Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

The Closing of the American Mind

by Alan Bloom

The Closing of the American Mind, a publishing phenomenon in hardcover, is now a paperback literary event. In this acclaimed number one national best-seller, one of our country's most distinguished political philosophers argues that the social/political crisis of 20th-century America is really an intellectual crisis. Allan Bloom's sweeping analysis is essential to understanding America today. It has fired the... (more)

The Republic of Plato

by Plato

Plato's "Republic" is widely acknowledged as the cornerstone of Western philosophy. Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, it is an enquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. During the conversation other questions are raised: what is goodness; what is reality; what is knowledge? "The Republic" also addresses the purpose of... (more)

Symposium

by Robin Waterfield, Paul Woodruff, R. L. Hunter, Jamey Hecht, Plato, Alan Bloom

In his celebrated masterpiece, Symposium, Plato imagines a high-society dinner-party in Athens in 416 BC. The guests--including the comic poet Aristophanes and Plato's mentor Socrates--each deliver a short speech in praise of love. The sequence of dazzling speeches culminates in Socrates' famous account of the views of Diotima, a prophetess who taught him that love is our means of trying to attain goodness, and a... (more)

Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, 4th Ed.

Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, 4th Ed.

by Rene Descartes

Text: French

The Social Contract

by Jean Jacques Rousseau

'Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains' - these are the famous opening words of a treatise that has not ceased to stir vigorous debate since its first publication in 1762. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau argues instead for a pact, or 'social contract', that should exist between all the citizens of a state and that should be the source of... (more)

Natural Right and History (Walgreen Foundation Lectures)

Natural Right and History (Walgreen Foundation Lectures)

by Leo Strauss

In this classic work, Leo Strauss examines the problem of natural right and argues that there is a firm foundation in reality for the distinction between right and wrong in ethics and politics. On the centenary of Strauss's birth, and the fiftieth anniversary of the Walgreen Lectures which spawned the work, Natural Right and History remains as controversial and essential as ever. "Strauss . . . makes a... (more)

The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis

The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis

by Leon Kass

As ardent debates over creationism fill the front pages of newspapers, Genesis has never been more timely. And as Leon R. Kass shows in The Beginning of Wisdom , it’s also timeless. Examining Genesis in a philosophical light, Kass presents it not as a story of what happened long ago, but as the enduring story of humanity itself. He asserts that the first half of Genesis contains insights about human nature that... (more)

On Modern Origins: Essays in Early Modern Philosophy

On Modern Origins: Essays in Early Modern Philosophy

by Richard Kennington

Richard Kennington (1921-1999), a professor for many years at Pennsylvania State University and the Catholic University of America, was renowned for his insight in reading and teaching early modern philosophy. Although he published articles and spoke widely, never before have his writings been collected in a book. On Modern Origins deftly shows how modern thinkers assessed the errors of the classical tradition and... (more)

From Hegel to Nietzsche

by Karl Lo?with

This acknowledged classic is one of the most important works on nineteenth-century philosophy and intellectual history, and a philosophical and cultural history of that century and its impact upon the twentieth. Beginning with an examination of the relationship between Hegel and Goethe, Löwith discusses how Hegel's students, particularly Marx and Kierkegaard, interpretedor reinterpretedtheir master's thought,... (more)

A Discourse on the Origins of Inequality

A Discourse on the Origins of Inequality

by Jean Jacques Rousseau

In "A Discourse on Inequality", Rousseau sets out to demonstrate how the growth of civilization corrupts man's natural happiness and freedom by creating artificial inequalities of wealth, power and social privilege. Contending that primitive man was equal to his fellows, Rousseau believed that as societies become more sophisticated, the strongest and most intelligent members of the community gain an unnatural... (more)

Liberalism Ancient and Modern

by Leo Strauss

Liberal democratic thought in the twentieth century is composed of two strands: the classical, which emphasizes human excellence, and the modern, which emphasizes individual freedom and social equality. In this collection of essays, Strauss examines the ambiguous relationship between these tendencies, seeking to illuminate the democratic discourse.

Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, I und II. Herausgegeben von G. Colli und M. Montinari.

Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, I und II. Herausgegeben von G. Colli und M. Montinari.

by Friedrich Nietzsche, Giorgio Colli, Mazzino Montinari

Being after Rousseau: Philosophy and Culture in Question

Being after Rousseau: Philosophy and Culture in Question

by Richard L. Velkley

In Being after Rousseau, Richard L. Velkley presents Jean-Jacques Rousseau as the founder of a modern European tradition of reflection on the relation of philosophy to culture—a reflection that calls both into question. Tracing this tradition from Rousseau to Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schelling, and Martin Heidegger, Velkley shows late modern philosophy as a series of ultimately unsuccessful attempts to resolve... (more)

The Legacy of Rousseau

Few thinkers have enjoyed so pervasive an influence as Rousseau, who originated dissatisfaction with modernity. By exploring polarities articulated by Rousseau--nature versus society, self versus other, community versus individual, and compassion versus competitiveness--these fourteen original essays show how his thought continues to shape our ways of talking, feeling, thinking, and complaining. The volume... (more)