philosophy

Presents an English translation of the 1885-86 work in which German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche considers how cultures lose their creative drive and become decadent.

"A . . . visual guide for kids about the tricky topic of philosophy: what it covers, why it's important, and who the big philosophers are!"--Amazon.

"In this second book in the semi-autobiographical middle grade series from MLB pitcher Marcus Stroman, young Marcus continues to learn hard lessons on and off the baseball field"--Provided by the publisher.

"Over the past few years, Brianna Wiest has gained renown for her deeply moving, philosophical writing. This new compilation of her published work features pieces on why you should pursue purpose over passion, embrace negative thinking, see the wisdom in daily routine, and become aware of the cognitive biases that are creating the way you see your life. Some of these pieces have never been seen; others have been read by millions of people around the world. Regardless, each will leave you thinking: This idea changed my life."--provided by publisher.

Seventeen-year-old Ocean Wu moves to New York City to start college, but she defers her enrollment, keeping it a secret from her immigrant mother, and instead uses the time to deal with her ambivalence about her place in the world.

"[This] book presents the ideas and theories of key philosophical traditions and philosophers" -- Amazon.

Presents the subject of philosophy as the history of ideas, and introduces the great thinkers of Western philosophy along with stories from their lives.

"Say you are afraid of heights. Very afraid. And say your friend is pressuring you to go sky diving with them. You're wavering, and they deliver a rousing speech about taking the opportunities you're offered. They tell you, Come on, you only live once! You relent. Why? In This Beauty, philosopher Nick Riggle investigates the things we say to inspire each other and ourselves: seize the day, treat yourself, you only live once. Riggle calls them existential imperatives, and they present a conundrum. Their meanings are at best vague, at worst stupid. They're as likely to encourage you to ride down a steep hill in a shopping cart as to marry the love of your life. They imply that you should do something wild with your life because your life is precious, which is a little like saying you should go swimming with your grandfather's watch because it is irreplaceable. And yet these exhortations can't help but be profound. We didn't choose to live this life, in this body, in these conditions. But when we consider the thought that we have only one life, that time is fleeting, or that we might die tomorrow, we often feel a tinge of inspiration, a sense of urgency. We want to embrace the life we were unwittingly given. Drawing on insights from his field of aesthetics and from his own experiences as a professional skater, an academic, and a new father, Riggle considers how they force us to confront what it means to live a worthwhile life. Existential imperatives shock us out of our predictable lives, he argues, and remind us that we aren't bound to the same thing every day, forever. Insightful and deeply humane, This Beauty offers a personal and searching inquiry into the mystery of life's beauty"--.

How did the universe begin? What is truth? How can we live good lives? Throughout history, humankind has asked these and other big questions about the nature of life and existence - and big thinkers have offered solutions that continue to shape our world. Written in plain English, The Philosophy Book is packed with short, pithy explanations that cut through the jargon, step-by-step diagrams that untangle knotty theories, classic quotes that make philosophy memorable, and witty illustrations that play with our ideas about ideas. Whether you're a complete beginner, an avid student, or an armchair expert, you'll find plenty of food for thought in this book.

What if we were all just characters from a book written by Major Albert Knag as a philosophical present for his daughter Hilde's 15th birthday? This is the question that Sophie Amundsen must ask as she tackles the history of philosophy in what begins as a personalized correspondence course for which she never signed up. Coming home from school one day, Sophie finds questions in her mailbox, followed by typewritten pages about philosophy. She also gets strange birthday cards apparently intended for a Hilde Moller Knag in Lillesand, whom she has never met. Through these unusual circumstances, Sophie embarks on the study of philosophy with Alberto Knox -- a middle-aged mystery man in a beret -- only to discover that she is nothing more than the fictional heroine of a novel (called Sophie's World) about the history of philosophy. Hilde, on the other hand, whom we meet halfway through the book, appears to be a real girl whose father has written a novel entitled Sophie's World. She in turn learns about philosophy by reading about Sophie's study of philosophy, never suspecting that she is merely a character in a book -- Sophie's World -- written by a philosophy teacher named Jostein Gaarder to teach teenagers the beauty of philosophical discourse. In this long, self-referential novel (to use the word loosely), Gaarder presents philosophy in a clear, cogent way, using Sophie's and Hilde's experiences to illustrate his points. The reader who is expecting something other than a creative textbook, however, will be disappointed. Maybe Gaarder can fool Norwegian youths into learning philosophy, but savvy American kids won't be so easily hoodwinked. Index.