The Affirmation of Life
Bernard Reginster
While most recent studies of Nietzsche's works have lost sight of the fundamental question of the meaning of a life characterized by inescapable suffering, Bernard Reginster's book The Affirmation of Life brings it sharply into focus. Reginster identifies overcoming nihilism as a central objective of Nietzsche's philosophical project, and shows how this concern systematically animates all of his main ideas.
Hardcover 2006 / Paperback 2009
The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays
Hilary Putnam
If philosophy has any business in the world, it is the clarification of our thinking and the clearing away of ideas that cloud the mind. In this book, one of the world's preeminent philosophers takes issue with an idea that has found an all-too-prominent place in popular culture and philosophical thought: the idea that while factual claims can be rationally established or refuted, claims about value are wholly subjective, not capable of being rationally argued for or against.
Hardcover 2002 / Paperback 2004
Defenders of the Text
Anthony Grafton
This book traces the relationship between humanism and science from the mid-fifteenth century to the beginning of the modern period and demonstrates that humanism was neither a simple nor an impractical enterprise, but worked hand-in-hand with science in developing modern learning.
Hardcover 1991 / Paperback 1994
Derrida
Christopher Norris
Norris demonstrates that Derrida's texts should be understood as belonging more to philosophy than to literature. He explains the significance of Derrida's writing on texts in the Western philosophical tradition, from Plato to Kant, liegel, and tiusserl, placing him squarely within that tradition. He also discusses some of the reasons for the massive institutional resistance that has so far prevented philosophers from engaging seriously with Derrida's work.
Paperback
The Development of Florentine Humanist Historiography in the Fifteenth Century
Donald J. Wilcox
Presenting a new interpretation of humanist historiography, Donald J. Wilcox traces the development of the art of historical writing among Florentine humanists in the fifteenth century. He focuses on the three chancellor historians of that century who wrote histories of Florence—Leonardo Bruni, Poggio Bracciolini, and Bartolommeo della Scala.
Hardcover 1969
Essays and Dialogues
Bartolomeo Scala
Translated by Renée Neu Watkins
Introduction by Alison Brown
From humble beginnings, Scala (1430–1497) trained in the law and rose to prominence serving as secretary and treasurer to the Medicis and chancellor of the Guelf party before becoming first chancellor of Florence. This volume collects works from throughout his career that show his acquaintance with recently rediscovered ancient writers, and the influence of fellow humanists such as Marsilio Ficino, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II), and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.
Hardcover 2008
Humanist Comedies
Edited and translated by Gary R. Grund
The five comedies included in this volume present a characteristic sampling of comic form as it was interpreted by some of the most important Latin humanists of the Quattrocento. Pier Paolo Vergerio's Paulus, Philodoxeos fabula by Leon Battista Alberti, Philogenia et Epiphebus by Ugolino Pisani, Chrysis by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (later Pope Pius II), and Tommaso Medio's Epirota span nearly the entire period and are a valuable gauge of its changing literary tastes, tastes nourished by the ancient comic drama of Plautus and Terence.
Hardcover 2005
The Humanist-Scholastic Debate in the Renaissance and the Reformation
Erika Rummel
In the last half of the fifteenth century, the classic Platonic debate over the respective merits of rhetoric and philosophy was replayed in the debate between humanists and scholastics over philology and dialectic. The intense dispute between representatives of the two camps fueled many of the most important intellectual developments of the Renaissance and Reformation.
Paperback 1998 / Hardcover
In Defense of Common Sense
Lodi Nauta

One of the leading humanists of Quattrocento Italy, Lorenzo Valla (1406–1457) has been praised as a brilliant debunker of medieval scholastic philosophy. In this book Lodi Nauta seeks a more balanced assessment, presenting us with the first comprehensive analysis of the humanist’s attempt at radical reform of Aristotelian scholasticism.

