Showing results by publisher "----RM Alexander" in History

Discover the ancient wisdom that remains as relevant today as it was two millennia ago in On the Shortness of Life by Lucius Annaeus Seneca. This Stoic masterpiece is a powerful guide to reclaiming your time and living a life of purpose. Seneca’s profound insights challenge you to break free from distractions, prioritize what truly matters, and make every moment count.

In Aristotle's Rhetoric, the philosopher identifies rhetoric as one of the three key elements of philosophy, along with logic and dialectic. According to Aristotle, logic is concerned with reasoning to reach scientific certainty while dialectic and rhetoric - because they are concerned with probability - are the branches of philosophy best suited to human affairs. Rhetoric is a tool for practical debate, a means for persuading a general audience to resolve practical issues using probable knowledge.

Considered by many to be the most important philosopher ever, Plato was born into a well-to-do family in wartime Athens at the end of the fifth century BCE. He finally decided to go into politics, but became disillusioned, especially after the Athenians condemned his teacher, Socrates, to death. He began teaching in his twenties and later founded the Academy, the world's first higher-educational research and teaching establishment. Eventually, he returned to practical politics and spent a considerable amount of time and energy trying to create a constitution for Syracuse in Sicily.

Myths, as Mary Midgley argues in this powerful audiobook, are everywhere. In political thought they sit at the heart of theories of human nature and the social contract; in economics in the pursuit of self interest; and in science the idea of human beings as machines, which originates in the 17th century, is a today a potent force. Far from being the opposite of science, however, Midgley argues that myth is a central part of it. Myths are neither lies nor mere stories, but a network of powerful symbols for interpreting the world.

In a world where social media, online relationships, and relentless self-absorption threaten the very idea of deep and lasting friendships, the search for true friends is more important than ever. In this short book, famous Roman politician and philosopher Cicero offers a compelling guide to finding, keeping, and appreciating friends. With wit and wisdom, Cicero teaches not only how to build friendships but also why they must be a key part of our lives. For, as Cicero says, life without friends is not worth living.

Evil threatens human reason, for it challenges our hope that the world makes sense. For 18th-century Europeans, the Lisbon earthquake was manifest evil. Today we view evil as a matter of human cruelty, and Auschwitz as its extreme incarnation. Examining our understanding of evil from the Inquisition to contemporary terrorism, Susan Neiman explores who we have become in the three centuries that separate us from the early Enlightenment. In the process, she rewrites the history of modern thought and points philosophy back to the questions that originally animated it.

In this, his first book, Nietzsche developed a way of thinking about the arts that unites the Greek gods Apollo and Dionysus as the central symbol of human existence. Although tragedy serves as the focus of this work, music, visual art, dance, and the other arts can also be viewed using Nietzsche's analysis and integration of the Apollonian and the Dionysian. The Birth of Tragedy stands alongside Aristotle's Poetics as an essential work for all who seek to understand poetry and its relationship to human life.

Gaius Musonius Rufus was a Roman Stoic philosopher of the first century AD. He has been referred to as the Roman Socrates and is also remembered for being the teacher of Epictetus. He taught philosophy in Rome during the reign of Nero and so was sent into exile in 65 AD, returning to Rome only under Galba. Twenty-one of his lectures survive together with a few fragmentary notes from others, all of which are contained in this narration.

Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition. Unlike nearly all of Plato's philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. The works which are most often assigned to Plato's early years are all considered to be Socratic dialogues, written from 399 to 387.

The last works completed before Nietzsche's final years of insanity, Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist contain some of his most passionate and polemical writing. Both display his profound understanding of human nature and continue themes developed in The Genealogy of Morals, as the philosopher lashes out at the deceptiveness of modern culture and morality. Twilight of the Idols attacks European society, Christianity, and the works of Socrates and Plato; The Antichrist explores the history, psychology, and moral precepts of Christianity.

