David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40) presents the most important account of skepticism in the history of modern philosophy. In this lucid and thorough introduction to the work, John P. Wright examines the development of Hume's ideas in the Treatise, their relation to eighteenth-century theories of the imagination and passions, and the reception they received when Hume published the Treatise. He explains Hume's arguments concerning the inability of reason to establish the basic beliefs which underlie science and morals, as well as his arguments showing why we are nevertheless...

The Crisis of the European Sciences is Husserl's last and most influential book, written in Nazi Germany where he was discriminated against as a Jew. It incisively identifies the urgent moral and existential crises of the age and defends the relevance of philosophy at a time of both scientific progress and political barbarism. It is also a response to Heidegger, offering Husserl's own approach to the problems of human finitude, history and culture. The Crisis introduces Husserl's influential notion of the 'life-world' the pre-given, familiar environment that includes both 'nature' and...

If the greatness of a philosophical work can be measured by the volume and vehemence of the public response, there is little question that Rousseau's Social Contract stands out as a masterpiece. Within a week of its publication in 1762 it was banished from France. Soon thereafter, Rousseau fled to Geneva, where he saw the book burned in public. At the same time, many of his contemporaries, such as Kant, considered Rousseau to be the Newton of the moral world, as he was the first philosopher to draw attention to the basic dignity of human nature. The Social Contract has never ceased to be read...

The Gay Science presents Nietzsche's most lyrical, personal expression of his joyful affirmation of life. This book provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to this pivotal work, section by section, making it ideal for readers across a range of philosophical disciplines, including theology, nihilism and self-fashioning.

The Gay Science presents Nietzsche's most lyrical, personal expression of his joyful affirmation of life. This book provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to this pivotal work, section by section, making it ideal for readers across a range of philosophical disciplines, including theology, nihilism and self-fashioning.