Philosophy

By most popular accounts, the universe started with a bang some 13.8 billion years ago. But what happened before the Big Bang? And how do we know it happened at all? Here prominent cosmologist Niayesh Afshordi and science communicator Phil Halper offer a tour of the peculiar possibilities...

Have you ever wondered why the private thoughts of a Roman Emperor still resonate so deeply today? Meditations reveals the soul of a man striving for self-mastery amidst immense pressure. Written nearly two thousand years ago by Marcus Aurelius, these private writings remain the ultimate manual for cultivating mental toughness and emotional resilience.

READ BY RACHEL MADDOW From a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and a former White House senior advisor, a deeply reported manual about how anyone can defy an authoritarian – based on original interviews with more than 100 dissidents, activists, and theorists across the world. The...

Niemand ist davor gefeit, im Laufe des Lebens aus der Bahn geworfen zu werden − sei es durch eine tiefe Erschöpfung, die sich im Alltag eingeschlichen hat oder durch eine akute psychische Krise. Alain de Botton hat einen empathischen Begleiter für diese herausfordernden Lebensabschnitte geschrieben: Wie gehen wir freundlich und fürsorglich mit uns um, wenn Besserung in weiter Ferne scheint? Welche kleinsten Veränderungen und Kniffe helfen, den entscheidenden Unterschied zu machen? Wie stärken wir unsere Resilienz? Wie finden wir unseren Weg aus der Krise?

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." Published in 1886, Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil shattered the foundations of...

In our busy and hurried lives, we are losing the ability to be inactive. Human existence becomes fully absorbed by activity – even leisure, treated as a respite from work, becomes part of the same logic. Intense life today means first of all more performance or more consumption. We have...

Brook Ziporyn's carefully crafted translation of the complete writings of Zhuangzi—including a lucid Introduction and Glossary of Essential Terms—provides listeners with an engaging and provocative deep dive into this magical work. This audiobook is expertly read by Brian Nishii, with audio...

Zen Buddhism is a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism that originated in China and is strongly focused on meditation. It is characteristically sceptical towards language and distrustful of conceptual thought, which explains why Zen Buddhist sayings are so enigmatic and succinct. But despite Zen...

Bloomsbury presents Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left by Roger Scruton, read by Kris Dyer A devastating critique of New Left thinking. In Fools, Frauds and Firebrands, Roger Scruton first surveys and then deconstructs the golden idols of left wing thought from the 1960s to...

In Widening Circles, well-known eco-philosopher, Buddhist scholar, and deep ecology activist/teacher Joanna Macy recounts her adventures of mind and spirit in the key social movements of her time. Macy’s autobiography reads like a novel as she relates her multi-faceted life experiences and reflects on how her marriage and family life enriched her service to the world.

Friedrich Nietzsche has had an extraordinary impact on modern philosophy, but what did he really mean when he talked about the 'death of God'? What are we to make of the idea of the 'superman'? And what should be the guiding light for our morality? In this volume, the author answers these questions and more as he breaks down Nietzsche's key ideas into easily accessible chunks.

How did a remote desert people change the course of world history? In the seventh century AD, the Eastern Roman Empire collapsed—defeated by the rising power of Arabia. How did this happen? And why then? In this gripping new history, Nick Holmes offers a fresh view of the end of the Ancient...

'You, me and everyone else who has ever lived, or will ever live, is going to die.' The Stoics knew that tempus fugit ('time flies'). Rather than see this as a bummer, however, they knew that our ever-ticking personal doomsday clocks were actually a brilliant reminder to embrace every second of...

When Words Fail Us: Truth beyond time, is the powerful new work by acclaimed author and broadcaster Stan Grant. In this deeply reflective and timely book, Stan Grant – one of Australia’s most prominent voices on identity, nationhood and belonging – explores the fragility of language and the profound importance of listening and silence in an age of distracted, angry noise and disembodied algorithms.

