Philosophy

Republic by Plato, C.D.C Reeve, G. M. A. Grube

Republic is Plato's timeless classic of philosophy, politics, and ethics. Written in the 4th Century BC, it is considered one of the most influential works of Western philosophy. The book examines the nature of justice and the ideal state and offers a comprehensive view of the human condition.

Dialogues of Plato by Plato

Plato was a renowned philosopher, mathematician, and writer of Ancient Greece. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western philosophy, and his works have been studied for over two millennia. Plato's writings explored topics such as justice, beauty, and virtue, and he is credited with founding the Academy of Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is best known for his dialogues, which featured characters such as Socrates and discussed subjects such as metaphysics and ethics.

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle sets out to examine the nature of happiness. He argues that happiness consists in ‘activity of the soul in accordance with virtue’, for example with moral virtues, such as courage, generosity and justice, and intellectual virtues, such as knowledge, wisdom, and insight. The Ethics also discusses the nature of practical reasoning, the value and the objects of pleasure, the different forms of friendship, and the relationship between individual virtue, society, and the State. Aristotle’s work has had a profound and lasting influence on all subsequent Western thought about ethical matters.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a foundational work of Western literature and is widely considered to be Friedrich Nietzsche’s masterpiece. It includes the German philosopher’s famous discussion of the phrase ‘God is dead’ as well as his concept of the Superman. Nietzsche delineates his Will to Power theory and devotes pages to critiquing Christian thinking, in particular Christianity’s definition of good and evil.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

The Tao Te Ching is a series of meditations on the mysterious nature of the Tao--the Way, the Light, the very Source of all existence. According to Lao Tzu, the Tao is found where we would least expect it--not in the strong but in the weak; not in speech but in silence; not in doing but in "not-doing."

Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Written during the turmoil of the English Civil War, Leviathan is an ambitious and highly original work of political philosophy. Claiming that man's essential nature is competitive and selfish, Hobbes formulates the case for a powerful sovereign—or "Leviathan"—to enforce peace and the law, substituting security for the anarchic freedom he believed human beings would otherwise experience.

The Last Days of Socrates by Plato, Harold Tarrant

Socrates was sentenced to death for “corrupting” the minds of Greek citizens. In four dialogues, Plato provides the classic account of the trial and death of Socrates. Euthyphro finds Socrates outside the courthouse, debating the nature of piety, while the Apology is his robust rebuttal of the charges of impiety and a defense of the philosopher's life. In the Crito, while awaiting execution in prison, Socrates counters the arguments of friends urging him to escape. Finally, in the Phaedo, he is shown calmly confident in the face of death, skilfully arguing the case for the immortality of the soul.

Fragments by Heraclitus, Brooks Haxton

In the sixth century b.c.-twenty-five hundred years before Einstein--Heraclitus of Ephesus declared that energy is the essence of matter, that everything becomes energy in flux, in relativity. The central idea of Heraclitus' philosophy is the unity of opposites and the concept of change. He also saw harmony and justice in strife. He viewed the world as constantly in flux, always "becoming" but never "being". He expressed this in sayings like panta rhei ("Everything flows") and "No man ever steps in the same river twice."

The First & Second Treatises of Government by John Locke

Locke's Two Treatises were first published anonymously in 1689. His First Treatise refutes Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarcha. Locke believes that no government can be justified by an appeal to the divine right of kings. The Second Treatise outlines a theory of civil society in which Locke describes the state of nature. He argues that all men are created equally in the state of nature by God.

Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

Kant presents a profound and challenging investigation into the nature of human reason, its knowledge, and its illusions. Reason, Kant argues, is the seat of certain concepts that precede experience and make it possible, but we are not therefore entitled to draw conclusions about the natural world from these concepts. The Critique brings together the two opposing schools of philosophy: rationalism, which grounds all our knowledge in reason, and empiricism, which traces all our knowledge to experience. Kant's transcendental idealism indicates a third way that goes far beyond these alternatives.

Ethics by Benedict de Spinoza

An elegant, fully cohesive cosmology derived from first principles, providing a coherent picture of reality, and a guide to the meaning of an ethical life. Following a logical step-by-step format, it defines in turn the nature of God, the mind, the emotions, human bondage to the emotions, and the power of understanding - moving from a consideration of the eternal, to speculate upon humanity's place in the natural order, the nature of freedom and the path to attainable happiness.

Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings by Rene Descartes

Descartes was prepared to go to any lengths in his search for certainty—even to deny those things that seemed most self-evident. In his Meditations of 1641, and in the Objections and Replies that were included with the original publication, he set out to dismantle and then reconstruct the idea of the individual self and its existence. In doing so, Descartes developed a language of subjectivity that has lasted to this day, and he also took his first steps towards the view that would eventually be expressed in the epigram Cogito, ergo sum ("I think, therefore I am"), one of modern philosophy's most famous—and most fiercely contested—claims.

Candide by Voltaire

Candide is Voltaire's 1759 satirical masterpiece, wreaking havoc on the excesses of 18th century French Enlightenment culture. The story begins with our protagonist Candide, a young man living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. This idyllic life is abruptly interrupted, however, by a series of painfully disillusioning events that set him off on a wide-ranging journey.

The Complete Confucius by Confucius

Confucius lived from 551–479 BC. The principles he espoused largely reflected the values and traditions in China at the time. Rather than create a formal theory, Confucius desired that his disciples study, learning and mastering the classic older texts, and affirmed that the superior person seeks and loves learning for the sake of learning, and righteousness for the sake of righteousness.

Confessions by Saint Augustine

The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, Saint Augustine spent his early years torn between conflicting faiths and world views. His Confessions, written when he was in his forties, recount how, slowly and painfully, he came to turn away from his youthful ideas and licentious lifestyle, to become instead a staunch advocate of Christianity and one of its most influential thinkers. A remarkably honest and revealing spiritual autobiography, the Confessions also addresses fundamental issues of Christian doctrine, and many of the prayers and meditations it includes are still an integral part of the practice of Christianity today.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

During his campaigns against the Sarmatians and Germans, Marcus penned down his emotions, thoughts, and reflections in a series of twelve books called Meditations. Originally written in Greek, Meditations records the various stages of his life and gives an insight into his inner life, Stoic ideas, and philosophy.

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature. This is the only authorized paperback edition in the US.
In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum.

Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Volume 1 by Karl Marx

Capital, one of Marx's major and most influential works, was the product of thirty years close study of the capitalist mode of production in England, the most advanced industrial society of his day. This new translation of Volume One, the only volume to be completed and edited by Marx himself, avoids some of the mistakes that have marred earlier versions and seeks to do justice to the literary qualities of the work. The introduction is by Ernest Mandel, author of Late Capitalism, one of the only comprehensive attempts to develop the theoretical legacy of Capital.