Because it laid the foundation for nearly all subsequent epistemologies, Immanuel Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" has overshadowed his other interests in natural history and the life sciences, which scholars have long considered as separate from his...

During the eighteenth century, some of the most popular British poetry showed a responsiveness to animals that anticipated the later language of animal rights. Such poems were widely cited in later years by legislators advocating animal welfare laws...

"The Man Who Thought He Was Napoleon" is built around a bizarre historical event and an off-hand challenge. The event? In December 1840, nearly twenty years after his death, the remains of Napoleon were returned to Paris for burial – and the next day...

First published in 1516, Saint Thomas More's "Utopia" is one of the most important works of European humanism and serves as a key text in survey courses on Western intellectual history, the Renaissance, political theory, and many other subjects. Pree...

In this extraordinary work, Peter Alexander Meyers shows how the centrepiece of the Enlightenment – society as the symbol of collective human life and as the fundamental domain of human practice – was primarily composed and animated by its most ambiv...

As the aftershocks of the latest economic meltdown reverberate throughout the world, and people organize to physically occupy the major financial centers of the West, few experts and even fewer governments have dared to consider a world without the p...

The world is complex, but acknowledging its complexity requires an appreciation for the many roles context plays in shaping natural phenomena. In "Unsimple Truths", Sandra Mitchell argues that the long-standing scientific and philosophical deference...

Leo Strauss's "What Is Political Philosophy?" addresses almost every major theme in his life's work and is often viewed as a defense of his overall philosophic approach. Yet precisely because the book is so foundational, if we want to understand Stra...

Love – unconditional, selfless, unchanging, sincere, and totally accepting – is worshipped today as the West's only universal religion. To challenge it is one of our few remaining taboos. In this pathbreaking and superbly written book, philosopher Si...

It is hard to imagine a book, essay or pamphlet outside of the Bible that has been more influential, and widely read, than Marx and Engels' "Communist Manifesto". Written in 1848, this small book has become one of the world's most influential politic...