Modern category: 14410 books

Francis Bacon’s landmark writings on subjects ranging from anger and ambition, marriage and money, to envy and empire established him as the founding father of modern scientific thinking, with his rejection of superstition and his emphasis on proof and experiment, rational enquiry and reasoned argument. Writings...

By the last decades of the nineteenth century, more people were making more speeches to greater numbers in a wider variety of venues than at any previous time. This book argues that a recognizably modern public life was created in Victorian Britain largely through the instrumentality of public speech....

This study brings a new perspective to a pivotal debate: the causes of the English Revolution. It pinpoints the economic motives behind the opposition to the crown, and shows their connection to the changing mind-set and political transitions of the time. Distinctively, it identifies the radicalism...

Newly translated by Peter Constantine Edited and with an Introduction by Leo Damrosch   The Essential Writings of Rousseau collects the best and most indispensable work of one of the world’s most influential writers. A towering figure of Enlightenment thought, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was also one...

Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence was Pufendorf’s first work, published in 1660. Its appearance effectively inaugurated the modern natural-law movement in the German-speaking world, establishing Pufendorf as a key figure and laying the foundations for his later major works. Samuel...

John Stuart Mill (1806–73) ranks among the very greatest thinkers of the nineteenth century. His impact through his books, journalism, correspondence, and political activity on modern culture and thought has been immense, and his continuing importance for contemporary philosophy and social thought...

Anne Margaret Baxley offers a systematic interpretation of Kant's theory of virtue, whose most distinctive features have not been properly understood. She explores the rich moral psychology in Kant's later and less widely read works on ethics, and argues that the key to understanding his account of...

With good reason, John Stuart Mill is widely regarded as one of the most influential philosophers of the nineteenth century. In "Political Philosophy: A Practical Guide to the Select Works of John Stuart Mill", M. James Ziccardi presents the key passages and principal ideas which...

• Fleck is a noted scholar of Thoreau and has presented at the Thoreau Institute. • Fascinating account of Thoreau’s only international travel experience to Quebec in 1850. • Unlike the many facsimile reproductions available, this edition features a modern design that enhances readability. • Part of the Literary Naturalist Series and features a new foreword.

Few thinkers are more controversial in the history of philosophy than Hegel. He has been dismissed as a charlatan and obscurantist, but also praised as one of the greatest thinkers in modern philosophy. No one interested in philosophy can afford to ignore him. This volume considers all the major aspects...

The great German philosopher and aesthetic theorist Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno (1903–69) was one of the main philosophers of the first generation of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. An accomplished musician, Adorno first focused on the theory of culture and art. Later he turned to the problem...

This is the first full-length biography in more than fifty years of Immanuel Kant, one of the giants amongst the pantheon of Western philosophers as well as the one with the most powerful and broad influence on contemporary philosophy. It is well known that Kant spent his entire life in an isolated...

What turns rich nations into great powers? How do wealthy countries begin extending their influence abroad? These questions are vital to understanding one of the most important sources of instability in international politics: the emergence of a new power. In From Wealth to Power, Fareed Zakaria seeks...

'Britain since 1945' is an ideal introductory text for students of British Studies, cultural studies and modern British history. Assuming no prior knowledge, Leese offers students of all backgrounds both the essential chronological grounding and vital insight into the issues of identity necessary for a full understanding of contemporary Britain.