The second of Kant's three critiques, Critique of Practical Reason forms the center of Kantian philosophy; published in 1788, it is bookended by his Critique of Pure Reason and Critique of Judgement. With this work Kant establishes his role as a vindicator of the truth of Christianity; he approaches his proof by presenting positive affirmation of the immortality of the soul and the existence of God. The philosopher offers an argument concerning the summum bonum of life: people should not simply search after happiness, but follow the moral law and seek to become...

Essential reading. New Society.
A classic of eighteenth-century thought, Friedrich Schiller s treatise on the role of art in society ranks among German philosophy s most profound works. In addition to its importance to the history of ideas, this 1795 essay remains relevant to our own time.
Beginning with a political analysis of contemporary society in particular, the French Revolution and its failure to implement universal freedom Schiller observes that people cannot transcend their circumstances without education. He conceives of art as the vehicle of education, one that can...

Think with the few and speak with the many, Friends are a second existence, and Be able to forget are among this volume's 300 pithy maxims on politics, professional life, and personal development. Published in 1637 by Baltasar Gracian, a Spanish Jesuit scholar, this book of timeless advice, focusing on honesty and kindness, remains ever popular.

Shortly 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...

Banned in Russia, Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You was deemed a threat to church and state. The culmination of a lifetime's thought, it espouses a commitment to Jesus's message of turning the other cheek. In a bold and original manner, Tolstoy shows his readers clearly why they must reject violence of any sort--even that sanctioned by the state or the church--and urges them to look within themselves to find the answers to questions of morality.
In 1894, one of the first English translations of this book found its way into the hands of a young Gandhi. Inspired by its...

The final published book by Nobel Prize-winning author and philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941), La pensee et le mouvant (translated here as The Creative Mind), is a masterly autobiography of his philosophical method. Through essays and lectures written between 1903 and 1923, Bergson retraces how and why he became a philosopher, and crafts a fascinating critique of philosophy itself. Until it leaves its false paths, he demonstrates, philosophy will remain only a wordy dialectic that surmounts false problems.
With masterful skill and intensity, Bergson shows that metaphysics...