Showing results by narrator "Lynn Redgrave" in All Categories

For centuries, the works of Aristotle and other Greek thinkers were preserved in the Arabic world, where they profoundly influenced Muslim thinkers who were trying to combine philosophical insight with religious piety. The intellectual range of this great tradition is remarkable: nothing escaped investigation, from details of medicine to the mysteries of God's nature. Avicenna and Averroes produced philosophical systems that rival the greatest intellectual structures ever built.

China's two greatest philosophers, Confucius and Lao Tzu, were intensely interested in how we should live and how a good society is governed. The central concepts of Confucianism are li, the proper ordering of society through rituals and ceremonies, and zhen, the proper ordering of the self through humaneness, benevolence, and love. Daoism, taught under such masters as Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi, meditates on the interdependence of opposites and teaches the path of non-resistance.

In an age of conflicting intellectual trends, some philosophers have lost faith in the everyday relevance of philosophy; others have affirmed that reflection is crucial to authentic living. The limelight has been shared by existentialism, phenomenology, structuralism, and other movements. The question remains: what is the next great step in philosophy?

Simone de Beauvoir stands as a towering figure in the 20th century's flowering of thought among women. There are probably more women philosophers alive today than in all of prior history, and their perspective brings new ideas and fresh approaches to old problems. We are just now beginning to understand women's unique contribution to philosophical thought.

From Philo of Judea to Maimonides and beyond, medieval Jewish philosophy created an outstanding, unbroken tradition. Jewish thinkers worked to square Biblical faith with the demands of reason; their efforts to understand the individual in relation to God and to the human community powerfully foreshadowed contemporary problems. Maimonides, who can be compared with Saint Thomas Aquinas, profoundly influenced much subsequent philosophy.

Stoics and Epicureans date from the Hellenistic period, but the debate between these two modes of thought continues today. For the Stoics, the goal of human life was to align one's nature with the rational order of all things by cultivating pure reason. Through the practice of dialectic, they aimed for ethical righteousness and self-control. In sad or turbulent times, stoical endurance has appealed to many people as a way of coping.

For over 60 years, readers of all ages have been enchanted by the magical realms, the epic battles between good and evil, and the unforgettable creatures of Narnia. This box set includes all seven titles in The Chronicles of Narnia - The Magician's Nephew; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; and The Last Battle.

The Roman Empire became Christian in 323 AD; about two centuries later, the rest of Europe began to convert. Medieval culture blurred the line between the sacred and the secular. While political and religious hierarchies vied for influence, liberal arts education claimed to seek sacred truths through secular means. But when Aristotle's works were first translated from Arabic, there began a conflict between reason and faith. Franciscan John Duns Scotus was one philosopher who tried to bridge this gap.

Socrates was the first great philosopher of the West. Though he left no written works, there were many accounts of his life and philosophy. Socrates was an eccentric who went about Athens in bare feet and tattered clothes engaging people in philosophical conversations and exposing the contradictions in their claims of knowledge. Socrates himself never claimed definitive knowledge, but he made enemies among those he refuted and embarrassed with his persistent questioning.

Bertrand Russell and A.N. Whitehead co-authored a seminal work in logic entitled Principia Mathematica. Russell wrote on virtually every aspect of philosophy, with particular contributions in ethics (where he championed important innovations). Whitehead developed one of the great philosophical systems of the century, attempting to harmonize science and values and to reconcile religion and philosophy.

In the great ferment of the French Revolution, Voltaire and Rousseau stood out as intellectual giants. Voltaire's incisive wit and commitment to translucent reason stands in sharp contrast to Rousseau's earnest convictions and attention to emotion. Both thinkers produced work of enduring value in morality and political philosophy.

Imagine it were possible to bring the characters from a book to life. Not like when you listen to an audiobook with such enchantment that the characters seem to jump off the pages and into your bedroom...but for real. Imagine they could actually climb out of the pages and into our world. Then imagine if those characters brought their world into ours.

C.S. Peirce was an authentic American genius who developed a tough minded pragmatism and a sweeping philosophy of evolutionary love. William James, a trained physician, carefully studied human experience, including the highest reaches of consciousness. Peirce and James established a rich, sensible, and pragmatic American approach to philosophy's traditional problems.

India has perhaps the oldest living philosophical tradition in the world. Though both Buddhism and Jainism began in India, its primary influence is the Vedic tradition. The Vedas are the fundamental Hindu scriptures and the basis of the six systems of Indian philosophy. Hindu philosophy affirms an ultimate or universal reality, but it is also individualistic, embracing many alternatives or paths to one reality.

The Pevensie siblings travel back to Narnia to help a prince denied his rightful throne as he gathers an army in a desperate attempt to rid his land of a false king. But in the end, it is a battle of honor between two men alone that will decide the fate of an entire world.

These two great 17th-century philosophers aimed to break free of oppressive traditions. Free scientific inquiry led them to skeptically question everything, though they also tried to reconcile science with religious faith. Both Descartes and Bacon extolled the individual, arguing that the human mind can penetrate the deepest secrets of existence. Their ideas formulated the problems that would occupy philosophers for the next 300 years.

From the time of the Norman Conquest to the present day, the New Forest, along England’s southern coast, has remained an almost mythical place. It is here that Saxon and Norman kings rode forth with their hunting parties, and where William the Conqueror’s son Rufus was mysteriously killed. The mighty oaks of the forest were used to build the ships for Admiral Nelson’s navy, and the fishermen who lived in Christchurch and Lymington helped Sir Francis Drake fight off the Spanish Armada.

The 100-year-old Doll family, beautifully crafted china dolls passed down through four generations of girls in one American family, meet their new neighbors, the Funcrafts, a doll family made completely of plastic and delivered straight from the factory shelves.

Annabelle Doll and Tiffany Funcraft are two dolls who have been best friends since they met in Kate Palmer's house at 26 Wetherby Lane. In this sequel to The Doll People, they hitch a ride in Kate's backpack and find themselves in the biggest adventure of their lives, a day at school!

Best friends Annabelle Doll and Tiffany Funcraft have stumbled upon an unexpected visitor, a new doll named Tilly May. She arrived in a mysterious package...but she looks so familiar. Could she be Annabelle’s long-lost baby sister? It'll take a runaway adventure to find out for sure. Are the dolls ready for life on the road?