Der Energiesektor steckt inmitten einer industriellen Revolution. So wie die Dampfmaschine die Pferdekraft verdrängt hat, das Auto die Kutsche oder das Smartphone das Handy, stellen heute erneuerbare Energien, Batteriespeicher und Elektroautos weltweit die Märkte auf den Kopf. Aber warum findet diese Revolution statt – und wird sie erfolgreich sein?

In this book, Bauman examines how we have moved away from a 'heavy' and 'solid', hardware-focused modernity to a 'light' and 'liquid', software-based modernity. This passage, he argues, has brought profound change to all aspects of the human condition. The new remoteness and un-reachability of...

We no longer inhabit earth and dwell under the sky: these are being replaced by Google Earth and the Cloud. The terrestrial order is giving way to a digital order, the world of things is being replaced by a world of non-things – a constantly expanding 'infosphere' of information and...

As a Man Thinketh is James Allen’s timeless exploration of the power of thought and its influence on character, circumstances and destiny. First published in 1902, this enduring classic argues that our thoughts shape our actions, habits and ultimately the quality of our lives. Allen presents a...

「意識」は感情や意思決定に深く関わっているとされるが、それは錯覚にすぎない。例えば、あなたが今日コンビニでペットボトルの水を買ったとしよう。数ある種類の中からその水を選んだ理由を説明することはできるかもしれない。

人生は自分次第だなんて、大嘘である。私たちは何もコントロールしていないが、あらゆることに影響を与えている。カオス理論や進化生物学、歴史、哲学など、多様な知見を縦横無尽に渉猟し、世界の成り立ちや人生について考えさせる、壮大かつ感動的な書。

Nutzgärten, Moosgärten, Botanische Gärten, Landschaftsgärten … die Vielfalt dessen, was wir unter Gärten verstehen, ist groß. Fest steht: Das Gärtnern gehört zu den ureigenen Beschäftigungen des Menschen. Die Sehnsucht, das Richtige zu tun, ein gutes Leben zu leben, schwingt bei der Gartenarbeit als Motivation immer mit.

Qui étaient vraiment les sophistes, ces maîtres de parole capables d'enthousiasmer la jeunesse athénienne et d'inquiéter Socrate, Platon ou Aristote ? Cet ouvrage clair et vivant dévoile l'univers de Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias et Prodicos : leurs idées, leur influence et les débats décisifs qu'ils ont ouverts sur la vérité, la justice, la démocratie ou le pouvoir du langage. Entre relativisme, scepticisme et invention d'une nouvelle éthique, les sophistes ont posé les bases d'une pensée lucide et pragmatique, dont les échos résonnent encore aujourd'hui.

Philosophe discret menant une vie d'une régularité quasi légendaire, Emmanuel Kant n'en demeure pas moins l'un des penseurs les plus audacieux et les plus décisifs de l'histoire de la philosophie. En interrogeant radicalement les limites de la connaissance, les fondements de la morale et le sens de l'espérance humaine, il a bouleversé notre façon de penser et ouvert une voie nouvelle à l'autonomie intellectuelle. Cet ouvrage clair et accessible offre une introduction lumineuse à son œuvre.

Schuhe an und los! Kein Sport ist so einfach wie das Laufen. Ob im Wald, im Park, auf der Straße, ob vor oder nach der Arbeit, im Sommer, im Winter und natürlich bei Wettkämpfen – laufen kann man überall und jederzeit, es ist vielseitig und für jeden einfach und günstig machbar. Aber es steckt noch mehr dahinter: Es schult unseren Charakter und verhilft uns letztlich zu größerer Freiheit, erweitert unseren Horizont und lehrt uns viel über uns selbst und die Welt um uns herum.

Weaving the wisdom of ancient Hindu tales with contemporary analysis and guided meditations, Stories of Our Lives, narrated by author Janet Stone, illustrates how these age-old stories teach universal lessons and insights for understanding ourselves today. Passed down for generations, India’s...