Greek Philosophy

In How to Be, Adam Nicolson takes us on a glorious, immersive journey. Grounded in the belief that places give access to minds, however distant and strange, this book reintroduces us to our earliest thinkers through the lands they inhabited. To know the mental occupations of Homer or Heraclitus, one must visit their cities, sail their seas, and find landscapes not overwhelmed by the millennia that have passed but retain the atmosphere of that ancient life. Nicolson takes us to the dawn of investigative thought and a nexus of cross-cultural connection.

The second-century Greek physician Galen—the most famous doctor in antiquity after Hippocrates—is a central figure in Western medicine. A talented doctor, surgeon, writer, philosopher, teacher, pharmacologist, and inventor, Galen attended the court of Marcus Aurelius, living through outbreaks of plague that devastated the Roman Empire. He also served as a physician for professional gladiators. In writings that provided the foundation of Western medicine up to the nineteenth century, Galen created a unified account of health and disease.

The Enchiridion is among the latest books of Augustin.

The Tao Te Ching is a compilation of meditations, comprised of 81 short chapters. Each chapter reflects on the beauty and mystical nature of the Tao (the Way). Tao Te Ching (Book of the Way) is one of the oldest written works that provides advice and guidance on perspective, inner strength, divine power, and moral excellence, among other principles of the universe. This 21st-century edition has been translated so that ancient text (originally written in classical Chinese in the fourth century BC) can be understood and enjoyed by the average listener.

Born into slavery in the first century AD, Epictetus was a leading Greek philosopher of the Stoic school. He spent most of his life in Rome before the Emperor Domitian banished all philosophers from the city in AD 93; his exile then took him to Nicopolis in Greece. His teachings were recorded by his pupil Arrian, who published both the Encheiridion and Discourses.

For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by peace and freedom from fear, the absence of pain, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil; death is the end of both body and soul and should therefore not be feared; the gods neither reward nor punish humans; the universe is infinite and eternal; and events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms.

Dating from the third century AD, Artemidorus’ The Interpretation of Dreams (Oneirocritica) is the only dream-book from Graeco-Roman antiquity that has survived intact. It represents the most influential pre-Freudian treatment of dreams and the theory of their interpretation. In the ancient world it was widely believed that some dreams had allegorical significance that, if correctly interpreted, offered insight into the future. Artemidorus makes a clear distinction between predictive and non-predictive dreams, setting out the general principle of interpretation.

The book is one of the most influential ethical treatises of all time. Written in 350 BC, it identifies happiness as life's goal. How do we achieve this goal? Not through the satisfactions that come from pleasure, wealth, or fame. According to Aristotle, the true path to happiness lies in contemplation of philosophic truth. This is the only action through which humans can exercise their distinctively unique trait: the ability to reason.

Imagine you’ve eaten some hallucinogenic mushrooms—and things aren’t going well. You’re disoriented, panicking. But you can call someone. Who do you call? For Vishal, the answer was his philosopher friend William. He has a PhD in philosophy and can deliver one hell of a talk-down to someone in an existential crisis. He helped Vishal through his bad trip by telling him about Aristotle. That conversation inspired Ask Aristotle, a refreshingly un-schoolish introduction to one of history’s most legendary thinkers.

Isis y Osiris es una obra importante para comprender tanto la mitología egipcia como el pensamiento religioso y filosófico en la antigüedad. Plutarco proporciona una interpretación perspicaz de estos mitos y sus significados, lo que lo convierte en un recurso valioso para los estudiosos interesados en la religión y la cultura del mundo antiguo. A través de sus obras, Plutarco dejó un legado perdurable en la literatura y el pensamiento occidental.

¿Te sientes abrumado por la complejidad del mundo actual? ¿Buscas la paz interior, pero sientes que estás estancado en tu crecimiento personal? No estás solo. El caos de la vida moderna deja a muchas personas en busca de soluciones prácticas para encontrar calma y equilibrio. Descubre el poder del estoicismo, una filosofía antigua con herramientas prácticas para superar desafíos y hallar paz en un mundo caótico.

“Con una calma stoica”: così si parla di persone che sembrano non lasciarsi mai turbare da nulla – e forse vorreste lo stesso più spesso anche per voi stessi? Allora dovreste dare un’occhiata alla vera Stoa, e questo libro vi mostrerà come lo stoicismo possa essere facilmente applicato alla vita di tutti i giorni! Reagire agli eventi senza emozione e non lasciarsi toccare da situazioni gioiose, seccature o colpi del destino: questo stereotipo della Stoa sembra impossibile e poco desiderabile – ma non sarebbe utile avere un po’ più di controllo sul proprio mondo interiore?

A classic of stoic philosophy written by the emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius.

Socrates the lover. Socrates the warrior. An innovative and insightful exploration of the passionate early life of Socrates and the influences that led him to become the first and greatest of philosophers. Socrates - the man whose logic and questioning gave birth to the ideas of Western thought, and whose execution heralded the end of the Athenian Golden Age. Despite his preeminence among the great thinkers of the past, precious little of his story is known, and what is often begins and ends with his trial and death.

Who doesn't worry sometimes that smart phones, the Internet, and TV are robbing us of time and preventing us from having a life? How can we make the most of our time on earth? In the first century AD, the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger offered one of the most famous answers to that question in his essay "On the Shortness of Life"—a work that has more to teach us today than ever before.

Stoicism is an active philosophy. That means that it is not enough to know its doctrines; one must also live them and develop habits that expand on and complete their ideas in practice. Practice, therefore, is also the focus of this audiobook, as well as the development of the listener's inner and outer lives, that they may follow their own path and discover what it means to “live life in accordance with nature”. You will discover Stoicism and how to apply it.

En su antigua condición de tutor y consejero del emperador Nerón, el filósofo y hombre de Estado Séneca era tremendamente consciente de la brevedad de la vida, la suya propia se vio truncada cuando el emperador le ordenó que se suicidara, por su presunta implicación en una conspiración. Y Séneca demostró ser consecuente con lo que predicaba, y el compromiso a lo largo de toda su vida con el estoicismo le permitió conducirse con dignidad hasta el final.

Perhaps the most important work in philosophy after the Allegory of the Cave. Incomparable logic and findings about the things that matter in life with clear, succinct prose.

Stoicism is a philosophy that was started in Ancient Greece, but this 2,000-year-old worldview is enjoying a modern rebirth. All across the globe, people are coming to appreciate the timeless wisdom of Stoicism. You don't have to suffer. You may not be able to control the path your life will take, but Stoicism teaches that you can control the way you see life. By shifting your way of thinking you can eliminate unnecessary suffering, reshape your thought patterns, and achieve that sense of calm you've always wanted.

What’s the big idea? Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius believed that in a palace or a soldiers’ camp one can live a life free of envy and desire, neither pursuing pleasure nor fearing pain as one performs the duties life has assigned. I have worked to make his Meditations as understandable as possible. By the end of the book, the emperor’s philosophy will be crystal clear. So please travel back almost 2,000 years ago and join Marcus Aurelius as sits in his camp in the evening meditating on life.