisciplinary perspective that marks Fromm's distinguished oeuvre, he shows that psychology cannot divorce itself from the problems of philosophy and ethics, and that human nature cannot be understood without understanding the values and moral conflicts that confront us all.

How did humans, a species of self-centered apes, come to care about others? Since Darwin, scientists have tried to answer this question using evolutionary theory. In The Kindness of Strangers, psychologist Michael E. McCullough shows why they have failed and offers a new explanation instead. From the moment nomadic humans first settled down until the aftermath of the Second World War, our species has confronted repeated crises that we could only survive by changing our behavior.

The Analects or Selected Sayings is an ancient Chinese text comprising sayings and wisdom teachings attributed to Confucius and his contemporaries, as well as fragmentary dialogues between the philosopher and his students. The Analects has been one of the most influential books in China for the last two millennia, and continues to contribute to Chinese and East Asian culture and thought.

"Meditations" is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. The philosopher-king wrote the 12 books of the "Meditations" as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. Now brought to the current generation, this classic work offers up timeless wisdom and insights into both the mind and the soul.

Much of today's media tells us to be thinner, richer, and more successful. This book tells us how to be nicer. Niceness may not have the immediate allure of money or fame, but we can all benefit from practical advice on how to be more patient, better at listening, less irritable, and less defensive. This is a guidebook to the uncharted landscape of niceness, gently exploring the key themes of this often overlooked quality.

Among all life on Earth, we alone experience rich moral emotions, follow complex rules governing how we treat one another, and engage in moral dialogue. But how did human morality evolve? And can humans become morally evolved? In A Better Ape, Victor Kumar and Richmond Campbell draw on the latest research in the biological and social sciences to explain the key role that morality has played in human evolution.

Who has not found themselves scrolling endlessly on screens and wondered: Am I living or distracting myself from living? In Emergency, Break Glass adapts Friedrich Nietzsche’s passionate quest for meaning into a world overwhelmed by “content.” Written long before the advent of smartphones, Nietzsche’s aphoristic philosophy advocated a fierce mastery of attention, a strict information diet, and a powerful connection to the natural world.

This is a completely unabridged edition of Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. You may also know this work as Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals, or The Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. Our rendition of this classic has crisp, well-edited audio.

In the wake of white nationalist attacks, the ongoing debate over reparations, and the controversy surrounding Confederate monuments and the contested memories they evoke, Susan Neiman's Learning from the Germans delivers an urgently needed perspective on how a country can come to terms with its historical wrongdoings. Neiman is a white woman who came of age in the civil rights-era South and a Jewish woman who has spent much of her adult life in Berlin. 

This collection, first published in 1914, contains 28 short pieces in prose and verse, which present themes frequently explored in Gibran's other works. These include love, death, creation myths and spiritual realization.

Confucius stands alone among the world's great thinkers. Perhaps no other teacher has exerted so powerful a hold over so many people for so long. For two and a half millennia his sayings, preserved and developed by generations of his followers, have shaped the cultural and political life of the world's most populous nation, and they continue to offer fresh insights for today's globalized society. This audiobook sets Confucius's life and teachings in the context of the long history of China....

In this book, Emrys Westacott examines why, for more than two millennia, so many philosophers and people with a reputation for wisdom have been advocating frugality and simple living as the key to the good life. He also looks at why most people have ignored them, but argues that, in a world facing environmental crisis, it may finally be time to listen to the advocates of a simpler way of life.

Robert B. Reich makes a powerful case for the expansion of America’s moral imagination. Rooting his argument in common sense and everyday reality, he demonstrates that a common good constitutes the very essence of any society or nation. Societies, he says, undergo virtuous cycles that...

Traditional economics measures the ways in which we spend our income, but doesn't attribute worth to the crucial human interactions that give our lives meaning. Clair Brown, an economics professor at U.C. Berkeley and a practicing Buddhist, has developed a holistic model, one based on the notion that quality of life should be measured by more than national income. Brown advocates an approach to organizing the economy that embraces rather than skirts questions of values, sustainability, and equity.

While exploring Shakespeare's plays with her students, Paula Marantz Cohen discovered that teaching and discussing his plays unlocked a surprising sense of compassion in the classroom. In this short and illuminating book, she shows how Shakespeare's genius lay with his ability to arouse empathy, even when his characters exist in alien contexts and behave in reprehensible ways.

Book nine of fifteen for the entire set of SIC ITUR AD ASTRA (This is the Way to the Stars). This sixth volume of eight of what Professor Galambos calls “the most important course of The Free Enterprise Institute” is subtitled, V-201: The Nature and Protection of Primary Property Volume Six and consists of sessions 34 through 40 of course V-201.

Book ten of fifteen for the entire set of SIC ITUR AD ASTRA (This is the Way to the Stars). This seventh volume of eight of what Professor Galambos calls “the most important course of The Free Enterprise Institute” is subtitled V-201: The Nature and Protection of Primary Property Volume Seven and consists of sessions 41 through 45 and workshops two and three of course V-201.

Dieses Buch ist ein radikaler, zugleich warmherziger und spielerisch formulierter Aufruf, unseren Platz auf dem Planeten neu zu überdenken. Es verbindet persönliche Erlebnisse mit Schafen, Hühnern und einem listigen Fuchs mit philosophischen Fragen, spieltheoretischen Konzepten und einer Zukunftsvision für das Jahr 2174. Homo Sapiens 2 zeigt, warum wir trotz all unseres Wissens oft unvernünftig handeln – und wie es anders gehen kann. Es bietet eine unterhaltsame, tiefgründige Mischung aus Gesellschaftskritik, Utopie und praktischen Ideen für ein neues Miteinander.

Neither Man Nor Beast explores the common link between cultural attitudes to women and animals in modern Western culture that have enabled the systematic exploitation of both. A vivid work that takes in environmental ethics, theological perspectives and feminist theory.

How we live is shaped by how we eat. You can see this in the vastly different approaches to growing, preparing and eating food around the world, such as the hunter-gatherer Hadza in Tanzania whose sustainable lifestyle is under threat in a crowded planet, or Western societies whose food is farmed or bred in vast intensive enterprises. And most of us now rely on a complex global food web of production, distribution, consumption and disposal, which is now contending with unprecedented challenges. The need for a better understanding of how we feed ourselves has never been more urgent.