Leviathan (Penguin Classics)
by Thomas Hobbes
from Penguin Classics
Hobbes' classic work has set the tone for the course of political philosophy through to our own day. This new Broadview edition includes the full text of the 1651 edition, together with a wide variety of background documents that help set the work in context. Also included are an introduction, explanatory notes, and a chronology.
Thomas Hobbes wrote this definitive thesis on how to establish a manageable government. "Leviathan" is a treatise similar to Machiavelli's approach to the jurisdiction allowed to independent countries. Hobbes believed that the first principle of human conduct is self-interest, and this behavior is the base element of social confrontation. In order to maintain peace and uphold the law, a sovereign is needed to guard the people's safety and punish anyone who breaks the regulations. The sovereign is one power, not a division of controlling elements. The commonwealth he commands can only be built by force or agreement. When the government has such power, the individual citizen can allocate his time and energy to serving the needs of his family and satisfying the requirements of a good administration. This same system also allows the privilege of self-defense but not aggression. Hobbes surmised the God's natural law is an education of rational enlightenment which influences all situations. Please Note: This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.
Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings
by Marquis De Sade
from Grove Press
Critique of Pure Reason
by Immanuel Kant
from Cambridge University Press
This entirely new translation of Critique of Pure Reason is the most accurate and informative English translation ever produced of this epochal philosophical text. Though its simple, direct style will make it suitable for all new readers of Kant, the translation displays a philosophical and textual sophistication that will enlighten Kant scholars as well. This translation recreates as far as possible a text with the same interpretative nuances and richness as the original.
This entirely new translation of Critique of Pure Reason is the most accurate and informative English translation ever produced of this epochal philosophical text. Though its simple, direct style will make it suitable for all new readers of Kant, the translation displays a philosophical and textual sophistication that will enlighten Kant scholars as well. This translation recreates as far as possible a text with the same interpretative nuances and richness as the original.
Kant: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by Roger Scruton
from Oxford University Press, USA
Immanuel Kant is arguably the most influential modern philosopher, but is also one of the most difficult. In this illuminating Very Short Introduction, Roger Scruton--a well-known and controversial philosopher in his own right--tackles his exceptionally complex subject with a strong hand, exploring the background to Kant's work and showing why Critique of Pure Reason has proved so enduring.
The Social Contract
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from bnpublishing.com
Revolutionary in its own time and controversial to this day, this work is a permanent classic of political theory and a key source of democratic belief. Rousseau's concepts of "the general will" as a mode of self-interest uniting for a common good, and the submission of the individual to government by contract inform the heart of democracy, and stand as its most contentious components today. Also included in this edition is Rousseau's Discourse on Political Economy", a key transitional work between his Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract. This new translation offers fresh insight into a cornerstone of political thought, which is further illuminated by a comprehensive introduction and notes.
THE first and most important deduction from the principles we have so far laid down is that the general will alone can direct the State according to the object for which it was instituted, i.e., the common good: for if the clashing of particular interests made the establishment of societies necessary, the agreement of these very interests made it possible.
Candide and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)
by Voltaire
from Oxford University Press, USA
Candide, the wittiest and best-loved book of a genius who is still unequaled in his ability to spin art out of philosophy, became a huge bestseller in Europe after it was published in 1759. Voltaire, skeptical of the systems of philosophy that were floated about to explain the workings of the world, used this satirical story about the optimist Candide and his friend Dr. Pangloss to interrogate and discredit the philosophies and approach more closely the truth about human life, suffering, and happiness in the real world. Now, the short novel Candide is considered one of the most important texts of the enlightenment.
Candide is the most famous of Voltaire's "philosophical tales," in which he combined witty improbabilities with the sanest of good sense. First published in 1759, it was an instant bestseller and has come to be regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment. What Candide does for chivalric romance, the other tales in this selection--Micromegas, Zadig, The Ingenu, and The White Bull--do for science fiction, the Oriental tale, the sentimental novel, and the Old Testament.
The most extensive one-volume selection currently available, this new edition includes a new verse translation of the story Voltaire based on Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale: What Pleases the Ladies. Opening with a revised introduction that reflects recent critical debates and including a new section on Voltaire's verse, this edition also features updated translations, revised notes, and an updated bibliography.
Two Treatises of Government
by John Locke
from Cambridge University Press
This is a new revised version of Dr. Laslett's standard edition of Two Treatises. First published in 1960, and based on an analysis of the whole body of Locke's publications, writings, and papers. The Introduction and text have been revised to incorporate references to recent scholarship since the second edition and the bibliography has been updated.
Originally published in 1960, this analysis of all of Locke's publications quickly became established as the standard edition of the Treatises as well as a work of political theory in its own right.
Sec. 40. Nor is it so strange, as perhaps before consideration it may appear, that the property of labour should be able to over-balance the community of land: for it is labour indeed that puts the difference of value on every thing; and let any one consider what the difference is between an acre of land planted with tobacco or sugar, sown with wheat or barley, and an acre of the same land lying in common, without any husbandry upon it, and he will find, that the improvement of labour makes the far greater part of the value.
The Portable Enlightenment Reader (The Viking Portable Library) (The Viking Portable Library)
from Penguin (Non-Classics)
Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals: With on a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns
by Immanuel Kant
from Hackett Publishing Company
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