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The Essential Fromm: Life Between Having and Being
by Erich FrommEssays on human alienation, mode of existence, consumerism, narcissism, and more from &“both a psychologist of penetration and a writer of ability&” (Chicago Tribune). As Erich Fromm points out, ours is &“a life between having and being&”—between mere having and healthy being, between destructiveness and creativity, between narcissism and productive self-understanding, between passivity and the joy of positive activity. The alternatives of having and being are basic orientations of our character and determine our behavior. The mostly unpublished and unknown texts featured in The Essential Fromm encapsulate the psychologist&’s views on the fulfilling life. To put down roots yet remain free is what the late Erich Fromm called the art of being. It is the secret of happiness.
The Essential Huainanzi (Translations from the Asian Classics)
by An Li, King of HuainanCompiled in the second century B.C.E, the Huainanzi clarifies a crucial period in the development of Chinese conceptions of the cosmos, human nature, and the social order. Outlining "all that a modern monarch needs to know," the text emphasizes rigorous self-cultivation and mental discipline, attributing successful rule to a balance of broad knowledge, diligent application, and penetrating wisdom.In 2010, the editors of this volume completed the first complete English-language translation of the Huainanzi, opening exciting new pathways in the study of philosophy, Asian studies, political science, and Asian literature. This abridgement contains essential selections from each of the Huainanzi's twenty-one chapters and adds a new introduction and chapter descriptions. The text represents a remarkable synthesis of Daoist classics, such as the Laozi and the Zhuangzi; works associated with the Confucian tradition, such as the Changes, the Odes, and the Documents; and a range of other foundational philosophical and literary works, from the Mozi to the Hanfeizi. The abridgement preserves the Huainanzi's special rhetorical features, such as its parallel prose, verse, and unique compositional techniques. For decades, Western scholars overlooked the Huainanzi's sophisticated structure, creative content, and rich historical value, yet all that changed with the translation of the full text. Designed for classroom use and general readers, The Essential Huainanzi continues to increase awareness of this brilliant work and change our understanding of early Chinese history.
The Essential Huainanzi: Liu An, King of Huainan
by Major Meyer Roth John S. Queen Sarah A. Andrew Seth Harold D.Columbia University Press’s widely anticipated, complete translation of the Huainanzi, published in 2010, opened exciting new pathways in the study of classical Chinese philosophy and literature. Compiled in the second century B.C.E., the Huainanzi is a critical work of early Chinese thought, clarifying a crucial period in the development of Chinese conceptions of the cosmos, human nature, and the social order. This abridgement contains essential selections from each of the Huainanzi’s twenty-one chapters and adds a new introduction and chapter descriptions. Designed for classroom use and general readers, it allows even greater access to this central work of Chinese intellectual history. Outlining “all that a modern monarch needs to know” in order to govern efficaciously, the Huainanzi emphasizes rigorous self-cultivation and mental discipline, attributing successful rule to a balance of broad knowledge, diligent application, and penetrating wisdom. The text represents a remarkable synthesis of Daoist classics, such as the Laozi and the Zhuangzi; works associated with the Confucian tradition, such as the Changes, the Odes, and the Documents; and a range of other foundational philosophical and literary texts, from the Mozi to the Hanfeizi. This abridgement preserves the Huainanzi’s special rhetorical features, such as its parallel prose and verse, and its unique compositional techniques, making its form and content accessible to students, specialists of later China, and audiences new to Chinese history and thought. For decades, Western scholars overlooked the Huainanzi’s sophisticated structure, creative content, and rich historical value, yet all that changed with the translation of the full text. The Essential Huainanzi continues to increase awareness of this brilliant work and change our understanding of early Chinese history.
