Natural Philosophy

The tradition of ancient philosophy is a long, rich, and varied one, in which a constant note is that of discussion and argument. This book introduces listeners to some ancient debates to engage with the ancient developments of some themes. Getting away from the presentation of ancient philosophy as a succession of Great Thinkers, the book gives listeners a sense of the freshness and liveliness of ancient philosophy and of its wide variety of themes and styles. 

Illuminates the far-reaching harms of believing that natural means “good,” from misinformation about health choices to justifications for sexism, racism, and flawed economic policies. People love what’s natural: it’s the best way to eat, the best way to parent, even the best way to...

A grimly entertaining anthology of ancient Greek and Roman writings about how to fearlessly prepare for the end of the world and other disasters A remarkable percentage of people believe we are living in the end times, according to pollsters. Between the climate crisis, nuclear weapons, AI, and...

Originalism Is Not Enough The Founding Fathers held certain truths to be "self-evident." Do we? In this profoundly important reassessment of constitutional interpretation, the eminent legal philosopher Hadley Arkes argues that "originalism" alone is an inadequate answer to the judicial activism...

Exploring the relationship between the natural world and spiritual understanding, this thought-provoking work examines the questions that have challenged humanity for generations: the existence of God, the meaning of life, and the connection between scientific discovery and religious belief...

No less a figure than Bertrand Russell remarked that Aristotle’s Physics was ‘extremely influential and dominated science until the time of Galileo’. This was despite the fact that this work is as much a collection of ‘lectures on nature’ rather than dealing with the science of physics...

From “perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West—and an author who ‘had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the unwritable’” (Los Angeles Times)—a guide that draws on Chinese Taoism to reexamine humanity’s place in the natural world and...

If God is the creator of all, might creation itself not provide us with ways of seeing God that enrich our understanding--that connect our desire for God with our life in creation? Natural theology has been a feature of Christian thinking for centuries, but it has also been misunderstood and...

Two contrasting reflections by Aristotle which cover very particular ground. In 'On the Soul', Aristotle presents his view of the 'life essence' which, he argues, is possessed by living things whether plants, animals or humans. Not a 'soul' in the generally accepted Western use of the term, this...

In The Secrets of Alchemy, Lawrence M. Principe, one of the world's leading authorities on the subject, brings alchemy out of the shadows and restores it to its important place in human history and culture. By surveying what alchemy was and how it began, developed, and overlapped with a range of ideas and pursuits, Principe illuminates the practice. He vividly depicts the place of alchemy during its heyday in early modern Europe, and then explores how alchemy has fit into wider views of the cosmos and humanity.

The Science of Rights (originally in German: Grundlage des Naturrechts nach Principien der Wissenschaftslehre) by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, was originally written in 1796 and laterly translated by Adolph Ernst Kroeger into English...

El célebre naturalista francés Buffon señaló en su día que «el discurso de la naturaleza no es más que la naturaleza transformada en discurso». María Negroni se propone rastrear las representaciones de la naturaleza—o sumergirse en la naturaleza escrita—en las que la unión de lo visible con lo enunciable produce un conjunto dotado de sentido.

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779) by the Scottish philosopher David Hume examines whether one can rationally come to any conclusions about God's nature. Three philosophers, Demea, Philo, and Cleanthes, debate this question in a series of dialogues. While all three agree that a god exists, they hold different views on God's nature.

This program is read by the author. In the tradition of Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene, Nichola Raihani's The Social Instinct is a profound and engaging look at the hidden relationships underpinning human evolution, and why cooperation is key to our future survival. "Enriching"...

How do we discern good and evil, just and unjust, virtue and vice? What role does reason play in morality? With roots in Greco-Roman antiquity, natural law—the idea that human nature is guided by certain universal principles—has been a cornerstone of Western moral and political thought for...

Entertaining and insightful, David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and The Natural History of Religion are considered to be among the most important philosophical works on the topic of religion. Each investigates the formation and consequences of religious belief.

The earth is not a dead, mute landscape but an eloquent, living being. Sometimes it just takes a spade, a packet of seeds, and a pair of sturdy boots to realize it. The philosopher Byung-Chul Han spent three springs, summers, autumns, and winters in his secret garden in Berlin, devoting himself...