In Plato’s "Republic", his most celebrated "dialogue," the philosopher condemns the justice and morality of Greek society after the trial and execution of his teacher, Socrates. Disillusioned with politics and politicians, Plato argued that civilization demanded truly enlightened government, led by philosopher-kings. He wrote that "...mankind wil...more

Theory of Religion, along with its companion volumes of The Accursed Share, forms the cornerstone of Bataille's "Copernican" project to overturn not only economic thought but its ethical foundations as well. No other work of Bataille's has managed so incisively to draw the links between man's religious and economic activities. "According t...more

Considered by many (including the author himself) to be Nietzsche's most significant work, THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA is a strange amalgamation of poetry, philosophy, literature and biblical parody. Nietzsche re-imagines the story of Zarathustra, the prophet of the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism, and through Zarathustra he gives voice to his pseud...more

The title The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (or the curious incident of the dog in the night-time as it appears within the book) is an appropriate one for Mark Haddon's ingenious novel both because of its reference to that most obsessive and fact-obsessed of detectives, Sherlock Holmes, and because its lower-case letters indicate so...more