The Essential Jean-Paul Sartre: The Emotions and Essays in Aesthetics
by Jean-Paul SartreThe renowned French philosopher lays the foundation for an Existentialist approach to psychology and aesthetics in this pair of classic works. In The Emotions: Outline of a Theory, Jean-Paul Sartre explores the role of emotions in the human psyche, presenting a phenomenological approach to psychology. Analyzing the universal, yet subjective, experiences of fear, lust, anguish, and melancholy, Sartre asserts that human beings develop their emotional capabilities from a very early age, which helps them identify and understand the names and qualities of their feelings later in life. Essays in Aesthetics is a provocative collection that explores the nature of art and its meaning. Sartre considers the artist&’s &“function,&” and the relation between art and the human condition. Engaging with the works of Tintoretto, Calder, Lapoujade, Titian, Raphael, and Michaelangelo, Sartre offers a fascinating analysis of the creative process. The result is a vibrant manifesto of existentialist aesthetics.
The Essential Ken Wilber
by Ken WilberEver since the publication of his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, written when he was twenty-three, Ken Wilber has been identified as the most comprehensive philosophical thinker of our times. This introductory sampler, designed to acquaint newcomers with his work, contains brief passages from his most popular books, ranging over a variety of topics, including levels of consciousness, mystical experience, meditation practice, death, the perennial philosophy, and Wilber's integral approach to reality, integrating matter, body, mind, soul, and spirit. Here is Wilber's writing at its most reader-friendly, discussing essential ideas of the world's great psychological, philosophical, and spiritual traditions in language that is lucid, engaging, and inspirational.
The Essential Keynes
by John Maynard Keynes Robert SkidelskyThe essential writings of the 20th century's most influential economist, collected in one volume Today, John Maynard Keynes is best remembered for his pioneering development of macroeconomics, and for his advocacy of active fiscal and monetary government policy. This uniquely comprehensive selection of his work, edited by Keynes's award-winning biographer Robert Skidelsky, aims to make his work more accessible to both students of economics and the general reader. All of Keynes's major economic work is included, yet the selection goes beyond pure economics. Here too are Keynes's essential writings on philosophy, social theory and policy, and his futurist vision of a world without work. As Robert Skidelsky writes in his introduction: "People talk of the need for a new Keynes. But the old Keynes still has superlative wisdom to offer for a new age."For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Essential Kierkegaard
by Howard V. Hong Edna H. Hong Søren KierkegaardDrawn from the volumes of Princeton's authoritative Kierkegaard's Writings series by editors Howard and Edna Hong, the selections represent every major aspect of Kierkegaard's extraordinary career. They reveal the powerful mix of philosophy, psychology, theology, and literary criticism that made Kierkegaard one of the most compelling writers of the nineteenth century and a shaping force in the twentieth. With an introduction to Kierkegaard's writings as a whole and explanatory notes for each selection, this is the essential one-volume guide to a thinker who changed the course of modern intellectual history. The anthology begins with Kierkegaard's early journal entries and traces the development of his work chronologically to the final The Changelessness of God. The book presents generous selections from all of Kierkegaard's landmark works, including Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, Works of Love, and The Sickness unto Death, and draws new attention to a host of such lesser-known writings as Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions and The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air. The selections are carefully chosen to reflect the unique character of Kierkegaard's work, with its shifting pseudonyms, its complex dialogues, and its potent combination of irony, satire, sermon, polemic, humor, and fiction.
The Essential Leviathan: A Modernized Edition
by Thomas Hobbes Nancy Stanlick Daniel P. ColletteThis edition of Leviathan is intended to provide the reader with a modestly abridged text that is straightforward and accessible, while preserving Hobbes' main lines of argument and of thought. It is meant for those who wish to focus primarily on the philosophical aspects of the work, apart from its stylish but often daunting early modern prose. The editors have updated language, style, punctuation, and grammar throughout. Very long, complicated sentences have been broken into two or more sentences for enhanced readability. In some instances, terms within a sentence are rearranged for enhanced clarity. Occasionally, an equivalent contemporary word is substituted for an archaic one. Ellipses indicate omissions of more than one sentence. Care has been taken to maintain the strength, nuance, and flavor of the work, especially of Hobbes' most difficult arguments. In addition, the volume offers a general Introduction and concise headnotes to each chapter. Annotation is geared to the student or novice reader. A glossary of key terms is also included, as well as an index.
