The proper study of mankind is man wrote Alexander Pope and in these classics of politics and philosophy we see how the most influential thinkers have wrestled with that central concern over the centuries.
Born into the Roman aristocracy in the early 6th century, the successful civil servant Boethius lost everything when he was arbitrarily convicted of treason. In his prison cell, awaiting execution, he created a work of quiet genius, which for the next 1,000 years would be the most popular book in Europe next to the Bible.
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Russell, whose own appetite for life was prodigious, filled his book with history, humour and anecdote. If you can only read one book about philosophy make sure it is this one.
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The first two volumes in this acclaimed and unprecedented work, historian and archaeologist Peter Watson gives us a new history of the world, by explaining the ideas that have shaped civilisation.
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In the second two volumes of this acclaimed history, Peter Watson shows how the 20th century, a time of unprecedented conflict and social change, was also ‘dominated intellectually by a coming to terms with science’.
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Arguably the most powerfully written defence of essential freedoms, Mill’s most famous work is now considered a foundation stone of our modern democratic system.
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Lucretius was regarded as dangerous’, writes Primo Levi, ‘because he . . . rebelled against all superstition, and described earthly love in lucid poetry.
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Machiavelli's ideas remain at the heart of political controversy today. Do the ends justify the means? Should the welfare of the majority permit the persecution of a few?
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Writing in an age when chaos raged across the English Channel in France, Mary Wollstonecraft fought for female independence and equality. Passionate, radical and fearless, she explains her principles in an engaging, lively and often very witty way.
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Published in 1854, Walden is a profound examination of the power of the human spirit, and a work that has helped define America's very idea of itself as a nation.
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