History of Western philosophy

Showing all 7 results

  • How the world made the West

    £30.00

    How the world made the West

    What does history look like without ‘civilisations’? Josephine Quinn calls for a major reassessment of the West and the concepts that define it. The West, history tells us, was built on the ideas and values of Ancient Greece and Rome, which disappeared from Europe during the Dark Ages and were then rediscovered by the Renaissance. In a bold and magisterial work of immense scope, Josephine Quinn argues that the true story of the West is much bigger than this established paradigm leads us to believe.

    £30.00
  • How to Think Like a Philosopher

    £10.99

    How to Think Like a Philosopher

    As politics slides toward impulsivity, and outrage bests rationality, how can philosophy help us critically engage with real world problems? Drawing on decades of work in philosophy including a huge range of interviews with contemporary philosophers, Julian Baggini sets out how philosophical thought can promote incisive thinking. Introducing everyday examples and contemporary political concerns – from climate change to implicit bias – ‘How to Think Like a Philosopher’ is a revelatory exploration of the techniques, methods and principles that guide philosophy, and how they can be applied to our own lives.

    £10.99
  • Straw dogs

    £9.99

    Straw dogs

    ‘Straw Dogs’ is a radical work of philosophy that sets out to challenge our most cherished assumptions about what it means to be human. From Plato to Christianity, from the Enlightenment to Nietzsche and Marx, the Western tradition has been based on arrogant and erroneous beliefs about human beings and their place in the world. Philosophies such as liberalism and Marxism enthrone humankind as a species whose destiny is to transcend natural limits and conquer the Earth. Even in the present day, despite Darwin’s discoveries, nearly all schools of thought take as their starting point the belief that humans are radically different from other animals.

    SKU: 9781803510088 Category: Tag:
    £9.99
  • The Frontiers of Knowledge

    £10.99

    The Frontiers of Knowledge

    In very recent times humanity has learnt a vast amount about the universe, the past, and itself. But through our remarkable successes in acquiring knowledge we have learned how much we have yet to learn: the science we have, for example, addresses just 5% of the universe; pre-history is still being revealed, with thousands of historical sites yet to be explored; and the new neurosciences of mind and brain are just beginning. Bestselling polymath and philosopher A.C. Grayling seeks to answer them in three crucial areas at the frontiers of knowledge: science, history, and psychology. In each area he illustrates how each field has advanced to where it is now, from the rise of technology to quantum theory, from the dawn of humanity to debates around national histories, from ancient ideas of the brain to modern theories of the mind.

    £10.99
  • The pig that wants to be eaten

    £10.99

    The pig that wants to be eaten

    The author presents 100 thought experiments, and invites the reader to think about possible answers. Experiments cover identity, religion, art, ethics, language, knowledge and many more. Baggini offers some ways of approaching each problem.

    £10.99
  • The West

    £12.99

    The West

    Many of us assume Western civilisation derives from a cultural inheritance that stretches back to classical antiquity, a golden thread that binds us from Plato to NATO. But what if all this is wrong? What if the Western world does not have its ultimate origins in a single cultural bloodline but rather a messy bramble of ancestors and influences? What if ‘the West’ is just an idea that has been invented, co-opted, and mythologised to serve different purposes through history? As battles over privilege, identity and prejudice rock the cultural wars, it’s never been more important to understand how the concept of ‘the West’ came to be. This book tells a bold, empowering new story of how the idea of ‘the West’ was created, how it has been used to justify imperialism and racism, and also why it’s still a powerful ideological tool to understand our world.

    £12.99
  • Why politics fails

    £10.99

    Why politics fails

    Drawing on examples from Ancient Greece through Brexit and using his own award-winning research – on how democracy is more likely to thrive under high inequality, for instance – Oxford professor Ben Ansell explains the cul-de-sac of modern politics – and how we can make it better. Understanding these traps helps us escape or avoid them altogether, in ways small to large, ultimately showing how we can all thrive in an imperfect world.

    £10.99