Philosophy

114 products

  • Philosophy and life

    Philosophy and life

    Drawing on the lives, experiences and works of a fantastically eclectic range of thinkers - taking in not only philosophers such as Confucius, Seneca and Nietzsche, but also authors from Shakespeare to Ursula LeGuin, and modern thinkers such as Martha Nussbaum and Simon May - this work brings together wisdom from across eras and continents in a tour de force on the philosophy of being human in a complicated world.

    £10.99

  • The stoic mindset

    The stoic mindset

    During the 2010 Olympic speed skating final, Mark Tuitert wasn't thinking about winning, but about Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus and Zeno - philosophers belonging to an ancient school of thought that emerged from their experiences of personal hardship. The Stoics developed a philosophy grounded in striving toward unbiased thinking, self-betterment through virtues, and a focus on only that which lies in our power to control. Having overcome injuries, familial conflict, and the extreme pressures of being a professional athlete, Tuitert still managed to hit his prime thanks to years of studying and practicing a Stoic mindset. Now, after two decades of applying this philosophy, and seeing the benefits as an athlete, husband, father and entrepreneur, he has distilled Stoicism and his personal experience into ten powerful lessons, allowing you to face adversity, deal with uncertainty and reach your potential.

    £14.99

  • Determined

    Determined

    Behind every thought, action and experience there lies a chain of biological and environmental causes, stretching back from the moment a neuron fires to the dawn of our species and beyond. Nowhere in this infinite sequence is there a place where free will could play a role. Without free will, it makes no more sense to punish people for antisocial behaviour than it does to scold a car for breaking down. It is no one's fault they are poor or overweight or unsuccessful, nor do people deserve praise for their talent or hard work; 'grit' is a myth. This mechanistic view of human behaviour challenges our most powerful instincts, but history suggests that we have already made great strides toward it: where once we saw demonic possession or cowardice, for example, now we diagnose illness or trauma and offer help. This book confronts us with our true nature: who and what we are is biology and nothing more.

    £12.99

  • The power of language

    The power of language

    You may think you speak only one language. In fact, your mind is interpreting multiple codes of communication. Some people speak Spanish, some Mandarin. Some speak poetry, some are fluent in maths. Humans are built for multilingualism. Drawing on cutting-edge research and theory, delivered with wit and lucid insight, psycholinguist Viorica Marian explores the ways in which the mind uses multiple languages and how, in doing so, we can open the doors to unique forms of creativity, brain health and cognitive control. Every new language we speak - whether it is coding or musical notes, Hindi or Arabic - shapes how we extract and interpret information. It alters what we remember, how we perceive ourselves and those around us, how we feel, the insights we have, the decisions we make and the actions we take.

    £10.99

  • Humanly possible

    Humanly possible

    The bestselling, prizewinning author of 'How to Live' and 'At the Existentialist Café' explores 700 years of writers, thinkers, scientists and artists, all trying to understand what it means to be truly human. It takes us on an irresistible journey, and joyfully celebrates open-mindedness, optimism, freedom and the power of the here and now - humanist values which have helped steer us through dark times in the past, and which are just as urgently needed in our world today.

    £12.99

  • A terribly serious adventure

    A terribly serious adventure

    'A Terribly Serious Adventure' traces the friendships and the rivalries, the shared preoccupations and the passionate disagreements of Oxford's most brilliant thinkers. Far from being stuck in a world of tweed, pipes and public schools, the Oxford philosophers drew on their wartime lives as soldiers and spies, conscientious objectors and prisoners of war in creating their greatest works, works that are original in both thought and style, true masterpieces of British modernism. Nikhil Krishnan brings his knowledge and understanding of philosophy to bear on the lives and intellectual achievements of a large and lively cast of characters. Together, they stood for a compelling moral vision of philosophy that is still with us today.

