Modern Politics

In seinem philosophischen Hauptwerk Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung verwirft Arthur Schopenhauer jede Form von Glücklehre und entwickelt aus einem einzigen genialen Gedanken heraus eine denkbar pessimistische Sicht auf das Dasein als solches und eine Lehre von der Verneinung des Willens zum Leben. Kaum an einer anderen Stelle in seinem Werk spricht er dies so klar und so ausführlich aus wie in den hier zu hörenden Ergänzungen zum vierten Buch des 1. Bandes seines Hauptwerks.

From the acclaimed Modern Library Chronicles comes an exploration of a promising theory that when put to practice wreaked havoc on the world. An expert on communism, Richard Pipes follows the history of the Soviet Union from the 1917 revolution to the Cold War, and finally, to its deterioration and collapse.

"The meaning of life is the most urgent of questions", said the existentialist thinker Albert Camus. And no less a philosopher than Woody Allen has wondered: "How is it possible to find meaning in a finite world, given my waist and shirt size?" The essays in Movies and the Meaning of Life look at popular and cult movies, examining their assumptions and insights on meaning-of-life questions....

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 ....

The great figures of modern philosophy led generations to struggle with the most crucial of questions and break through a new understanding of conscience and existence. Nietzsche's 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. Immanuel Kant is one of the most important figures of German philosophy, said to have affected a Copernican revolution in philosophy.

We live in an age of unprecedented prosperity, yet everywhere we see signs that our pursuit of happiness has proven fruitless. Dissatisfied, we seek change for the sake of change - even if it means undermining the foundations of our common life. In Why We Are Restless, Benjamin and Jenna Storey offer a profound and beautiful reflection on the roots of this malaise and examine how we might begin to cure ourselves.

In a trio of popular gender rituals—sorority rush, beauty pageants, and the Confederate Pageant of the Natchez (Mississippi) Pilgrimage—young white southern women have readily ditched contemporary modes of dress and comportment for performances of purity, gentility, and deference. Clearly, the ability to "do" white southern womanhood, convincingly and on cue, has remained a valued performance. Based on ethnographic research and taped interviews, Southern Beauty goes behind the scenes of the three rituals to explore the motivations and rewards associated with participation.

Life does not unfold by design. It moves, shifts, adapts—sometimes in harmony, often in chaos. What, then, is the right way to live? With his signature clarity and quiet defiance, Ralph Waldo Emerson steps beyond theory into the pulse of everyday existence. He does not prescribe rigid formulas but instead offers something sharper: a way of seeing. Here, work is not mere labor but an act of self-realization. Power is not control but a force that shapes character. Fate is not an iron law but a current to navigate.

According to McCloskey, our modern world was not the product of new markets and innovations but rather the result of shifting opinions about them. An utterly fascinating sequel to her critically acclaimed book The Bourgeois Virtues, Bourgeois Dignity is a feast of intellectual riches from one of our most spirited and ambitious historians - a work that will forever change our understanding of how the power of persuasion shapes our economic lives.

In a hugely ambitious study that crosses continents, languages, and almost a century, Gregory Woods identifies the ways in which homosexuality has helped shape Western culture. Extending from the trials of Oscar Wilde to the gay liberation era, this book examines a period in which increased visibility made acceptance of homosexuality one of the measures of modernity.

A personal celebration of female friendships - the good, the bad and the complicated - by lifestyle content creator Lily Pebbles. If there's one piece of invaluable advice for women and girls of all ages, it is that there is nothing more important than creating and maintaining strong, positive and happy friendships with other women. In a culture that largely pits women against each other, I want to celebrate female friendships...all strings attached!

Die Neunziger als Schlüsseljahrzehnt unserer Gegenwart und Zukunft. In den neunziger Jahren wurde die Welt geschaffen, in der wir immer noch leben - und die gerade krachend kollabiert. Dagegen setzt dieses Buch kämpferischen Optimismus. Ziel ist es, die Geschichte dieser Dekade zu nutzen, nicht zur Abrechnung, sondern zur Aufklärung. Denn darum geht es: Wir müssen wieder trainieren, in Alternativen zu denken. Wir müssen die Möglichkeiten erkennen, die in jedem Krisenmoment vorhanden sind. Wir müssen wieder an unsere Handlungsfähigkeit glauben, als Einzelne, in der Gemeinschaft, als Demokratie.

The modern understanding of what it means to be stoical is never showing any form of outward emotion regardless of all circumstances, good or bad, and indeed not having any emotions whatsoever. The entire species of the Vulcans in the popular science fiction franchise Star Trek exemplifies the popular definition. But it's easy to recognize an absence of outward emotion as not necessarily being a good thing.

Soul Machine takes us back to the origins of modernity, a time when a crisis in religious authority and the scientific revolution led to searching questions about the nature of human inner life. This is the story of how a new concept - the mind - emerged as a potential solution, one that was part soul and part machine but fully neither.

Écrit entre 1881 et 1887, après une période sombre, de bouleversement psychologique et philosophique Nietzsche propose d'affronter, de s'accomoder d'un monde ne soit pas là pour nous faire plaisir, sa pensée n'est plus une sombre méditation mais une exaltation de la vie. Il tente par des aphorismes de dégager des vérités claires sans chercher d'absolu.

Civilization and Its Discontents is a book by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. It was written in 1929 and explores what Freud sees as the important clash between the desire for individuality and the expectations of society. The book is considered one of Freud's most important and widely read works, and one of the most influential and studied books in the field of modern psychology. This book has been carefully adapted in to modern English to allow for easy listening. Enjoy!

American Brujeria is about the fascinating blend of American and Mexican folk magic currently used by those living in the US but whose roots are steeped in Mexican culture. This type of Mexican American folk magic, which the author calls “American brujeria”, features its own unique saints and spirits as well as familiar ones, such as the infamous Santa Muerte.

Trade allows us to sell what we produce at home and purchase what we don’t. It lowers prices and gives us greater variety and innovation. Yet understanding our place in the global trade network is rarely simple. Trade has become an easy excuse for struggling economies, a scapegoat for our failures to adapt to a changing world, and - for many Americans on both the right and the left - nothing short of a four-letter word. But as Fred P. Hochberg reminds us, trade is easier to understand than we commonly think.

Historian Doug Rossinow examines how the cooperation and the creative tension between left-wing radicals and liberal reformers advanced many of the most important political values of the 20th century, including free speech, freedom of conscience, and racial equality. Visions of Progress chronicles the broad alliances of radical and liberal figures who were driven by a particular concept of social progress - a transformative vision in which the country would become fundamentally more democratic.

In Future Histories, public interest lawyer and digital specialist Lizzie O'Shea argues that we need to stop looking forward and start looking backwards. Weaving together histories of computing and progressive social movements with modern theories of the mind, society, and self, O'Shea constructs a "usable past" that can help us determine our digital future. What, she asks, can the Paris Commune tell us about earlier experiments in sharing resources - like the internet - in common?