Ancient & Classical

Perennial wisdom from one of history's most important but lesser-known Stoic teachers"He knew that all a philosopher could do was respond well-bravely, boldly, patiently-to what life threw at us. That's what we should be doing now."-Ryan Holiday, Reading...

On Obligations (De officiis) was written by Cicero in late 44 BC after the assassination of Julius Caesar to provide principles of behaviour for aspiring politicians. It explores the apparent tensions between honourable conduct and expediency in public...

For the Pre-Socratic philosophers the soul was the source of movement and sensation, while for Plato it was the seat of being, metaphysically distinct from the body that it was forced temporarily to inhabit. Plato's student Aristotle was determined to...

The Phaedo is acknowledged to be one of Plato's greatest masterpieces, showing him both as a philosopher and as a dramatist at the height of his powers. For its moving account of the execution of Socrates, the Phaedo ranks among the supreme literary...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780143122210Author Paul JohnsonFormat PaperbackPage Count 224Imprint Penguin USAPublisher Penguin Putnam IncWeight(grams) 167g

Volume 1 presents the texts in new translations by the authors, and these are accompanied by a philosophical and historical commentary designed for use by all readers, including those with no background in the classical world. With its glossary and...

'John Sellars excels at writing short books for a general audience on ancient philosophy. . . A great way into one of the greatest philosophers of all time' Nigel Warburton, Five Books Why has Aristotle had such an astounding influence on the world?...

Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (Vth century BCE) is best known in the history of philosophy for his stance that there is a share of everything in everything. He puts forward this theory of extreme mixture as a solution to the problem of change he and his...

'. . . as when iron is drawn to a magnet, camphor is sucked into hot air, crystal lights up in the Sun, sulfur and a volatile liquid are kindled by flame, an empty eggshell filled with dew is raised towards the Sun . . .'This rich, fascinating anthology...

Regarded as the founder of Neo-Platonism, Plotinus (AD 204-70) was the last great philosopher of antiquity, producing 0works that proved in many ways a precursor to Renaissance thought. Plotinus was convinced of the existence of a state of supreme...

This edition includes a select bibliography, a synopsis of each book, a glossary of terms, a glossary and index of names, and a general index. "Reeve's new translation of Republic is the one to order for students. . . . Reeve draws on his thorough...

The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BCE), though often despised for his materialism, hedonism, and denial of the immortality of the soul during many periods of history, has at the same time been a source of inspiration to figures as diverse...

In AD68 Nero's suicide marked the end of the first dynasty of imperial Rome. The following year was one of drama and danger, though not of chaos.In the surviving books of his Histories the barrister-historian Tacitus, writing some thirty years after the...

The Arabic philosophical fable "Hayy Ibn Yaqzan" is a classic of medieval Islamic philosophy. Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185), an Andalusian philosopher, tells of a happy child raised by a doe on an equatorial island who grows up to discover the truth about the...

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR What is the nature of things? Must I think my own way through the world? What is justice? How can I be me? How should we treat each other? Before the...

Lucretius' Epicurean poem De Rerum Natura ('On the Nature of Things'), written in the middle of the first century BC, made a fundamental and lasting contribution to the language of Latin philosophy. The style of De Rerum Natura is like nothing else in...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781608687299Author Joseph CampbellFormat HardbackPage Count 576Imprint New World LibraryPublisher New World Library

We tend to suppose that the ancient Greeks had primitive ideas of the self, of responsibility, freedom, and shame, and that now humanity has advanced from these to a more refined moral consciousness. Bernard Williams' original and radical book questions...

City of God is an enduringly significant work in the history of Christian thought, by one of its central figuresWritten as an eloquent defence of the faith at a time when the Roman Empire was on the brink of collapse, this great theological and...

This volume brings together articles by sixteen leading scholars on a cross-section of Platonists authors-Christian and non-Christian-from early through late Byzantium philosophy, including the Capaddocians, Cyril, Proclus, Damascius, Dionysius, George...

Plato's Symposium is an exceptionally multi-layered dialogue. At once a historical document, a philosophical drama that enacts abstract ideas in an often light-hearted way, and a literary masterpiece, it has exerted an influence that goes well beyond the...

