Stuart Hood acknowledges de Sade as a philosopher of the Enlightenment who took libertarian atheism to its limit!
Introducing Marquis De Sade
Introducing Logic
Introducing Logic follows the historical development of this intriguing subject, explaining its symbols and methods, exploring complex philosophical issues and intricate mathematics with the help of Bill Mayblin’s insightful artwork. Are computers and digital technology just another case of logic in action? What are the difficulties and limitations of logical systems? Logic is, too, a hidden part of our everyday lives – from the “fuzzy logic” used by computer spellcheckers to what we expect as the norms of journalistic debate. Introducing Logic brings a discipline with a reputation for impenetrability to the general reader at last.
Introducing Machiavelli
Illustrated guide to the crucial Italian philosopher and author of The Prince. ‘Machiavellian’ is a popular byword for treachery and opportunism. Machiavelli’s classic book on statecraft, The Prince, published over 400 years ago, remains controversial to this day because of its electrifying frankness as a practical guide to power. Is it a how-to manual for dictators, a cynical philosophy of ‘the end justifies the means’, or a more complex and subtle analysis of successful government? Machiavelli was a loyal servant of the Florentine republic. His opposition to Medici despotism led him to torture on the rack and exile, and yet he chose as his model for the Prince the most notorious tyrant, Cesare Borgia. Introducing Machiavelli traces the colourful life of this paradoxical realist whose clear-sighted patriotism made him the first truly modern political scientist. Machiavelli is seen as central to the postmodern debate on Civil Society. This book brings the creative turbulence of Renaissance Italy to life, and presents a compelling portrait of a key figure of European political history.
Introducing Logic
Logic is the backbone of Western civilization, holding together its systems of philosophy, science and law. Yet despite logic’s widely acknowledged importance, it remains an unbroken seal for many, due to its heavy use of jargon and mathematical symbolism.This book follows the historical development of logic, explains the symbols and methods involved and explores the philosophical issues surrounding the topic in an easy-to-follow and friendly manner. It will take you through the influence of logic on scientific method and the various sciences from physics to psychology, and will show you why computers and digital technology are just another case of logic in action.
Introducing Literary Criticism
From Plato to Virginia Woolf, Structuralism to Practical Criticism, Introducing Literary Criticism charts the history and development of literary criticism into a rich and complex discipline. Tackling disputes over the value and meaning of literature, and exploring theoretical and practical approaches, this unique illustrated guide will help readers of all levels to get more out of their reading.
Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution
Lenin is the key to understanding the Russian Revolution. His dream as the creation of the world’s first Socialist state. It was a short-lived dream that became a nightmare when Stalin rose to absolute power in 1929. Lenin was the avant-garde revolutionary who adapted Marxist theory to the practical realities of a vast, complex and backward Russia. Is he chiefly to blame for opening the way to the totalitarian regime of Stalin? Readers will be able to judge for themselves. Lenin’s career is depicted, from his obscure provincial origins to his role as architect of the Bolshevik Revolution, and his ideas, his genius for underground organisation and his strategies for agitation are explained. It is impossible to understand the events in post-communist Russia and eastern Europe today without some basic grasp of the Russian Revolution and Lenin’s crucial role in it. This book is a re–issued classic which makes that history accessible and digestible.
Introducing Learning and Memory
Traces our quest for knowledge from Greek and Roman antiquity to the origins of experimental science and the insights of sociology, psychology and neurological investigations.
Introducing Linguistics
Covering thinkers from Aristotle to Saussure and Chomsky, “Introducing Linguistics” reveals the rules and beauty that underlie language, our most human skill.
Introducing Levi-Strauss
Introducing Lévi-Strauss is a guide to the work of the great French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908–2009). The book brilliantly traces the development and influence of Lévi-Strauss’ thought, from his early work on the function of the incest taboo to initiate an exchange of women between groups, to his identification of a timeless “wild” or “primitive” mode of thinking – a pensée sauvage – behind the processes of human culture. Accessibly written by Boris Wiseman and beautifully illustrated by Judy Groves, Introducing Lévi-Strauss also explores the major contribution that Lévi-Strauss made to contemporary aesthetic history – his work on American-Indian mythology provides a key insight into the way in which art itself comes into being. This is an essential introduction to a key thinker.
Introducing Kierkegaard
Soren Kierkegaard is widely held to be the founder of existentialism–his faith is ironic, playful and passionate, and he wrote like a novelist. Written for students of philosophy and theology, this book brilliantly explains Kierkegaard’s life and thought. 170 illustrations.