With a mix of both respectable and immoral advice, The Prince is a frank analysis on political power. Separated into four sections, The Prince is both a guide to obtain power and an explanation on the aspects that affect it. The first section discusses the types of principalities. According to Machiavelli, there are four different types-hereditary, mixed, new and ecclesiastical. While defining each type, Machiavelli also discusses the implications...

"This expertly written and eminently enjoyable chronicle is highly recommended for history and history of science collections." -Library Journal"Make room on the library shelf for the never-before-told saga of the survey that converted the vast wilderness west of the Ohio River into a commodity marked out for government sale." -Booklist, Starred ReviewHow we ultimately gained the American Customary System-the last traditional system in the...

Utopia (1516) is a work of political satire by Thomas More. Published in Latin while More was serving as Privy Counsellor under King Henry VIII, the text is stylized as a true account of a new civilization discovered in the New World by traveler Raphael Hythlodaeus. While there have been varying interpretations of Utopia over the centuries, it is most consistently regarded as a work of political philosophy in the tradition of Plato's Republic that...

Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future is a book by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that covers ideas in his previous work Thus Spoke Zarathustra but with a more polemical approach. It was first published in 1886 under the publishing house C. G. Naumann of Leipzig at the author's own expense and first translated into English by Helen Zimmern, who was two years younger than Nietzsche and knew the author. According to translator...

To the mentality that assumes, more or less consciously, that we must of necessity find a solution to every problem, belongs the argument based on the disastrous consequences of a thing. Take any book of apologetics-that is to say, of theological advocacy-and you will see how many times you will meet with this phrase-"the disastrous consequences of this doctrine." Now the disastrous consequences of a doctrine prove at most that the doctrine is disastrous,...

If there exists on any subject a philosophy (that is, a system of rational knowledge based on concepts), then there must also be for this philosophy a system of pure rational concepts, independent of any condition of intuition, in other words, a metaphysic. It may be asked whether metaphysical elements are required also for every practical philosophy, which is the doctrine of duties, and therefore also for Ethics.

Written sometime during the 4th century BC, "Symposium" is one the most poetic and sublime works by the Greek philosopher Plato. The action of the dialogue is set during a party hosted by the poet Agathon to celebrate his first victory in a dramatic competition. The title 'Symposium', or 'Banquet' refers to the setting of the work, however the more literal translation from the Greek is a 'drinking party.' At this party several notable figures from...

Friedrich Nietzsche, der sehr religiös erzogen wurde, stellt Moral per se in seinem Werk "Jenseits von Gut und Böse" als Fehler, bzw. Übel in der Menschheitsgeschichte dar und erläutert, dass vor der Erfindung und der Verbreitung von Moral unter den Menschen, diese Handlungen nur nach deren Nutzen bewertet haben – nicht, ob sie böse oder gut sind. Nietzsche tritt dafür ein, sich auf die Vorstellungen solcher von ihm beschriebenen vormoralischen...

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. One of the most interesting features of A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge is the symbiosis between a radical empiricism and a bold and uncompromising idealism. An artful combination of analytical rigor and unfettered speculation, of crystal-like precision of language and winged metaphors or sparkling images, George Berkeley's work is essentially...