    £12.99

  • How to think like a woman

    How to think like a woman

    As a young woman growing up in a small, religious community, Regan Penaluna daydreamed about the big questions: Who are we and what is this strange world we find ourselves in? In college she discovered philosophy and fell in love with its rationality, its abstractions, its beauty. What Penaluna didn't realize was that philosophy - at least the canon that's taught in Western universities, as well as the culture that surrounds it - would slowly grind her down through its devaluation of women and their minds. 'How to Think Like a Woman' is a moving meditation on what philosophy could look like if women were treated equally.

    £10.99

  • On being unreasonable

    On being unreasonable

    Manners, order and respect - these are all ideals we subscribe to. In opposed positions, we ought to be able to 'agree to disagree'. Today's world is built from structures of standards and reason, but it is imperative to ask who constructed these norms, and why. We are more divided than ever before - along lines of race, gender, class, disability - and it's time to question who benefits the most. What if our propensity to measure human behaviour against rules and reason is actually more problematic than it might seem? Kirsty Sedgman shows how power dynamics and the social biases involved have resulted in a wide acceptance of what people should and shouldn't do, but they create discriminatory realities and amount to a societal façade that is dangerous for genuine social progress.

  • How to think like a philosopher

    How to think like a philosopher

    As politics slides toward impulsivity, and outrage bests rationality, how can philosophy help us critically engage with real world problems? Drawing on decades of work in philosophy including a huge range of interviews with contemporary philosophers, Julian Baggini sets out how philosophical thought can promote incisive thinking. Introducing everyday examples and contemporary political concerns - from climate change to implicit bias - 'How to Think Like a Philosopher' is a revelatory exploration of the techniques, methods and principles that guide philosophy, and how they can be applied to our own lives.

    £10.99

  • The power of ideas

    The power of ideas

    From his appointment as Chief Rabbi in 1991, through to his death in November 2020, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks made an incalculable contribution not just to the religious life of the Jewish community but to the national conversation - and increasingly to the global community - on issues of ethics and morality. This volume brings together a compelling selection of Jonathan Sacks' BBC Radio Thought for the Day broadcasts, Credo columns from The Times, and a range of articles published in the world's most respected newspapers, along with his House of Lords speeches and keynote lectures.

    £12.99

  • Rental person who does nothing

    Rental person who does nothing

    The true life adventures of Shoji Morimoto, who launched a business in which he rents himself out to do nothing in Japan.

    £14.99

  • Discipline is destiny

    Discipline is destiny

    The inscription on the Oracle of Delphi says: 'Nothing in excess.' C.S. Lewis described temperance as going to the 'right length but no further.' Easy to say, hard to practice - and if it was tough in 300 BC, or in the 1940s, it feels all but impossible today. Yet it's the most empowering and important virtue any of us can learn. Without self-discipline, all our plans fall apart. Here, Ryan Holiday shows how to cultivate willpower, moderation and self-control in our lives. From Aristotle and Marcus Aurelius, to Toni Morrison and Queen Elizabeth II, he illuminates the great exemplars of its practice and what we can learn from them.

    £11.99

  • The new Leviathans

    The new Leviathans

    Ever since its publication in 1651, Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan has unsettled and challenged how we understand the world. Condemned and vilified by each new generation, Hobbes' cold political vision continues to see through any number of political and ethical vanities. In his stimulating book 'The New Leviathans', John Gray allows us to understand the world of the 2020s with all its contradictions, moral horrors and disappointments through a new reading of Hobbes' classic work.

    £20.00

  • Faith, hope and carnage

    Faith, hope and carnage

    'Faith, Hope and Carnage' is a book about Nick Cave's inner life. Created from over forty hours of intimate conversations with Seán O'Hagan, it is a profoundly thoughtful exploration, in Cave's own words, of what really drives his life and creativity. The book examines questions of faith, art, music, freedom, grief, and love. It draws candidly on Cave's life, from his early childhood to the present day, his loves, his work ethic and his dramatic transformation in recent years.

