Books, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Modern Renaissance

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Niccolo Machiavelli
Machiavelli: The Prince (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)
by Cambridge University Press (Paperback)

Thomas More
Utopia: Thomas More
by Yale University Press (Paperback)

First published in 1516, Saint Thomas More's Utopia is one of the most important works of European humanism. Through the voice of the mysterious traveler Raphael Hythloday, More describes a pagan, communist city-state governed by reason. Addressing such issues as religious pluralism, women's rights, state-sponsored education, colonialism, and justified warfare, Utopia seems remarkably contemporary nearly five centuries after it was written, and it remains a foundational text in philosophy and political theory. Preeminent More scholar Clarence H. Miller does justice to the full range of More's rhetoric in this new translation. Professor Miller includes a helpful introduction that outlines some of the important problems and issues that Utopia raises, and also provides informative commentary to assist the reader throughout this challenging and rewarding exploration of the meaning of political community.

John Locke
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Penguin Classics)
by Penguin Classics (Paperback)

In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, first published in 1690, John Locke (1632 1704) provides a complete account of how we acquire everyday, mathematical, natural scientific, religious and ethical knowledge. Rejecting the theory that some knowledge is innate in us, Locke argues that it derives from sense perceptions and experience, as analysed and developed by reason. While defending these central claims with vigorous common sense, Locke offers many incidental - and highly influential - reflections on space and time, meaning, free will and personal identity. The result is a powerful, pioneering work, which, together with Descartes's works, largely set the agenda for modern philosophy.

Blaise Pascal
Pensees (Penguin Classics)
by Penguin Classics (Paperback)

Blaise Pascal, the precociously brilliant contemporary of Descartes, was a gifted mathematician and physicist, but it is his unfinished apologia for the Christian religion upon which his reputation now rests. "The Pensees" is a collection of philosohical fragments, notes and essays in which Pascal explores the contradictions of human nature in pscyhological, social, metaphysical and - above all - theological terms. Mankind emerges from Pascal's analysis as a wretched and desolate creature within an impersonal universe, but who can be transformed through faith in God's grace.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
by FQ Classics (Hardcover)

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality is a work written by author Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Originally written in the mid-18th century, it is an attempt to answer the question, "What is the origin of inequality among men, and is it authorized by natural law?" as a part of a competition by the Académie de Dijon. The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality is a key work on the differences among men and was opposite of Thomas Hobbes' view that pre-civilized man was in a state of all against all warfare, but rather Rousseau believed that man in a natural state is more accurately described as a noble savage. This is an important work for those interested in the works and beliefs of both Jean-Jacques Rousseau as well as his contemporary Thomas Hobbes.

David Hume
A Treatise of Human Nature
by BiblioBazaar (Paperback) (Release Date: 2006-09-27)

Nothing is more usual and more natural for those, who pretend to discover anything new to the world in philosophy and the sciences, than to insinuate the praises of their own systems, by decrying all those, which have been advanced before them.

Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne - The Complete Essays (Penguin Classics)
by Penguin Classics (Paperback)

In 1572, Montaigne retired to his estates in order to devote himself to leisure, reading and reflection. There he wrote his constantly expanding 'essays', inspired by the ideas he found in books from his library and his own experience. He discusses subjects as diverse as war-horses and cannibals, poetry and politics, sex and religion, love and friendship, ecstasy and experience. Above all, Montaigne studied himself to find his own inner nature and that of humanity. The Essays are among the most idiosyncratic and personal works in all literature. An insight into a wise Renaissance mind, they continue to engage, enlighten and entertain modern readers.

Desiderius Erasmus
The Praise of Folly and Other Writings (Norton Critical Editions)
by W. W. Norton (Paperback)

Erasmus (1466-1536) of Rotterdam was Northern Europe's leader of Renaissance learning. This great Christian humanist and scholar was the founder of the school of thought that anyone who had a good university education and was well-read in literature and theology would be morally virtuous and intellectually disciplined. Erasmus was well-known for his wit, satire and irony and was regarded as one of the best Latin prose stylists since Cicero. His most famous and widely read work, "The Praise of Folly", is a dramatic monologue on the futility of all human thought and aspiration. This new Norton Critical Edition of "The Praise of Folly" also includes selections from his other works such as "The Complaint of Peace", "The Colloquies" and "The Abbot and the Learned Lady", and two versions of Erasmus's foreword to his translation of the New Testament.

Michel de Montaigne
Montaigne: Essays
by Penguin (Non-Classics) (Paperback)

Donna J. Haraway
When Species Meet (Posthumanities)
by Univ Of Minnesota Press (Paperback)

“When Species Meet is a breathtaking meditation on the intersection between humankind and dog, philosophy and science, and macro and micro cultures.” —Cameron Woo, Publisher of Bark magazine   In 2006, about 69 million U.S. households had pets, giving homes to around 73.9 million dogs, 90.5 million cats, and 16.6 million birds, and spending over $38 billion dollars on companion animals. As never before in history, our pets are truly members of the family. But the notion of “companion  species”—knotted from human beings, animals and other organisms, landscapes, and technologies—includes much more than “companion animals.”   In When Species Meet, Donna J. Haraway digs into this larger phenomenon to contemplate the interactions of humans with many kinds of critters, especially with those called domestic. At the heart of the book are her experiences in agility training with her dogs Cayenne and Roland, but Haraway’s vision here also encompasses wolves, ...

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