Great Philosophers

Denis Diderot is often associated with the decades-long battle to bring the world's first comprehensive Encyclopedie into existence. But his most daring writing took place in the shadows. Thrown into prison for his atheism in 1749, Diderot decided to reserve his best books for posterity - for us, in fact. In the astonishing cache of unpublished writings left behind after his death, Diderot challenged virtually all of his century's accepted truths, from the sanctity of monarchy, to the racial justification of the slave trade, to the norms of human sexuality.

In The Philosophy Cure: Lessons on Living from the Great Philosophers, scholar and expert on Cartesian philosophy, Laurence Devillairs has stripped away the convoluted language, translating the core ideas and wisdom of some of the most prominent philosophers into simple concepts for modern listeners. She skillfully reveals that far from being impractical or distantly academic, philosophy is, at its heart, a deeply useful discipline ultimately concerned with what it means to live a good and fulfilling life.

Søren Kierkegaard, a name meaning "church's garden", is a Christian philosopher whose work had a considerable influence on western philosophy and theology. His thoughts focused primarly on what it means to become a subject of one's existence, what feelings arise when faced with life choices, and the relation with God through faith. He is credited with numerous reflections on the three stages of life; he also questioned existential despair, absurdity and anxiety.

Gautama Buddha is also known as Siddharta Gautama, or simply the Buddha, which means "Awakened" or "Enlightened". Born a prince, he chose a path of ascetism only to realize that it was as profound an illusion as self-indulgence. He achieved Enlightenment after 49 days of meditation; his awakening led him to discover the cause of suffering and the ways to eliminate it. These discoveries founded Buddhism, and his "Four Noble Truths" still form the heart of its teachings.

Henry David Thoreau is a beloved American author, poet and philosopher. He was a lifelong abolitionist, advocate of civil disobedience againts unjust or corrupted goverments, and he defended the idea of abandoning illusory matters in favor of simple living, in order to discover life's authentic essential needs. He is best known for "Walden, or Life in the woods", the book he wrote during his two-year experiment in minimalist living: having built himself a cabin in the woods, he stayed there to study, write, and enjoy his newfound communion with nature. His political works and theory of civil disobedience have influenced the thoughts and actions of many prominent figures, such as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis, a clinical method of treatment through dialogue. Modern thought owes him his theoretical description of the structure and functioning of the unconscious, through the discovery of the essential role of transference in the analytic process, the redefinition of sexuality including its infantile forms, the analysis of dreams, symptom formation and the mechanisms of repression. His ideas are still controversed, but his work has suffused the whole of Western thought. The idea of an ego who is not master in its own house shattered intellectual fundations, and its legacy are everywhere in our everyday life.

From Descartes' famous line "I think, therefore I am" to Kant's fascinating discussions of morality, the thinkers of the Enlightenment have helped to shape the modern world. Ranging across Enlightenment thinking from Berkeley to Rousseau, Enlightenment Philosophy in a Nutshell explains important ideas such as Locke's ideas of primary and secondary qualities, Kant's moral rationalism, and Hume's inductive reasoning.

Henry David Thoreau is a beloved American author, poet and philosopher. He was a lifelong abolitionist, advocate of civil disobedience againts unjust or corrupted goverments, and he defended the idea of abandoning illusory matters in favor of simple living, in order to discover life's authentic essential needs. He is best known for Walden, or Life in the woods, the book he wrote during his two-year experiment in minimalist living: having built himself a cabin in the woods, he stayed there to study, write, and enjoy his newfound communion with nature.

Nietzsche is a major figure in Western philosophy. His work is radical, sometimes violent, often ironic; it fascinates anyone bold enough to delve into it, exerted a profound influence on modern intellectual history, and covers a wide range of subjects. Nietzsche's writings border on the poetic; his aphorisms are particularly well-known for conveying all the radicality of his thinking in a intense but light, sometimes amusing manner.

Essa é uma coletânea de algumas das mais importantes ideias da cultura oriental e ocidental, encontradas na obra dos filósofos, teóricos políticos, sociólogos, artistas e romancistas que acreditamos ter mais a nos oferecer nos dias de hoje.

