Hegel (1770-1831) is one of the major philosophers of the nineteenth century. Many of the major philosophical movements of the twentieth century - from existentialism to analytic philosophy - grew out of reactions against Hegel. He is also one of the hardest philosophers to understand and his complex ideas, though rewarding, are often misunderstood.In this magisterial and lucid introduction, Frederick Beiser covers every major aspect of Hegel's thought. He places Hegel in the histo...

Plato’s most famous work and one of the most important books ever written on the subject of philosophy and political theory, “The Republic” is a fictional dialogue between Socrates and other various Athenians and foreigners which examines the meaning of justice. It is primarily from the writings of Plato that Socrates’s ideas are passed down to us. Written around 380 BC, the work is an important contribution to the age old question of how to best structure a society in a just way. The infl...

First published posthumously in 1677, "The Ethics" (AKA Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order) is a philosophical treatise written in Latin by Benedict de Spinoza (Baruch Spinoza).."The Ethics" is an ambitious and multifaceted work. Ambitious in its subject matter because Spinoza criticizes all traditional philosophical conceptions of God, man and the universe. Ambitious also because Spinoza's method is to demonstrate the truth about God, about nature, man, religion an...

"His book...supplant[s] all others, even the immensely successful History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell."—A. C. GraylingAlready a classic, this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages. This landmark study of Western thought takes a fresh look at the writings of the great thinkers of classic philosophy and questions many pieces of conventional wisdom. The book invites compari...

Euthyphro is one of Plato's early dialogues. Taking place during the weeks leading up to Socrates' trial, the dialogue features Socrates and Euthyphro, attempting to define piety or holiness.

The First Alcibiades or Alcibiades I (Greek: Ἀλκιβιάδης αʹ) is a dialogue featuring Alcibiades in conversation with Socrates. It is ascribed to Plato, although scholars are divided on the question of its authenticity. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

Epictetus was a Greek philosopher who lived during the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D (55 135). Interestingly, Epictetus did not actually write anything; all texts by Epictetus were written by his student Arrian. Included in this collection are The Discourses, The Enchiridion , and fragments attributed to Epictetus. A table of contents is included for easier navigation.

Ficino's commentary on Plato?s Timaeus offers the English reader, for the first time, an opportunity to share the insights of this highly influential Renaissance philosopher into one of Plato's most important and controversial works. Here are discussed the perennial questions which affect us all: What is the nature of the universe? How did it begin? Does it have a cause outside itself? What is our place in it? What is the nature of mind, soul, matter and time? The central portion of the wo...

With the publication of Arthur FWith the publication of Arthur Farndell’s Gardens of Philosophy (Shepheard Walwyn 2006), there remained only four of Ficino’s commentaries on Plato’s dialogues which had not yet been translated into English. With the publication of this volume there remain only three. Farndell’s translation of the commentaries on the Republic and the Laws will comprise the third volume under the title When Philosophers Rule (9780856832574 – due 2009) and the fourth, All Thin...

Philosophy Bites Back is the second book to come out of the hugely successful podcast Philosophy Bites. It presents a selection of lively interviews with leading philosophers of our time, who discuss the ideas and works of some of the most important thinkers in history. From the ancient classics of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, to the groundbreaking modern thought of Wittgenstein, Rawls, and Derrida, this volume spans over two and a half millennia of western philosophy and illum...

Peter Adamson offers an accessible, humorous tour through a period of eight hundred years when some of the most influential of all schools of thought were formed: from the third century BC to the sixth century AD. He introduces us to Cynics and Skeptics, Epicureans and Stoics, emperors and slaves, and traces the development of Christian and Jewish philosophy and of ancient science. Chapters are devoted to such major figures as Epicurus, Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, Plotinus, and Augustine. B...

‘Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils, – no, nor the human race, as I believe, – and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day.’ Republic, Book V, 473D With these words Plato expre...