Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell was a notable 20th century British philosopher, mathematician, historian, social critic, and political activist. Considered one of the founders of analytical philosophy, Russell was an iconoclast who helped lead the revolt against British idealism, a prominent philosophy in England at the end of the 19th century. First written in 1912, Bertrand Russell's "The Problems of Philosophy" was an attempt by the author to create...

"Literary Freedom: a Cultural Right to Literature is a non-fiction study of literary freedom from a political-philosophical perspective. It adds an original perspective on the issue of literary freedom as it synthesizes debates from human rights as well as providing a new way of addressing the question 'How do we mitigate against the harm caused by hate speech?' by applying Amartya Sen's capability approach to this question."--

"The 'Occult Trilogy' is the collective label applied to Colin Wilson's three major works on the occult: The Occult (1971); Mysteries: an Investigation into the Occult, the Paranormal and the Supernatural (1978) and Beyond the Occult (1988). They amounted to a monumental 1600 pages and have spawned many other lesser works."--

A masterly distillation of two-and-a-half millennia of intellectual history, and a readable and entertaining crash course in Western philosophyShort, sharp, and entertaining, this survey covers the development of all aspects of the Western philosophical tradition from the ancient Greeks to the present day. No major representative of any significant strand of Western thought escapes the author's attention: the Christian Scholastic theologians of the...

"This unique study of the development of the earliest form of Buddhist self-defense practiced by Chuan Fa monks and mystics shows the philosophical basis of the skills they passed on to subsequent generations.The material is presented so readers can understand that what we think of as a competitive sport is really a meditation mandala in action. Over 100 illustrations. Glossary, bibliography, and index."--

"Are totems merely a thing of the distant past? Or might it be that our sleek new machines are producing totemic forces which we are only beginning to recognize? This book asks to what degree today's media technologies are haunted by a Freudian ghost, functioning as totems or taboos (or both). By isolating five case-studies (rabbits in popular culture, animated creatures that go "off-program," virtual lovers, jealous animal spirit guides, and electronic...

"In this book, which has been called a synthesis of his whole message, Frithjof Schuon invites us to explore aspects of humankind's relationship with the Divine, including our sense of the sacred, the conditions of our existence, the symbolism of the human body, and the question of accepting or refusing God's message. In doing so, Schuon paves the way for a true spiritual engagement. This revised edition has been fully retranslated and contains valuable...

"Theological reactions to the rise of the new atheist movement have largely been critically hostile or defensively deployed apologetics to shore up the faith against attack. Gary Keogh contends that focusing on scholarly material that is inherently agreeable to theology will not suffice in the context of modern academia. Theology needs to test its boundaries. Engaging Richard Dawkins illustrates how dialogue with antithetical viewpoints may offer...

Today, American "rugged individualism" is in a fight for its life on two battlegrounds: in the policy realm and in the intellectual world of ideas that may lead to new policies. In this book, the authors look at the political context in which rugged individualism flourishes or declines and offer a balanced assessment of its future prospects. They outline its path from its founding-marked by the Declaration of Independence-to today, focusing on different...

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. Theologico-Political Treatise is the only work of Baruch Spinoza's original philosophy published during his lifetime. The work has three purposes: to defend and bolster religious tolerance, to make a plea for freedom of thought and democracy, and to offer a new approach to the study and interpretation of the Bible and to its political uses. Despite the author's attempt...