"The Great Lives of Antiquity" presents 23 lives of historical figures not as distant icons, but as vibrant personalities who faced challenges, made decisions, and forged destinies. You will meet Aesop, whose fables have transcended time; Hypatia, who enlightened Alexandria; and Cleopatra, whose intelligence and political savvy speak to the complexities of power in history.

Known as the ‘Age of Enlightenment,’ the 1700s was a time that provoked significant leaps in philosophical thought. Most importantly, the thinkers of the time espoused the virtues of happiness, the evidence provided by the senses, and the distance between organised religion and the state. ‘500 Quotations from the Great Philosophers of the 18th Century’ offers a fascinating insight into the philosophical revolution that was taking place at the time. A superb book for dipping in and out of, this makes a great gift for anyone with an interest in philosophy.

Known as the High Renaissance period, the philosophy of the 1500s leaned towards establishing the relationship between the human body and the human soul. Logic was waning as a philosophical ideal and, instead, the focus fell on human nature. ‘500 Quotations from the Great Philosophers of the 16th Century’ cherry-picks some of the most profound and insightful observations from some of the finest minds of that era. A superb gift for history buffs and philosophy fans alike.

While we tend to think of the great thinkers as hailing from Ancient Greece, the 19th century has had more than its fair share of sharp minds. "400 Quotations from the Great Philosophers of the 19th Century" is a collection of reflections, insights, and observations from some of the best brains of that era. A superb book for dipping in and out of, this makes a great gift for anyone with an interest in history or philosophy. Søren Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855) was born in Copenhagen.

Born in Paris, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) was largely raised by his mother and his maternal grandparents after his father died when he was two. He attended the renowned École Normale Supérieure, where he studied psychology, philosophy, ethics, sociology, and physics. In 1929, he met Simone de Beauvoir, who went on to become a celebrated feminist writer and philosopher, with whom he had a lifelong intellectual and romantic relationship.

Epictetus was born a slave, and became one of the most influent Stoic philosophers. Stoicism is the attitude allowing one to free oneself from the unnecessary suffering that arises from anxiety about events that are beyond our control; therefore, it can be of tremendous importance in one's life. According to Epictetus, our own actions and attitudes are the only thing in our control; whatever else happens, we should examine calmly and dispassionately, because no amount of suffering will change the impact of external events.

Immanuel Kant is one of the most important figures of German philosophy. He is said to have affected a Copernican revolution in philosophy, akin to Copernicus' reversal of the age-old belief that the sun revolved around the earth, through his ground-breaking work on the structure of experience. He argued that human experience couldn't be not affected by the features of our minds; the consequence is that we can only experience a phenomenal world, as conveyed by our senses, and never the reality itself, which nobody has ever seen. He published important treatises on ethics, religion, law, aesthetics, and history.

"The Prince" is the most famous of Machiavelli's works; it gives very clear, precise and realistic instructions on how to gain and maintain power, fortune, and glory, sometimes at the expense of others. Written in 1513, it is one of the most feared and hated political treatises, taken to be the first work in which the effect the leader desires to achieve is taken as more important than any abstract ideal or ethical value that might prevent him from taking immoral action.

Montaigne might well be one of the most sympathetic writers ever known. He is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre; his style merges casual anecdotes and autobiography with deep intellectual insights. His "Essays" are among the most influential ever written; one can recognize Montaigne's direct influence on great literary figures all over the world, from René Descartes to Nietzsche, Isaac Asimov, and possibly William Shakespeare.

Baruch Spinoza was one of the most important and controversial thinkers of the 17th century. He rejected both the mind-body dualism of Descartes and traditional religious views, which got him violently attacked for atheism while he was actually seeking to redefine God as the whole of the laws of Nature. His metaphysics are a brilliant attempt to reconcile human freedom with a belief in scientific explanation, and his Theological-Political Treatise, the first argument for democracy by a major philosopher, contributed as much as the Declaration of Independence or Thomas Paine's Common Sense to modern liberal, secular, and democratic thinking.