    £12.99

  • Magnificent rebels

    Magnificent rebels

     

    In the 1790s an extraordinary group of friends changed the world. Disappointed by the French Revolution's rapid collapse into tyranny, what they wanted was nothing less than a revolution of the mind. The rulers of Europe had ordered their peoples how to think and act for too long. Based in the small German town of Jena, through poetry, drama, philosophy and science, they transformed the way we think about ourselves and the world around us. They were the first Romantics. Their way of understanding the world still frames our lives and being. We're still empowered by their daring leap into the self. We still think with their minds, see with their imagination and feel with their emotions. This extraordinary group of friends changed our world. It is impossible to imagine our lives, thoughts and understanding without the foundation of their ground-breaking ideas.

     

    £14.99

  • Nasty, brutish, and short

    Nasty, brutish, and short

    Say 'philosopher,' and someone grand, old and bearded might come to mind. But, as philosophy professor Scott Hershovitz shows in this debut, some of the best philosophers in the world are better described as nasty, brutish and short - that is to say, they're children. Children make wonderful philosophers because they constantly question things that grown-ups take for granted, test theories about the people around them, and try to work out the way the world works. Following the lead of his two young sons, Rex and Hank, Hershovitz takes us on a unique tour through classical and contemporary philosophy, steered by questions like, does Hank have the right to drink Fanta? When is it okay to swear? And, does the number six exist?

    £10.99

  • Philosophy and life

    Philosophy and life

    Drawing on the lives, experiences and works of a fantastically eclectic range of thinkers - taking in not only philosophers such as Confucius, Seneca and Nietzsche, but also authors from Shakespeare to Ursula LeGuin, and modern thinkers such as Martha Nussbaum and Simon May - this work brings together wisdom from across eras and continents in a tour de force on the philosophy of being human in a complicated world.

    £25.00

  • The logic of scientific discovery

    The logic of scientific discovery

    First published in English in 1959, Karl Popper's The Logic of Scientific Discovery revolutionized contemporary thinking about science and knowledge and is one of the most widely read books about science written in the 20th century.

    £24.99

  • The Sublime Object of Ideology

    The Sublime Object of Ideology

    Slavoj Zizek presents a provocative and original examination of the question of human agency in a postmodern world.

    £15.99

  • Problems Of Philosophy

    Problems Of Philosophy

    This classic work, first published in 1912, has never been supplanted as an approachable introduction to the theory of philosophical enquiry. It gives Russell's views on such subjects as the distinction between appearance and reality, the existence and nature of matter, idealism, knowledge by acquaintance and by description, induction, truth and falsehood, the distinction between knowledge, error and probable opinion, and the limits and value of philosophicalknowledge.

    £11.99

  • Utopia For Realists

    Utopia For Realists

    We live in a time of unprecedented upheaval, when technology and so-called progress have made us richer but more uncertain than ever before. We have questions about the future, society, work, happiness, family and money, and yet no political party of the right or left is providing us with answers. So, too, does the time seem to be coming to an end when we looked to economists to help us define the qualities necessary to create a successful society. We need a new movement. Rising to the challenge, Rutger Bregman outlines his vision for a truly egalitarian society.

    £12.99

  • Meditations: The Philosophy Classic

    Meditations: The Philosophy Classic

    A series of personal journals written by Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome from 169 to 180 AD. The last of the 'Five Good Emperors', he was the most powerful and influential man in the Western world at the time. Marcus was one of the leaders of Stoicism, a philosophy of personal ethics which sought resilience and virtue through personal action and responsibility. Stoicism, viewed as a foundation of modern self-help, has inspired many personal development and psychotherapy approaches through to the present day.

    £11.99

  • For the Good of the World

    For the Good of the World

    A lucid and inspiring consideration of the challenges we and our world now face, and a proposal for a way to overcome them.

  • What We Owe the Future

    What We Owe the Future

    How does morality change when we consider all the people who have not yet been born? 

    £20.00


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