Thomas Paine's Rights of Man argues that human rights are inherent. As such, they cannot be conferred on citizens by their governments because to do so would mean that these rights can be revoked by that same government. Paine further suggests that government is responsible for protecting the rights of men, and therefore, the interests of governments and citizens are united. Within this context, Paine argues that revolution is acceptable when the...

An elegant and intellectual work, The Book of Tea was written in 1906 by Kakuzo Okakura, a brilliant Japanese man with an early education in English. Through his intimate knowledge of Japanese aesthetics and ability to effectively communicate them to a Western audience, Okakura is able to discuss Teaism and its impact on Japanese culture, thought, and life in an informative and profound way. He develops this theory by explaining the history and universality...

How do we decide what is "good" and what is "bad"? According to the ethical theory of Utilitarianism, to do good is to "always perform that act, of those available, that will bring the most happiness or the least unhappiness." By far the most widely read introduction to this theory, John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism is one of the most important and controversial works of moral philosophy ever written. In this major contribution to ethical history,...

While Tolstoy may be best remembered as the talented Russian author of such monumentally great works as "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina", he also wrote prolifically in essay format on various subjects. In this volume Tolstoy turns his attention to the study of aesthetics and art in all its forms. Based on fifteen years of research, "What is Art?" is Tolstoy's intellectual exposition into answering the titular question. Rich with criticism for his...

One of the most iconoclastic philosophers of all time, Nietzsche dramatically rejected notions of good and evil, truth and God. Beyond Good and Evil demonstrates that the world is steeped in false piety and infected with a 'slave morality'. With wit and subversive energy, Nietzsche demands that the individual impose their own 'will to power' upon the world.

German scholar and thinker Friedrich Nietzsche began his career as a linguist and philologist, but over time, his work became increasingly philosophical in its scope. He came to embrace a radical point of view that prized personal freedom and choice over virtually everything else. In Human, All Too Human, Nietzsche explores the triumphs and tragic shortfalls of human nature in an eminently readable series of aphorisms and short vignettes.

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This is a Project Gutenberg edition released in 1999. Thus Spake Zarathustra, also translated as Also Spake Zarathustra, is a work of philosophical fiction written by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche; it was published in four volumes between 1883 and 1885. The protagonist is nominally the historical Zoroaster. The style of Nietzsche's Zarathustra has facilitated varied and often incompatible ideas about what Nietzsche's Zarathustra says. The...