Great Philosophers

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.

David Hume (1711-1776) is perhaps best known for his ideas about cause and effect and his criticisms of religion, but he is rarely thought of as a philosopher with practical wisdom to offer. Yet Hume's philosophy is grounded in an honest assessment of nature - human nature in particular. The Great Guide is an engaging and eye-opening account of how Hume's thought should serve as the basis for a complete approach to life. Julian Baggini masterfully interweaves biography with intellectual history and philosophy to give us a complete vision of Hume's guide to life.

Socrates is an enigmatic figure, known chiefly through the accounts of others like Plato and Aristophanes. He was one of the most brilliant intellects ever, and devised what would later be called the Socratic method, which is a way of leading one's interlocutor to see his errors and contradictions through clever questioning before leading him to the truth. In ancient Athens, Socrates was widely known as a "gadfly", that is, an annoying insect buzzing at people's ears, because he kept questioning prejudices and contradictions; he was eventually tried and executed for "corrupting the minds of the youth".

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

The philosophy of Confucius was so powerful that it dominated intellectual life in ancient China for centuries. It even came to be considered a religion, and there are still temples where Confucius is worshipped as the God of Culture. His writings were transmitted as aphorisms, each one of them one concentrated teaching about philosophy, ethics, or society.

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.

Sir Francis Bacon had a tremendous impact on science and philosophy during the scientific revolution in XVIIth-century England. He was the first to argue for a skeptical and methodical approach in science, based on careful observation of events in nature, and founded on induction. His work, firmly grounded in empiricism to prevent projection of one's preferred hypothesis, made him the father of scientific method. This was a groundbreaking turn of events at the time, and is still the basis of the scientific framework today.

Wisdom is a much-needed quality these days. We have selected for you 100 of the wisest sayings ever pronounced. They are taken from various cultural backgrounds to demonstrate that wisdom transcends frontiers. Let yourself be led with them into a journey around the world, across cultures and continents: you will find here deep quotes from the Talmud, efficient ones from Ancient Greek masters like Plato or Sophocles, poetic wise sayings by Indian sages, and numerous examples of Persian and Ancient Chinese Wisdom.

"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.

Schopenhauer: here's when great philosophy can be somber, pessimistic, even brutal, and still resonate with a sarcastic laugh. He was among the first to contend that the universe is essentially not a rational place; in his most famous work, "The World as Will and Representation", he argues that the individuals of a species do not have as much free will as is ordinarily thought, as the only Will that matters is that of the species, which is to reproduce and carry on. Schopenhauer is very well-known for his radical stance on women, aesthetics, and rhetoric; he is the author of "The Art of Being Right", a playful manual designed to utterly crush one's opponent in verbal battle, and of the "Metaphysics of the Love of the Sexes", a hilarious application of the theories developed in the "World as Will and Representation".

Sun Tzu was a revered Chinese general, strategist, and philosopher. He is credited with one of the most influent military treatises ever written, the "Art of War". Countless leaders have drawn inspiration from this work, from Mao Zedong to General Douglas MacArthur. It is so powerful and straightforward that it is still influencing many domains other than military thinking, like business tactics, legal strategy, entrepreneurship, and beyond.

Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." Plato is indeed considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, along with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle. But his writings are often light, fresh and funny; it was Plato who invented the dialogue in philosophy, which makes a point very easy to follow and the occasion of various scenic arrangements.