Philosopher Biography

In the spring of 1940, the aspiring but unknown writer Albert Camus and budding scientist Jacques Monod were quietly pursuing ordinary, separate lives in Paris. After the German invasion and occupation of France, each joined the Resistance to help liberate the country from the Nazis and ascended to prominent, dangerous roles. After the war and through twists of circumstance, they became friends, and through their passionate determination and rare talent they emerged as leading voices of modern literature and biology, each receiving the Nobel Prize in their respective fields.

"The journey began on a gurney", writes Michael Perry, describing the debilitating kidney stone that led him to discover the essays of Michel de Montaigne. Reading the philosopher in a manner he equates to chickens pecking at scraps - including those eye-blinking moments when the bird gobbles something too big to swallow - Perry attempts to learn what he can (good and bad) about himself as compared to a long-dead French nobleman who began speaking Latin at the age of two.

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, a steady stream of young German poets and thinkers coursed to the town of Jena to make history. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars had dealt a one-two punch to the dynastic system. Confidence in traditional social, political, and religious norms had been replaced by a profound uncertainty that was as terrifying for some as it was exhilarating for others. Nowhere was the excitement more palpable than among the extraordinary group of poets, philosophers, translators, and socialites who gathered in this Thuringian village.

La historia de cómo cuatro genios revolucionaron la filosofía y cambiaron nuestra forma de entender el mundo.

Con este libro, Nietzsche se adentra en el estilo aforístico que llegaría a dominar sus escritos, discutiendo una variedad de conceptos en párrafos cortos. En sus páginas se encuentra la apertura a conceptos cruciales para la filosofía posterior de Nietzsche, como la voluntad de poder y la necesidad de trascender la moral cristiana convencional. El resultado es una de las piedras angulares de la obra de su vida.

"The others form the human being, I depict him; and here I present an individual who is quite poorly formed and whom I would certainly make largely differently if I had to reshape him. But now that's the way he is." This phrase from the famous essays of Michel de Montaigne outlines the character of the author and his work. Montaigne wrote his essays not from a position of certainty but from an awareness of his inadequacy. He thus reveals a level of critical self-reflection that, before his time, was rarely put on paper.

En Foucault en 90 minutos, Paul Strathern ha entretejido, en un relato a la vez estimulante e informativo, la vida y las ideas de Michel Foucault. El libro incluye además una selección de escritos de Foucault, una breve lista de lecturas sugeridas para aquellos que deseen profundizar en su pensamiento, y una cronología que sitúa a Foucault en su época y en el marco más amplio de la filosofía.

In a series of poignant vignettes, a preeminent historian makes a compelling case for Machiavelli as an unjustly maligned figure with valuable political insights that resonate as strongly today as they did in his time.

In this biography of Maimonides, the medieval philosopher, physician, and religious thinker, Alberto Manguel examines the question of his universal appeal. Moses ben Maimon, or Maimonides (1138–1204), was born in Córdoba, Spain. The gifted son of a judge and mathematician, Maimonides fled Córdoba with his family when he was thirteen due to Almohad persecution of all non-Islamic faiths. Forced into a long exile, the family spent a decade in Spain before settling in Morocco. From there, Maimonides traveled to Palestine and Egypt, where he died at Saladin’s court.

Passionate, freethinking existentialist philosopher-writers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre are one of the world's legendary couples. Their committed but notoriously open union generated no end of controversy in their day. Biographer Hazel Rowley offers the first dual portrait of these two colossal figures and their intense, often embattled relationship. Through original interviews and access to new primary sources, Tête-à-Tête magnificently details the passion, daring, humor, and contradictions of a remarkably unorthodox relationship.

A dazzlingly original account of the life and thought of Adam Smith, the greatest economist of all time. In Adam Smith, political philosopher Jesse Norman dispels the myths and caricatures, and provides a far more complex portrait of the man. Offering a highly engaging account of Smith's life and times, Norman explores his work as a whole and traces his influence over two centuries to the present day. Finally, he shows how a proper understanding of Smith can help us address the problems of modern capitalism.

"Loved it! Highly entertaining." (See below) Can YOU handle the TRUTH of this SHOCKING CULT CLASSIC? WARNING: THIS GROUND-BREAKING & ORIGINAL TRUE STORY MAY CHANGE YOUR LIFE... A dark, painful, vulgar, true to life story of simply being human. It's written with flair, honesty and without doubt love, and is the kind of book that could readily be misunderstood. The degree to which you reject the storyteller and his tale will tellingly reveal how you judge yourself. Paul Pisces writes with charm, wit and style about the parts of me I'd rather disown. By his owning those parts in him, I too am ...

Viktor E. Frankl, cuya primera crisis existencial le sobreviene a una edad tan temprana como la que tenía Mozart cuando compuso su primer minué, fue incapaz de no dejar su impronta en el siglo XX: el siglo del replanteamiento de todos los valores, de la vertiginosa aceleración de todos los procesos y de la decadencia de las costumbres sometidas a una constante manipulación cotidiana.

Ecce Homo, subtitled How One Becomes What One Is, is the final original book written by Friedrich Nietzsche before he succumbed to the insanity which lasted until his death in 1900. In this extraordinary autobiography, Nietzsche chronicles his life and development as a philosopher, his tastes as an individual, and his vision for humanity.

يُعد نيتشة من أهم فلاسفة أوروبا في العصر الحديث؛ حيث ظلت أفكاره تُغذي التيارات السياسية والفكرية والاقتصادية والأخلاقية حتى الآن، كما امتد تأثيره إلى عدد من مفكري الشرق أمثال؛ "فرح أنطون"، و"مرقص فرج"، و"سلامة موسى" الذين تبنوا رؤيته الفلسفية.

Yogananda was born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, to a devout family. According to his younger brother, Sananda, from his earliest years young Mukunda's awareness and experience of the spiritual was far beyond the ordinary. In his youth he sought out many of India's Hindu sages and saints, hoping to find an illuminated teacher to guide him in his spiritual quest. In 1910 Yogananda's seeking after various saints mostly ended when, at the age of 17, he met his guru, Swami Yukteswar Giri. He describes his first meeting with Yukteswar as a rekindling of a relationship that had lasted for many lifetimes.

Preguntas aparentemente sencillas, como ¿qué te pasa?, ¿cómo te llamas? o ¿de dónde vienes?, nos van acercando poco a poco al centro más profundo de nuestra alma, allí donde se descubre la herida originada por las cuatro infinitudes esenciales: vida, muerte, tú y mundo. Jamás seremos demasiado humanos: si algún horizonte tiene sentido es el de llegar a ser más humanos.

A new biography of Karl Marx, tracing the life of this titanic figure and the legacy of his work. Karl Marx remains the most influential and controversial political thinker in history. He died quietly in 1883 and a mere 11 mourners attended his funeral, but a year later he was being hailed as "the Prophet himself" whose name and writings would "endure through the ages." He has been viewed as a philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, even a literary craftsman. But who was Marx? What informed his critiques of modern society?

For centuries, Augustine's writings have moved and fascinated readers. With the keen eye of a writer whose own intellectual analysis won him a Pulitzer Prize, Gary Wills examines this famed fourth-century bishop and seminal thinker whose grounding in classical philosophy informed his interpretation of Christian doctrine. Saint Augustine explores Augustine's thought as well as the everyday man who set pen to parchment. It challenges many misconceptions.

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.