The last hundred years of scientific and philosophical thought have caused dramatic upheavals in how we view our universe, our spiritual beliefs, and ourselves. Out of the Labyrinth brings fresh insight and understanding to this difficult problem. In clear and accessible language, Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) demonstrates the genuine compatibility of scientific and religious values, and how science and our most cherished moral values actually enrich and reinforce one another.

Laws is Plato's last and longest dialogue. It is generally agreed that Plato wrote this dialogue as an older man, having failed in his effort in Syracuse on the island of Sicily to guide a tyrant's rule, instead having been thrown in prison.

Journey to the heart of ancient wisdom with this enlightening guide packed full of timeless teachings, profound meditations, and practical applications of Stoic philosophy. Unravel the Stoics' approach to leading a balanced, fulfilled life, distilled into 100 rich, accessible lessons. Derived from the profound thoughts of prominent Stoic philosophers, this book offers practical wisdom for navigating the vicissitudes of modern life with serenity and resilience.

Kant's Prolegomena, although a small book, is without doubt the most important of his writings, writes the translator, Paul Carus. Prolegomena means, literally, prefatory or introductory remarks, and it furnishes us with a key to his main work, The Critique of Pure Reason; in fact, it is an extract containing all the salient ideas of Kant's system. It approaches the subject in the simplest and most direct way and is therefore best adapted as an introduction into his philosophy.

How to Say No is a delightful collection of brief ancient writings about Cynicism that captures all the outrageousness, wit, and wisdom of its remarkable cast of characters—from Diogenes in the fourth century BCE to the column-stander Symeon Stylites in late antiquity.

സനാതനമായ ഊര്‍ജ്ജം ജൈവരൂപങ്ങളിലൂടെ സഫലീകരിക്കുന്ന പ്രയാണവും പരിണാമവുമാണ് ഗുരു. മനുഷ്യനും മനുഷ്യനുമായുള്ള സമസ്ത സമ്പര്‍ക്കങ്ങളിലും, എന്തിന് മനുഷ്യനും പ്രകൃതിയും മൃഗവും ചരിത്രസംഭവങ്ങളുമായുള്ള കൂട്ടായ്മകളില്‍പോലും ഗുരു അന്തര്‍ലീനനാണ്. ബംഗ്ലാദേശിലെ യുദ്ധം റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ടു ചെയ്യുവാന്‍ ചെല്ലുന്ന കുഞ്ഞുണ്ണി കാണുന്നത് ഈ അദ്ധ്യയനത്തിന്റെ മഹാമഹമാണ്. കല്യാണി എന്ന കുട്ടി അയാളുടെ ഗുരുവായിത്തീരുന്നു; എല്ലാം വെടിഞ്ഞ് തറവാട്ടുവീട്ടിലേക്കുതിരിച്ചെത്തുന്ന കുഞ്ഞുണ്ണിയുടെ മുന്‍പില്‍ ജീവിതത്തിന്റെ അര്‍ത്ഥങ്ങള്‍ ഗുരു കൃപയില്‍ തെളിഞ്ഞു വിളങ്ങുന്നു.

This book intends to reintroduce pleasure as an innate guide to living a healthy and happy life—a simple yet powerful assertion based on empirical data, which stands up to the strictest scrutiny.

Whether you’re discovering Stoicism for the first time or revisiting its timeless teachings, this audiobook offers the perfect guide to clarity, self-mastery, and a deeper appreciation for life.

Beyond the rehashed clichés, this book inspires us to rediscover Diogenes' philosophical legacy—whether it be the challenge to the established order, the detachment from materialism, the choice of a return to nature, or the formulation of a cosmopolitan ideal strongly rooted in the belief that virtue is better revealed in action than in theory.

In this excellent English translation of The Analects, or Sayings, of Confucius, listeners will find a rich distillation of the timeless precepts of one of history's most influential teachers and social theorists. A Chinese philosopher who lived c. 551 to c. 479 B.C., Confucius originated and taught an ethical, socially oriented philosophy that stressed proper behavior and a sympathetic, mutually supportive attitude among individuals, their families and society.