'Poverty does not consist in the want of money,' I answered, 'nor is begging to be deplored. Poverty consists in the desire to have everything, and through violent means if necessary'From their founding in the fifth century BC and for over 800 years, the...

In the Laws, Plato describes in fascinating detail a comprehensive system of legislation in a small agricultural utopia he named Magnesia. His laws not only govern crime and punishment, but also form a code of conduct for all aspects of life in his ideal...

'You are going to entrust your soul to the care of a sophist. But I should be surprised if you even know what a sophist is.' In the fifth century BC professional educators, the sophists, travelled the Greek world claiming to teach success in public...

'It is impossible to live the pleasant life without also living sensibly, nobly and justly'The ancient Greek philosopher and teacher Epicurus argued that pleasure - not sensual hedonism, but the absence of pain or fear - is the highest goal of life. His...

Aristotle Ars RhetoricaBook InformationISBN 9780198145578Author Sir David RossFormat HardbackPage Count 220Imprint Oxford University PressPublisher Oxford University PressDimensions(mm) 194mm * 131mm * 19mm

This book presents a history of spiritual exercises from Socrates to early Christianity, an account of their decline in modern philosophy, and a discussion of the different conceptions of philosophy that have accompanied the trajectory and fate of the...

Classic criticism.This volume brings together the three most influential ancient Greek treatises on literature.Aristotle's Poetics contains his treatment of Greek tragedy: its history, nature, and conventions, with details on poetic diction. Stephen...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780553385663Author Arthur HermanFormat PaperbackPage Count 704Imprint Random House IncPublisher Random House USA IncWeight(grams) 488gDimensions(mm) 203mm *...

We take for granted that only certain kind of things exist - electrons but not angels, passports but not nymphs. This is what we understand as 'reality'. But in fact, 'reality' varies with each era of the world, in turn shaping the field of what is...

'One swallow does not make a summer; neither does one day. Similarly neither can one day, or a brief space of time, make a man blessed and happy'What does it mean to be a good person? Ranging over eternal questions of right and wrong, pleasure and...

An engaging new translation of a timeless masterpiece about coping with the death of a loved oneIn 45 BCE, the Roman statesman Cicero fell to pieces when his beloved daughter, Tullia, died from complications of childbirth. But from the depths of despair,...

Everyone wants to live a meaningful life. Long before our own day of self-help books offering twelve-step programs and other guides to attain happiness, the philosophers of ancient Greece explored the riddle of what makes a life worth living, producing a...

An authoritative new translation of Plato's The Republic by Christopher Rowe, with notes and an introduction.'We set about founding the best city we could, because we could be confident that if it was good we would find justice in it' The Republic,...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781774378458Author Hermes TrismegistusFormat HardbackPage Count 90Imprint Royal ClassicsPublisher Royal ClassicsWeight(grams) 304gDimensions(mm) 229mm *...

An epistemological diptych.Plato, the great philosopher of Athens, was born in 427 BC. In early manhood an admirer of Socrates, he later founded the famous school of philosophy in the grove Academus. Much else recorded of his life is uncertain; that...

The statesman on statecraft.Cicero (Marcus Tullius, 106-43 BC), Roman lawyer, orator, politician, and philosopher, of whom we know more than of any other Roman, lived through the stirring era that saw the rise, dictatorship, and death of Julius ...

'Once upon a time there were just the gods; mortal beings did not yet exist.' We are used to thinking of myths as stories, and modern myths as made up and fictitious. For the ancient Greeks, however, a myth was a story that unveiled reality, and for...

A major writer and a leading figure in the public life of Rome, Seneca (c. 4BC-AD 65) ranks among the most eloquent and influential masters of Latin prose. This selection explores his thoughts on philosophy and the trials of life. In the Consolation to...

'. . . the more honourable animals have been allotted a more honourable soul. . . ' What is the nature of the soul? It is this question that Aristotle sought to answer in De Anima (On the Soul). In doing so he offers a psychological theory that...