Hardcover 2009
Invectives
Francesco Petrarca
Edited and translated by David Marsh
Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), one of the greatest of Italian poets, was also the leading spirit in the Renaissance movement to revive ancient Roman language and literature. His four Invectives were intended to revive the eloquence of the great Roman orator Cicero. The Invectives are directed against the cultural idols of the Middle Ages--against scholastic philosophy and medicine and the dominance of French culture in general. This volume provides a new critical edition of the Latin text based on the two autograph copies, and the first English translation of three of the four invectives.
Hardcover 2004
Invectives
Francesco Petrarca
Translated by David Marsh
Petrarca, one of the greatest of Italian poets, was also the leading spirit in the Renaissance movement to revive ancient Roman language and literature. Petrarch’s four Invectives, written in Latin, were inspired by the eloquence of the great Roman orator Cicero. The new translations in this volume include the first English translation of three of the four invectives.
Paperback 2008
James and Royce Reconsidered
Edited by David C. Lamberth

In the first decade of the twentieth century, William James and Josiah Royce, both professors of philosophy at Harvard, towered over American philosophy and exerted wide influence on European thought. This volume offers a unique view of the state of the discussion on James and Royce across several disciplines. It is noteworthy both for the presence of most leading scholars in the field and for its attention to the European influence of these thinkers and the revival of interest in America and Europe.

Paperback 2009
Lessons of the Masters
George Steiner
When we talk about education today, we tend to avoid the rhetoric of "mastery," with its erotic and inegalitarian overtones. But the charged personal encounter between master and disciple is precisely what interests Steiner in this book, a sustained reflection on the infinitely complex and subtle interplay of power, trust, and passions in the most profound sorts of pedagogy.
Hardcover 2003 / Paperback 2005
Looking Away
Rei Terada

In Looking Away, Rei Terada revisits debates about appearance and reality in order to make a startling claim: that the purpose of such debates is to police feelings of dissatisfaction with the given world. Terada proposes that the connection between dissatisfaction and ephemeral phenomenality reveals a hitherto-unknown alternative to aesthetics that expresses our right to desire something other than experience “as is,” even those parts of it that really cannot be otherwise.

Hardcover 2009
Manuscript Essays and Notes
William James
Introduction by Ignas K. Skrupkelis
When William James died in 1910 he left a large body of manuscript material that has never appeared in print. The most important of these manuscripts are those of the years 1903 and 1904 called "The Many and the One." The manuscripts in the rest of the volume contain James's reflections over a period of forty years in the form of drafts, memoranda, and notebook entries. The diverse subjects are arranged under the headings of Philosophy, Psychology, Aesthetics, Ethics, and Religion. Of special interest are the early notes in which James began to work out his own philosophical point of view.
Hardcover 1988
Manuscript Lectures
William James
Introduction by Ignas K. Skrupskelis
This final volume of The Works of William James provides a full record of James's teaching career at Harvard from 1872 to 1907. It includes extensive working notes for lectures in more than twenty courses. Because his teaching was so closely involved with the development of his thought, this material adds a new dimension to our understanding of his philosophy.
Hardcover 1988
On Discovery
Polydore Vergil
Edited and translated by Brian P. Copenhaver
The most popular work of the Italian humanist Polydore Vergil (1470–1555), On Discovery (De inventoribus rerum, 1499), was the first comprehensive account of discoveries and inventions written since antiquity. It became a key reference for anyone who wanted to know about "firsts" in theology, philosophy, science, technology, literature, language, law, material culture, and other fields. This is the first English translation of a critical edition based on the Latin texts published in Polydore Vergil's lifetime.
Hardcover 2002
Pragmatism
William James
Fredson Bowers, Textual Editor
Ignas K. Skrupskelis, Associate Editor
Introduction by H.S. Thayer
Hardcover 1975
Return to Reason
Stephen Toulmin
Stephen Toulmin argues that the potential for reason to improve our lives has been hampered by a serious imbalance in our pursuit of knowledge. The centuries-old dominance of rationality has diminished the value of reasonableness. Toulmin issues a powerful call to redress the balance between rationality and reasonableness.
Hardcover 2001 / Paperback 2003
Rewiewing Liberty
Joan S. Bennett
Hardcover 1988
The Self Awakened
Roberto Mangabeira Unger
In this long-awaited work of general philosophy, Roberto Mangabeira Unger proposes a radical reorientation of established ideas about nature, mind, society, politics, and religion. The Self Awakened mobilizes the resources of several philosophical traditions, and develops the unrecognized revolutionary implications of the most influential of these traditions today--pragmatism. Avoiding technical jargon and needless complication, this book makes a case for philosophy as the supreme activity of the intellect at war, insisting on its power to deal with what matters most.
Hardcover 2007 / Paperback 2009