The Essential Mae Brussell
by Paul Krassner Mae Brussell Alex Constantine"Mae's work may be more relevant now than in her heyday. Like those of many other freedom fighters throughout history, the ghost of Mae Brussell will never rest till justice is served."--Tim Cahill"The main Brussell thesis, if I dare risk commit the sin of summary on her complex work, was that an ex-Nazi scientist-Old Boy OSS clique in the CIA using Mafia hit men changed the course of American history by bumping off one and all, high and low, who became an irritant to them."--Warren Hinkle, San Francisco Examiner columnistThe Essential Mae Brussell is a compilation of chilling essays and radio transcripts by the seminal American anti-fascist researcher, famously supported by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.Mae Brussell was a married housewife with five children living in southern California before she took up the study of fascism in America. After the Kennedy assassination, she purchased the twenty-six-volume Warren Commission Report, and compiled, for herself, evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald was, as he maintained after his arrest, a "patsy." She had a regular radio broadcast on KLRB, an independent FM radio station in Carmel, California. She also published articles in Paul Krassner's the Realist, Hustler, People's Almanac, and the Berkeley Barb. In 1983, Mae's hour-long program shifted to KAZU-FM in Pacific Grove, California, and she remained on the air weekly until her final broadcast in June 1988. On October 3, 1988, at sixty-six, Brussell died of cancer.
The Essential Marcus Aurelius
by Jacob Needleman John P. PiazzaThis inaugural-and all new-Tarcher Cornerstone Edition presents a stunningly relevant and reliable translation of the thoughts and aphorisms of the Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, properly placing the philosopher-king's writings within the vein of the world's great religious and ethical traditions. The late antique world possessed no voice like that of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 CE). His private meditations on what constitutes a good life have withstood the centuries and reach us today with the same penetrating clarity and shining light as the words of Shakespeare, Emerson, or Thoreau. In this remarkable new translation, bestselling religious philosopher Jacob Needleman and classics scholar John P. Piazza have retained the depth of Marcus's perspective on life. They have carefully selected and faithfully rendered those passages that clarify Marcus's role as someone who stood within the great religious and ethical traditions that extend throughout every culture in human history. The voice that emerges from their translation is a universal one, equally recognizable to students of Christ, Buddha, the Vedas, the Talmud, and to anyone who sincerely searches for a way of meaning in contemporary life. .
The Essential Marcuse
by Andrew Feenberg William Leiss Herbert MarcuseThe Essential Marcuse provides an overview of Herbert Marcuse's political and philosophical writing over four decades, with excerpts from his major books as well as essays from various academic journals. The most influential radical philosopher of the 1960s, Marcuse's writings are noteworthy for their uncompromising opposition to both capitalism and communism. His words are as relevant to today's society as they were at the time they were written.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Essential Marcuse: Selected Writings of Philosopher and Social Critic Herbert Marcuse
by Dan MckananThe Essential Marcuse provides an overview of Herbert Marcuse's political and philosophical writing over four decades, with excerpts from his major books as well as essays from various academic journals. The most influential radical philosopher of the 1960s, Marcuse's writings are noteworthy for their uncompromising opposition to both capitalism and communism. His words are as relevant to today's society as they were at the time they were written.
The Essential Martin Lings
by Martin LingsThis collection of the essential writings of Martin Lings brings together some of the most outstanding chapters from his wide range of works. In addition to selections dealing with the perennial philosophy, such as &“Do the Religions Contradict One Another?&”, the anthology includes sections from Lings' writings on Islam and Sufism, notably his magisterial account of the life of the Prophet Muhammad; his acclaimed biography of the Algerian Sufi master Ahmad al-ʿAlawi; his pioneering work on the Quranic art of calligraphy and illumination; and his celebrated translations (from the Arabic) of classics from the field of Sufi mystical poetry. Also featured are selections on the spiritual dimensions to be found in the mature plays of Shakespeare, such as Hamlet.
The Essential Marx: The Communist Manifesto
by Karl Marx Leon TrotskyShortly before he was assassinated in 1940, Leon Trotsky — one of Marx's most devoted converts and a key figure in the Russian Revolution — made this selection from Capital, to which he appended his own lengthy and insightful introduction. Compact and fascinating, this invaluable work not only presents Marx's thoughts in his own words but also places them in the swirling context of the 20th century. A critical analysis of ideas that have influenced millions of lives for well over a century, this book will be an important addition to the libraries of students and instructors of economics, history, government, and Communist thought.
