Modern Philosophy

The good news is that the great thinkers from history have proposed the same strategies for happiness and fulfilment. The bad news is that these turn out to be the very things most discouraged by contemporary culture. This knotty dilemma is the subject of The Age of Absurdity - a wry and accessible investigation into how the desirable states of well-being and satisfaction are constantly undermined by modern life.

Ayn Rand's philosophical novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged made her the most controversial author of her age. Her works have drawn millions of fans and continue to sell at a breathtaking pace. Their impact on American culture runs from libertarian politics to the self-esteem movement in psychology to the rugged individualism of Silicon Valley and the Internet. Rand also launched a movement of intellectuals committed to her philosophy of Objectivism.

For centuries, electricity was seen as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion of knowledge and invention. The force that once seemed inconsequential was revealed to be responsible for everything from the structure of the atom to the functioning of our brains. In harnessing its power, we have created a world of wonders—complete with roller coasters and radar, computer networks and psychopharmaceuticals.

An elegant essay recalling the tradition of Chesterton, Lewis, Merton, and Muggeridge, George Roche's A World Without Heroes harshly rebukes secular humanism as the most dehumanizing force of our modern age. This ringing defense of Christianity, humorous, insightful, and uncompromising, takes careful and timeless aim at those ideas which have shriveled the will of the West and the faith of millions.

Haiku, three-line poetry, emerged in Japan in 16th century. Traditionally it is made up of 17 syllables divided into 5-7-5 parts and focuses on depicting nature. As the title implies, this compilation of 300 haiku does not follow this pattern nor does it only focus on nature but also philosophy, reflections on modern society, and includes a good dose of humour. Enjoy!

Der Einzelne im Spannungsfeld zwischen Individualität und Gesellschaft. Jeder Mensch ist zunächst einmal ein Einzelner. Das kann zur Belastung werden, aber auch den Ehrgeiz wecken, die eigene Individualität zu kultivieren. Zwischen diesen beiden Polen unserer Existenz hat es immer wieder eindrucksvolle Versuche gegeben, einzeln zu sein. Davon erzählt Rüdiger Safranski, beginnend bei Michel de Montaigne, über Rousseau, Diderot, Kierkegaard, Stirner und Thoreau bis zur existentialistischen Philosophie des 20. Jahrhunderts.

In Harry Potter and Philosophy, 17 philosophical experts unlock some of Hogwarts' secret panels and uncover surprising insights that are enlightening both for wizards and the most discerning muggles. You don't need a diploma in arithmacy, the friendship of a hippogriff, or even a Hogwarts Library card to discover amazing and arcane secrets in the labyrinthine world of Harry Potter.

One of the great mysteries of science is that its fundamental laws are written in the language of mathematics. Graham Farmelo's thrilling new book shows how modern maths has helped physicists to rethink gravity, space, and time. The Universe Speaks in Numbers takes us on an adventure from the Enlightenment to the present with a vibrant cast of characters, illuminating the most exciting and controversial developments in contemporary thought.

This book discusses the French philosopher Albert Camus' essay "The Rebel", and what it has to say about contemporary politics.

It's time to admit that we, the people of this planet, have lost faith in conventional tactics for maintaining order in the world. The time-tattered trio—violence, war, and self-serving politicians—have only made things worse. More importantly, we've lost faith in ourselves and the essential goodness of human nature.

A trăi înseamnă să poți supraviețui strivit între două imagini despre tine: a ta și a celorlalți. "Vieţile noastre, în singurătatea lor, pot fi asemănate, pentru a folosi o vorbă a lui Platon, cu o "panglică de măsurat fără semne pe ea". Am o viaţă. Iată, iau părţi din ea şi, povestindu-le, le pun în vitrină. Scoţându-le în lume, pun semne pe panglica vieţii mele. O fac cu gândul că, astfel "însemnată", viaţa mea ar putea fi folosită ca unitate de măsură. Veţi afla, astfel, doamnelor şi domnilor, dacă viaţa voastră e mai frumoasă sau mai urâtă decât a mea.

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.

