Selected Essays
10 best books like Selected Essays (David Hume): Four Histories ("Richard II", "Henry IV Part One", "Henry IV Part Two", "Henry V"), Principles of Human Knowledge & Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings, Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society, Philosophical Writings of Peirce, Essays, En esto creo, Selected Writings, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark A Study with the Text of the Folio of 1623
| Author | William Shakespeare |
All the lapidary dialogue that you would expect from Shakespeare, dosed with a surprising amount of early modern ethnic humor (those Welsh and their leeks, ha ha!) I also found the scenes with Falstaff and his fellow tavern denizens to be more grim then funny - on the page, Sir John comes across more like...
| Author | George Berkeley |
| ISBN | 0140432930 |
One of the greatest British philosophers, Bishop Berkeley (1685-1753) was the founder of the influential doctrine of Immaterialism - the belief that there is no reality outside the mind, and that the existence of material objects depends upon their being perceived. The Principles of Human Knowledge...
Manny Farber (1917–2008) was a unique figure among American movie critics. Champion of what he called "termite art" (focused, often eccentric virtuosity as opposed to "white elephant" monumentality), master of a one-of-a-kind prose style whose jazz-like phrasing and incandescent twists and...
| Author | Daniel Barenboim |
| ISBN | 1400075157 |
These free-wheeling, often exhilarating dialogues—which grew out of the acclaimed Carnegie Hall Talks—are an exchange between two of the most prominent figures in contemporary culture: Daniel Barenboim, internationally renowned conductor and pianist, and Edward W. Said, eminent literary...
| Author | Charles Sanders Peirce |
| ISBN | 0486202178 |
"An excellent, discerning introduction. It should prove a real boon to the student of Peirce." — The Modern Schoolman
Charles S. Peirce was a thinker of great originality and power. Although unpublished in his lifetime, he was recognized as an equal by such men as William James and John Dewey...
| Author | Wallace Shawn |
| ISBN | 1608460029 |
“Full of what you might call conversation starters: tricky propositions about morality... politics, privilege, runaway nationalist fantasies, collective guilt, and art as a force for change (or not)...It’s a treat to hear him speak his curious mind.”—O Magazine
In these beautiful...
| Author | Carlos Fuentes |
| ISBN | 8432216372 |
Bought this in a second-hand store so not too much money wasted. I'd forgotten how tiresomely liberal-elitist Fuentes can be, although I say that as an avowed anarchist-communist. The mandarin tone, the unnecessarily obtuse language, the attempt to (re)claim Bunuel for religiosity. Ugh. I enjoyed...
| Author | William Hazlitt |
| ISBN | 0192838008 |
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) developed a variety of identities as a writer: essayist, philosopher, critic of literature, drama and art, biographer, political commentator, and polemicist. Praised for his eloquence, he was also reviled by conservatives for his radical politics. This edition,...
| Author | Brian Davies |
| ISBN | 0199263477 |
The third edition of An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion provides a critical examination of some fundamental questions posed by religious belief: What does belief in God amount to? Can God's existence be proved? Is there life after death?
Brian Davies considers these questions...
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.
He was educated at Aberdeen University and after a short and stormy career as a minister at Arundel, where his unorthodox views led to his dismissal, he turned to fiction as a means of earning a living. He wrote over 50 books.
Known...
| Author | George Orwell |
| ISBN | 1567921353 |
Orwell continues to astonish me with
(a) his extraordinary - what's the word I'm looking for - "prolific" doesn't seem to have an associated noun. Fecundity? Industry? productivity? oh, what the heck - just the sheer volume of his output
(b) the quality of his writing, which is clear and...
| Author | Thomas Hobbes |
| ISBN | 0192831216 |
Thomas Hobbes' timeless account of the human condition, first developed in The Elements of Law (1640), which comprises Human Nature and De Corpore Politico, is a direct product of the intellectual and political strife of the seventeenth century. His analysis of the war between the individual and...
| Author | A.J. Ayer |
| ISBN | 0140135472 |
In this major book the acclaimed author of Language Truth and Logic tackles one of the central issues of philosophy -- how can we be sure we know anything -- by setting out all the sceptic's arguments and trying to counter then one by one. In considering all the main philosophical issues involved -- how...
| Author | Seneca |
| ISBN | 0199533210 |
Seneca's letters to his friend Lucilius are powerful moral essays that also yield illuminating insight into Seneca's personal life and the truly turbulent times in which he lived. One of the great Stoic philosophers, Seneca here guides Lucilius' struggle to achieve wisdom and serenity, uninfluenced...
| Author | Edith Deen |
| ISBN | 0060618523 |
All the women of the Bible offers a rich biographical perspective on evey female figure in scripture -- including the famous, the little-known, and even the unnamed. In more that 300 engaging and insightful portraits, Edith Deen brings alive the saints and sorceresses, queens and servants, mothers...
| Author | Robin Robertson |
| ISBN | 0007170580 |
A writer's public life is not -- as is often thought -- a round of glamorous parties, prize-acceptance speeches, and triumphant readings to amphitheatres full of loyal, cheering fans; it is, in fact, a grim treadmill of humiliation and neglect. Mortification sets the record straight, once and for...
| Author | William James |
| ISBN | 0486202917 |
The work of William James contributed greatly to the burgeoning fields of psychology, particularly in the areas of education, religion, mysticism and pragmatism. The brother of novelist Henry James and of diarist Alice James, William wrote several powerful essays expressing his ideas on the pragmatic...
Here's another book that I read for a class that I otherwise would never have attempted. I'm glad, I think, that I put my head down and staggered through Susan Griffin's A Chorus of Stones, but it's a book that takes a toll.
Here's a happy thought: a lot has already been written about...
| Author | Isabel Losada |
| ISBN | 1907486399 |
In her bestseller The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment, Isabel Losada set out with a modest aim to be absurdly happy every day. But a few years down the road, she's stuck in a pothole. No job (not good). No man (very not good). Nothing has turned out as she'd intended.
There's only one way to...
| Author | Frederick Charles Copleston |
| ISBN | 0385470436 |
I've slowly been working through Copleston's history of philosophy series, reading about a book a year. This book is basically all about Kant. Sure there is a couple chapters covering a few other people and movements, but Kant is the focus. If you are looking to learn about philosophy, this book, like...
| Author | Francis Bacon |
| ISBN | 0192840819 |
This authoritative edition brings together an extensive collection of Bacon's writing - the major prose in full, together with sixteen other pieces not otherwise available - that reveals the essence of his work and thinking.
Francis Bacon held some of the highest public offices in the land...
I wonder: does anyone read Smart's half of this book anymore?
Williams loathes utilitarianism, which gives his attack some verve, but his attack seems totally inconclusive. He does manage to show that utilitarianism would, in extreme situations, have counter-intuitive consequences,...
| Author | John Stuart Mill |
| ISBN | 0375759182 |
The writings of John Stuart Mill have become the cornerstone of political liberalism. Collected for the first time in this volume are Mill's three seminal and most widely read works: "On Liberty, The Subjection of Women, and Utilitarianism," A brilliant defense of individual rights versus the power...
