18 books like Essais

What to read after Essais — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge Alfred Klemmt · 1710 · ★ 3.7 · 122p · ≈ 4h · Demanding In this exceptional work, Berkeley makes the striking claim that physical things consist of nothing but ideas and therefore do not exist outside the mind. This claim establishes him as the founder of the idealist tradition in philosophy. The text printed in the volume is the 1734 edition of the Principles, which represents Berkeley's mature thought. Also included are four important letters… Shares: Great_books, Great_books_of_the_western_world, Essays, Philosophy

Dumbing Us Down John Taylor Gatto · 1991 · ★ 4.2 · 104p · ≈ 3h · Moderate "New 10th anniverary edition."--Cover. Shares: Education, Essays, Philosophy, Biography & Memoir

Frogs Aristophanes · 1785 · ★ 3.8 · 114p · ≈ 3h · Demanding Among extant Greek comedies, the Frogs is unique for the light it throws on classical Greek attitudes to tragedy and to literature in general. It merits a much more extensive commentary than it has so far received, for the establishment of the text itself has rested for over a century on collations which were inadequate and inaccurate. At the same time, its most problematic passages have been the… Shares: Great_books, Great_books_of_the_western_world, History

Hecuba Euripides · 1518 · 139p · ≈ 4h · Demanding "In the three great war plays contained in this volume Euripides subjects the sufferings of Troy's survivors to a harrowing examination. The horrific brutality which both women and children undergo evokes a response of unparalleled intensity in the playwright whom Aristotle called the most tragic of poets. Yet the new battle-ground of the aftermath of war is one in which the women of Troy evince… Shares: Great_books, Great_books_of_the_western_world, Education

Lysistrata Aristophanes · 1872 · ★ 3.9 · 117p · ≈ 3h · Challenging In Aristophanes' most popular play, sex is a powerful agent of reconciliation. As war ravages ancient Greece, a band of women, led by Lysistrata, promise to deny their husbands all sex until they stop fighting. This volume of Lysistrata brings the play up to date with modern scholarship, providing an account of its history and containing new information about the comic theater and its social and… Shares: Great_books, Great_books_of_the_western_world, History

The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays Albert Camus · 1955 · ★ 4.2 · 151p · ≈ 5h · Moderate One of the most influential works of this century, this is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought. Influenced by works such as Don Juan and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a meditation on suicide: the question of living or not living in an absurd universe devoid of order or meaning. With lyric eloquence, Camus posits a way out of despair, reaffirming the value of personal… Shares: French essays, Essays, History and criticism, Philosophy

Kant; a collection of critical essays Robert Paul Wolff · 1967 · ★ 3.5 · 415p · ≈ 13h · Moderate This book analyses and explains the central passage of Kant's philosophy, the "Transcendental Analytic" of the Critique of Pure Reason. It proceeds in the manner of a textual commentary, discussing and explaining each section of the Analytic in turn. The purpose, however, is not merely to comment chapter by chapter on what Kant has written, but rather to reorganise and interpret his argument so… Shares: Essays, Philosophy

Short studies on great subjects James Anthony Froude · 1867 · 398p · ≈ 13h · Challenging There was a time—a time which, measured by the years of our national life, was not so very long ago—when the serious thoughts of mankind were occupied exclusively by religion and politics. The small knowledge which they possessed of other things was tinctured by their speculative opinions on the relations of heaven and earth; and, down to the sixteenth century, art, science, scarcely even… Shares: Christianity, Essays, Philosophy, History

Le mythe de Sisyphe Albert Camus · 1941 · ★ 4.2 · 68p · ≈ 2h · Challenging «Il n'y a qu'un problème philosophique vraiment sérieux: c'est le suicide.» Avec cette formule foudroyante, qui semble rayer d'un trait toute la philosophie, un jeune homme de moins de trente ans commence son analyse de la sensibilité absurde. Il décrit le «mal de l'esprit» dont souffre l'époque actuelle: «L'absurde naît de la confrontation de l'appel humain avec le silence déraisonnable du… Shares: French essays, Essays, History and criticism, Philosophy

Ὀδύσσεια Όμηρος · 1488 · ★ 3.9 · 297p · ≈ 9h · Demanding The Odyssey (/ˈɒdəsi/; Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second oldest extant work of Western literature, the Iliad being the oldest. Scholars believe it was composed near the end of the 8th century BC,… Shares: Great_books, Great_books_of_the_western_world

The Story of Philosophy Will Durant · 1926 · ★ 4.2 · 578p · ≈ 19h · Challenging Includes chapters on Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire, Kant, and Nietzsche. Shares: Philosophers, Philosophy, Biography & Memoir, History

Memorabilia Xenophon · 1650 · ★ 4.0 · 236p · ≈ 7h · Demanding The Memorabilia Xenophon - An essential text for understanding Socrates, Xenophon's Memorabilia is the compelling tribute of an affectionate student to his teacher, providing a rare firsthand account of Socrates' life and philosophy. The Memorabilia is invaluable both as a work of philosophy in its own right and as a complement to the study of Plato's dialogues. The longest of Xenophon's four… Shares: Philosophers, Philosophy, Biography & Memoir

Culture and religion in some of their relations John Campbell Shairp · 1871 · 197p · ≈ 6h · Challenging Shares: Christianity, Essays, Philosophy

Words Jean-Paul Sartre · 1964 · ★ 3.7 · 214p · ≈ 7h · Moderate The book, consisting of Sartre distancing himself from writing and making his farewells to literature was very successful for the author and was hailed nearly unanimously as a "literary success"[citation needed]. In November of the same year, 1964, he refused the Nobel Prize for Literature awarded for his work, described as "rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for… Shares: Philosophers, History and criticism, Philosophy, Biography & Memoir

Unended quest Karl Popper · 1976 · 270p · ≈ 9h · Moderate At the age of eight, Karl Popper was puzzling over the idea of infinity and by fifteen was beginning to take a keen interest in his father's well-stocked library of books. Unended Quest recounts these moments and many others in the life of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, providing an indispensable account of the ideas that influenced him most. As an introduction to… Shares: Philosophers, Biography & Memoir

Metodo della pedagogia scientifica Maria Montessori · 1912 · 377p · ≈ 12h · Challenging The Montessori Method (1912) is a work on pedagogy by Maria Montessori. Originally written in her native Italian to describe the work she carried out at the Casa dei Bambini in Rome, the book was translated into English during a period of increasing popularity for Montessori and her educational method in the United States. By 1913, over 100 Montessori schools had been opened in the United States,… Shares: Education, Philosophy, Biography & Memoir

Some thoughts concerning education John Locke · 1693 · ★ 3.6 · 322p · ≈ 10h · Demanding This volume offers two complementary works by John Locke, unabridged, in modernized, annotated texts - the only available edition priced for classroom use. Of interest to students and instructors of philosophy, political theory, and education, these important works shed light on conceptions of reason and freedom essential for understanding Locke's philosophy. With renewed interest in the… Shares: Philosophers, Education, Philosophy, Biography & Memoir

Autobiography as philosophy Thomas Mathien · 2006 · 272p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Most philosophical writing is impersonal and argumentative, but many important philosophers have nevertheless written accounts of their own lives. Filling a gap in the market for a text focusing on autobiography as philosophy, this collection discusses several such autobiographies in the light of their authors' broader work, and considers whether there are any philosophical tasks for which life… Shares: Philosophers, History and criticism, Philosophy, Biography & Memoir

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