This book is an exploration of original, critical, and creative thinking through the lens of my creative philosophy. It delves into the very essence of what it means to be human and provides a rational, abstract, and methodical examination of reality. Philosophy, the love of wisdom, is the guiding principle behind this journey of reflection, self-expression, and enlightenment. THINK is a bold and inspiring call to free our minds and embrace original thinking.

Alman filozof Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche'nin yasa koyucu bir peygamber gibi imgeleştirerek konuşturduğu Zerdüşt, insanı ve doğasını anlama adına okuru benzersiz bir yolculuğa çıkarıyor. Etrafındakilere, Nietzsche felsefesinin yapıtaşlarından biri olan “Üstinsan”ı ve “Üstinsan” olma yolunda atılacak adımları gösteriyor. Düşünsel bir sorgulama sürecine giren ve kendine insan olmanın doğası üzerine sorular soran her okur, Böyle Buyurdu Zerdüşt'te aradığı cevapları bulacak. “Yaratıcı, kendisinden uzaklaşmak istiyordu; o zaman dünyayı yarattı.”

Thinkers have been fascinated by paradox since long before Aristotle grappled with Zeno's. In this volume in The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Margaret Cuonzo explores paradoxes and the strategies used to solve them. She finds that paradoxes are more than mere puzzles but can prompt new ways of thinking. A paradox can be defined as a set of mutually inconsistent claims, each of which seems true. Paradoxes emerge not just in salons and ivory towers but in everyday life.

Four-and-a-half billion years ago, Planet Earth was formed from a vast spinning nebula of cosmic dust, the detritus left over from the birth of the sun. Within the next 100 years, human life on swathes of the Earth's surface will end in a haze of heat, drought, and, again, dust. Dust is a legacy of 20th-century progress and a profound threat to life in the 21st century. And yet dust is something we hardly ever consider--it is so small and so mundane as to be beyond the threshold of thought. Jay Owen's Dust sparks curiosity and corrects that oversight.

Americký psychiatr předkládá originální pohled na letitý problém lidského zla. Nedostatek vnitřní integrity a nejistota nás nutí podvádět druhé, žít ve lži a obelhávat sami sebe i druhé. Uzavíráme smlouvu s ďáblem, aby nás ochránil před sebou samými? ptá se americký psychiatr. A klade si otázku, kde tkví samotná podstata lidského zla. Na příkladech ze své psychiatrické praxe demonstruje průvodní jevy zla v každodenním životě.

El principio de la Edad Moderna europea fue un tiempo de confusión, agitación, sospecha, esperanza, desesperación e ideas nuevas. Fue un momento en el que se produjeron grandes cambios durante apenas unos pocos siglos formando un mundo completamente diferente al periodo anterior. Este libro incluye información detallada de la transición entre la Edad Media a la temprana Edad Moderna, donde Europa sufrió cambios importantes a lo largo de todo el continente.

أنت تنظر بعين الوهم فترى الناس يرتعشون أمام عصافة الحياة فتظنهم أحياء وهم أموات منذ الولادة ولكنهم لم يجدوا من يدفنهم فظلوا منطرحين فوق الثرى ورائحة النتن تنبعث منهم. يتناول جبران خليل جبران في كتاب العواصف الحياة والموت والحب، بمنطق فلسفي بديباجة أدبية؛ فهو يستنطق بفلسفته ألسنة الأزهار والأشجار ليُفصح من خلالها عمَّا في هذا الكون من أسرار ويدعو للخروج من حالة الخنوع والتخاذل الحضارية التي يعيشها الشرق من خلال تمجيده لقيم التمرد والتحلي بروح الفرادة بدل من الانسياق وراء التقاليد بشكل أعمى. جبران في العواصف سيجبرك على أن تتفكر كما لم تفعل من قبل ....

Ancient cultures have been looking up at the stars for thousands of years, wondering about their place in the universe. What were those glowing spots in the black cover of night? Just how far away was the moon? These and other questions hounded humanity through the millennia until, finally, relative economic stability allowed for a number of people to examine their world more closely. Slowly, knowledge and understanding accumulated generation by generation until the conditions were ideal enough for a revolution to occur in thinking, experimentation, worldview, and natural philosophy.