Philosophy
Democracy in America Vol. I
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Alexis De Tocqueville
When Tocqueville visited America in the 1830s he found a thriving democracy of a kind he had not seen anywhere else. Many of his insightful …
Of the Shortness of Life
Read by Jonathan Hockey
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Seneca the Younger wrote the moral essay "De Brevitate Vitae" — "On the Shortness of Life" — to his friend Paulinus. The…
Meditations on First Philosophy
Read by D.E. Wittkower
René Descartes
After several years working on a treatise putting forth his mechanistic philosophy and physics, Descartes shelved the project when his conte…
The Prince (Version 3)
Read by Bob Neufeld
Niccolò Machiavelli
The Prince (Italian: Il Principe) is a political treatise by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist Niccolò Machiavel…
The Joyful Wisdom (or: The Gay Science)
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Friedrich Nietzsche
"The Joyful Wisdom," written in 1882, just before "Zarathustra," is rightly judged to be one of Nietzsche's best books. …
Two Treatises of Civil Government
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John Locke
The Two Treatises of Civil Government is a work of political philosophy published anonymously in 1689 by John Locke. The First Treatise is a…
The Enchiridion of Epictetus
Read by D.E. Wittkower
Epictetus
Epictetus (Greek: Επίκτητος; c.55–c.135) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. The name given by his parents, if one was given, is not known - the …
Anticipations
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H. G. Wells
Wells considered this book one of his most important, a natural follow-up to such works as his Man of the Year Million and The Time Machine.…
The Tao Teh King
Read by Eric S. Piotrowski
Laozi 老子 and Lao Tzu
Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King illuminates The Tao: a guiding principle of the universe and all within it. By exploring the nature of dualities and …
The Apology of Socrates (version 3)
Read by Fr. Richard Zeile of Detroit
Plato
Plato's account of Socrates' defense at his trial for "corrupting the youth" is a classic summation of his teacher's life and miss…
Essays, First Series (version 2)
Read by Bob Neufeld
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays: First Series is a series of 12 essays written by Ralph Waldo Emerson concerning transcendentalism, including Self-Reliance. It was p…
Studies in Pessimism
Read by D.E. Wittkower
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer, an early 19th century philosopher, made significant contributions to metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics. His work also…
The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science
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Thomas Troward
Thomas Troward was a divisional Judge in British-administered India. His avocation was the study of comparative religion. Influences on his …
The Kybalion (version 2)
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The Three Initiates
The Kybalion: Hermetic Philosophy is a 1908 book claiming to be the essence of the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus, published anonymously b…
Thoughts on Art and Life
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Leonardo da Vinci
This is a compilation of the thoughts on art, science and life of Leonardo da Vinci, translated by Maurice Baring and edited by Lewis Einst…
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus
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Epictetus
Aphorisms from the Stoic Greek.
Utopia (Burnet translation)
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Thomas More
This book is all about the fictional country called Utopia. It is a country with an ‘ideal’ form of communism, in which everything really do…
Introduction to The Philosophy of History
Read by D.E. Wittkower
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
The introduction to Hegel's lectures on the philosophy of world history is often used to introduce students to Hegel's philosophy, in part b…
Bushido: The Soul of Japan
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Inazō Nitobe
Bushido: The Soul of Japan written by Inazo Nitobe was one of the first books on samurai ethics that was originally written in English for a…
Varieties of Religious Experience
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William James
The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature is a book by the Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James that comp…