This in-depth study examines the social, religious, and philosophical thought of Simone Weil.Simone Weil for the Twenty-First Century presents a comprehensive analysis of Weil’s interdisciplinary thought, focusing especially on the depth of its challenge to contemporary philosophical and religious studies. In a world where little is seen to have real meaning, Eric O. Springsted presents a critique of the unfocused nature of postmodern philosophy and argues...

Although trained as a philosopher, Simone Weil (1909–43) contributed to a wide range of subjects, resulting in a rich field of interdisciplinary Weil studies. Yet those coming to her work from such disciplines as sociology, history, political science, religious studies, French studies, and women’s studies are often ignorant of or baffled by her philosophical investigations. In Simone Weil: Late Philosophical Writings, Eric O. Springsted presents a unique collection of Weil’s writi...

“We continue to live within the intellectual shadow cast by Nietzsche.”—New York Times Book ReviewReissued for the age of "fake news," On Truth and Untruth charts Nietzsche’s evolving thinking on the nature of truth, which has exerted a powerful influence over modern and contemporary thought. This original collection of German philosophy features the complete text of the celebrated early essay “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense” (”a keystone in Nietzsche’s thought”—

"A passionate, humane intelligence addressing itself to the fundamental problem of how the mind operates." — NewsweekConsidered by many to be Hannah Arendt's greatest work, published as she neared the end of her life, The Life of the Mind investigates thought itself, as it exists in contemplative life. In a shift from her previous writings, most of which focus on the world outside the mind, this work was planned as three volumes that would explore ...

This book is a collection of the finest mystical writings of the great physicists of the 20th Century. They are Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli, James Jeans, Arthur Eddington, Eugene Wigner, David Bohm, and Freeman Dyson. The essays are written in nontechnical language and will be of absorbing interest to a wide range of readers.The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion w...

"We should be grateful to Schopenhauer for managing to express the truth about life so beautifully." —Alain De Botton, author of The Consolations of Philosophy"Schopenhauer's philosophy has had a special attraction for those who wonder about life's meaning, along with those engaged in music, literature, and the visual arts." — Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyThe Essential Schopenhauer delivers the first comprehensive English anthology of the se...

Despite the recent ferocious public debate about belief, the concept most central to the discussion-God-frequently remains vaguely and obscurely described. Are those engaged in these arguments even talking about the same thing? In a wide-ranging response to this confusion, esteemed scholar David Bentley Hart pursues a clarification of how the word God” functions in the world’s great theistic faiths. Ranging broadly across Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Vedantic and Bhaktic Hind...

An ideal introduction for the casual reader and a beneficial reference for the student, The Philosopher's Handbook features the writings of some of the world's most influential philosophers. Based on the premise that all human beings are curious about their existence, Rosen's collection brings together primary excerpts from the works of prominent thinkers such as Plato, Nietzsche, Descartes, Machiavelli, and Kant. Experts in each field have carefully selected the sources and provi...

Widely recognized as one of the finest introductions to existentialist philosophy ever written, Irrational Man helped introduce existentialism to an American audience when it was first published in 1958.Barrett writes with eloquence and clarity about concerns that remain as relevant today as ever: the persistence of the irrational and absurd, the search for meaning in a fractured world, and humanity's capacity to shape or destroy its own future without ful...

Dream analysis is a distinctive and foundational part of analytical psychology, the school of psychology founded by C. G. Jung and his successors. This volume collects Jung's most insightful contributions to the study of dreams and their meaning. The essays in this volume, written by Jung between 1909 and 1945, reveal Jung's most essential views about dreaming--especially regarding the relationship between language and dream. Through these studies, Jung grew to understand that dreams are t...

One of the greatest philosophers of the nineteenth century, Schopenhauer (1788-1860) believed that human action is determined not by reason but by 'will' - the blind and irrational desire for physical existence. This selection of his writings on religion, ethics, politics, women, suicide, books and many other themes is taken from Schopenhauer's last work, Parerga and Paralipomena, which he published in 1851. These pieces depict humanity as locked in a struggle beyond good and evil, and eac...

Born to be misunderstood, Spinoza was a man whose theology was banned for Godlessness. The very virtuosity of his reasoning left logicians unsettled, while even to professional thinkers in our own time, Spinoza has seemed too clever by half.And yet, as Roger Scruton shows in this strikingly readable introduction to the man and his though, Spinoza's concerns were both simple and sublime. Few philosophers, indeed, have shown such a straightforward, sustained and honest interest in un...