The Essential Mary Midgley
by David MidgleyFeared and admired in equal measure, Mary Midgley has carefully yet profoundly challenged many of the scientific and moral orthodoxies of the twentieth century. The Essential Mary Midgley collects for the first time the very best of this famous philosopher's work, described by the Financial Times as 'common sense philosophy of the highest order'. This unrivalled introduction to a great philosopher and brilliant writer incorporates carefully selected excerpts from Mary Midgley's bestselling books, including Wickedness, Beast and Man, Science and Poetry, and The Myths We Live By. With a specially written foreword by James Lovelock, this classic text presents a superb and eminently readable insight into questions she has returned to time and again in her renowned sharp prose. This anthology discusses major topics, such as the roots of human nature, reason and imagination, the myths of science and the importance of holism in thinking about science and the environment.
The Essential Mengzi: Selected Passages with Traditional Commentary
by Bryan W. Van Norden MengziThe Essential Mengzi offers a representative selection from Bryan Van Norden's acclaimed translation of the full work, including the most frequently studied passages and covering all of the work's major themes. An appendix of selections from the classic commentary of Zhu Xi--one of the most influential and insightful interpreters of Confucianism--keyed to relevant passages, provides access to the text and to its reception and interpretation. Also included are a general Introduction, timeline, glossary, and selected bibliography.
The Essential Nietzsche
by Friedrich Nietzsche Heinrich MannA prominent intellectual of the Weimar era, Heinrich Mann was a leading authority on Nietzsche. This volume consists of Mann's selections of highlights from the philosopher's works, along with an introduction that explains their significance to modern readers.Key excerpts from Nietzsche's books include passages from The Birth of Tragedy, Thoughts Out of Season, The Dawn of the Day, The Joyful Wisdom, Thus Spake Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, The Genealogy of Morals, The Case of Wagner, Nietzsche Contra Wagner, The Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, Ecce Homo, and The Will to Power. For ease of reference, Mann has arranged the text in sections corresponding to Nietzsche's views on science, philosophy, and truth; his critiques of culture -- the use and abuse of history, Europeans and Germans, Wagner, the genealogy of morals, and nihilism; his concept of the world without God, including the birth of tragedy out of the spirit of music, the true and the apparent world, and eternal recurrence; and his confessions.
The Essential Peirce, Volume 1: Selected Philosophical Writings (The Essential Peirce)
by Nathan Houser and Christian Kloesel" . . . a first-rate edition, which supersedes all other portable Peirces. . . . all the Peirce most people will ever need." —Louis Menand, The New York Review of Books"The Monist essays are included in the first volume of the compact and welcome Essential Peirce; they are by Peirce's standards quite accessible and splendid in their cosmic scope and assertiveness." —London Review of BooksA convenient two-volume reader's edition makes accessible to students and scholars the most important philosophical papers of the brilliant American thinker Charles Sanders Peirce. This first volume presents twenty-five key texts from the first quarter century of his writing, with a clear introduction and informative headnotes. Volume 2 will highlight the development of Peirce's system of signs and his mature pragmatism.
The Essential Peirce, Volume 2: Selected Philosophical Writings (The Essential Peirce)
by Peirce Edition ProjectPraise for Volume 1:" . . . a first-rate edition, which supersedes all other portable Peirces. . . . all the Peirce most people will ever need." —Louis Menand, The New York Review of BooksVolume 2 of this convenient two-volume chronological reader's edition provides the first comprehensive anthology of the brilliant American thinker Charles Sanders Peirce's mature philosophy. A central focus of Volume 2 is Peirce's evolving theory of signs and its appplication to his pragmatism.
