A collection of Valéry’s shorter prose writingsThis book brings together smaller volumes and booklets in which Paul Valéry published selections of his shorter prose writings: aphorisms, moral reflections, poetic observations, flashes of wit or fancy, even jokes—a variety of remarks and impressions, many of them first recorded in his Notebooks.The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, the first collected edition of the writer in English, features new tran...

In 1932, Albert Einstein was invited by the League of Nations to address a letter on any subject to any individual. He chose to correspond with Sigmund Freud on avoiding war. Einstein maintained the importance of establishing an independent judiciary body to mediate conflicts. Freud agreed with this idea but also felt that "there is no likelihood of our being able to suppress humanity's aggressive tendencies." To this day, the correspondence on war by two of the greatest thinkers of all ti...

From the groundbreaking author of The Second Sex comes a radical argument for ethical responsibility and freedom.In this classic introduction to existentialist thought, French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir's The Ethics of Ambiguity simultaneously pays homage to and grapples with her French contemporaries, philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, by arguing that the freedoms in existentialism car...

This brilliant and concise account of the lives and ideas of the world's great philosophers—Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire, Kant, Schopenhauer, Spencer, Nietzsche, Bergson, Croce, Russell, Santayana, James, and Dewey—is "a delight" (The New York Times) and remains one of the most important books of our time.Will Durant chronicles the ideas of the great thinkers, the economic and intellectual environments which influenced them, and the personal ...

Why, despite all the technological and social advances, does humanity seem increasingly anxious and dissatisfied? In one of his most influential and prophetic works, Sigmund Freud delves into the inevitable conflict between our primal instincts and the rules that underpin life in society. Written in 1929, this essay transcends psychoanalysis to become a sharp lens on culture, religion, and the impossible pursuit of complete happiness. Freud argues that civilization demands a high price: th...

Originally published in 1926, ‘The Story of Philosophy’ profiles several prominent Western philosophers and their ideas, written by Will Durant, an American writer, historian, philosopher, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.In this enlightening and eminently readable book, Will Durant accounts the lives, ideas and views of various critical philosophical thinkers throughout history. Starting with Socrates and Plato and concluding with Friedrich Nietzsche, with twelve other distinguished ph...

William James was a leading American philosopher and psychologist in the 19th century. James was the first person to offer a psychology course in the United States and he is often referred to as the Father of American psychology. James's brother, Henry, was also a famous author.James was one of the major figures associated with pragmatism and his book on it is considered one of the most influential on the subject.

Perpetual peace refers to a state of affairs where peace is permanently established over a certain area (ideally, the whole world - see world peace).Many would-be world conquerors have promised that their rule would enforce perpetual peace. No empire has ever extended its authority over the entire world, and thus nothing can be said about the ability of a universal empire to ensure world peace, but several large empires have maintained relative peace in their spheres of influence over exte...

The Liberal Imagination is one of the most admired and influential works of criticism of the last century, a work that is not only a masterpiece of literary criticism but an important statement about politics and society. Published in 1950, one of the chillier moments of the Cold War, Trilling’s essays examine the promise —and limits—of liberalism, challenging the complacency of a naïve liberal belief in rationality, progress, and the panaceas of economics and other social science...

“A cerebrally enjoyable survey, written with great clarity and touches of wit… The non-western section throws up some fascinating revelations.” —Sunday TimesWill Durant’s 'The Story of Philosophy', first published in 1926, is an engaging and accessible introduction to the lives and ideas of history’s greatest philosophers. Covering thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, Voltaire, Kant, and Nietzsche, Durant explores how their personal experiences shaped their philosophical contributio...

Essential essays on language and speech from two influential philosophers of the 18th century—"These texts are fundamental for modern critical theory" (W. J. T. Mitchell, University of Chicago).In the latter half of the eighteenth century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Gottfried Herder each composed an essay on a fundamental question about human language. Rousseau's "Essay on the Origin of Languages" is concerned with the development of languages in their divers...