The Essential Plato: Apology, Symposium, and The Republic
by PlatoThree Socratic dialogues by the ancient Greek philosopher who established the foundations of Western thought. Apology: In this classic text, Plato recounts the trial of his mentor Socrates, who stands accused of rejecting the gods and corrupting the youth of Athens. As recounted by Plato, Socrates defends himself with a profound examination of integrity, citizenship, the nature of truth, and the role of a philosopher. Symposium: Here Plato depicts a group of Athenian intellectuals discussing the nature of desire. One after another, Agathon, Aristodemus, Eryximachus, Pausanias, and Aristophanes share their perspectives on gender, love, sexuality, and human instincts. The dialogue culminates in the radical views of Socrates, who advocates transcendence through spiritual worship. The Republic: Plato&’s magnum opus is a wide-ranging and deeply influential meditation on society as a whole. Plato explores the concept of justice, the connection between politics and psychology, the difference between words and what they represent, and the roles of art and education, among many other topics.
The Essential Rene Guenon: Metaphysical Principles, Traditional Doctrines, and the Crisis of Modernity
by John HerlihyA prolific writer and author of over 24 books, Rene Guenon was the founder of the Perennialist/Traditionalist school of comparative religious thought. Known for his discourses on the intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy of the modern world, symbolism, tradition, and the inner or spiritual dimension of religion, this book is a compilation of his most important writings. A key component of his thought was the assertion that universal truths manifest themselves in various forms in the world's religions and his writings on Hinduism, Taoism, and Sufism are particularly illuminating in this regard.
The Essential Russell Kirk: Selected Essays
by Russell KirkAs the author of The Conservative Mind and other seminal books, Russell Kirk is usually thought of as one of the American conservative political movement&’s most important progenitors. But as this collection demonstrates, Kirk was perhaps at his best as an essayist. This volume also confirms that Kirk&’s was principally a literary and historical conservatism that refused to fit the irreducible complexity of human experience to the requirements of any ideological straitjacket. With The Essential Russell Kirk, literary critic George A. Panichas captures the breadth and depth of Kirk&’s intellectual project by gathering together forty-four of the most masterful of Kirk&’s essays, along with a unique chronology told in Kirk&’s own words and a substantial introduction that articulates the deep humanism that animated Kirk&’s philosophy. The result is a carefully assembled volume that gives us a fuller picture of an extraordinary man and writer, one whose labors had, and continue to have, remarkable repercussions on the American literary and political landscape.
The Essential Sangharakshita: A Half-Century of Writings from the Founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order
by Emily Stout Urgyen SangharakshitaProfoundly knowledgeable and articulate, and equally at home with science, philosophy, myth, art, and poetry, Urgyen Sangharakshita uses every inner avenue to communicate the timeless Dharma to the Western mind. Engaging both the intellect and the heart countless times in a single chapter, the author draws remarkably apt examples from sources as diverse as Orwell, Aeschylus, and Jane Austen. This distilled volume is a primer to the breadth and depth of Buddhist thought and practice.
The Essential Schopenhauer: Key Selections from The World as Will and Representation and Other Writings (Harper Perennial Modern Thought Ser.)
by Arthur Schopenhauer“We should be grateful to Schopenhauer for managing to express the truth about life so beautifully.” —Alain De Botton, author of The Consolations of Philosophy“Schopenhauer’s philosophy has had a special attraction for those who wonder about life’s meaning, along with those engaged in music, literature, and the visual arts.” —Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The Essential Schopenhauer delivers the first comprehensive English anthology of the seminal philosopher’s writings. Edited by Wolfgang Schirmacher, president of the International Schopenhauer Association, this indispensible collection affords readers a uniquely accessible gateway into the monolithic thinker’s prodigious body of work. Just as the Harper Perennial Basic Writings seriesrenders the work of Heidegger and Nietzsche accessible for English readers, The Essential Schopenhauer gives us unprecedented access to the complex ideas of this profound and influential thinker.
The Essential Spinoza: Ethics and Related Writings
by Michael L. Morgan Baruch Spinoza Samuel ShirleyDesigned to facilitate a thoughtful and informed reading of Spinoza's Ethics, this anthology provides the Ethics, related writings, and two valuable appendices: List of Propositions from the Ethics, which helps readers to trace the development of key themes; and Citations in Proofs, a list of all the propositions, corollaries, and scholia in the Ethics, together with all the definitions, axioms, propositions, corollaries, and scholia to which Spinoza refers in the proofs--thus, readers can locate, for a given item, each instance where Spinoza refers to it.