Philosophical Essays

Over the past few years, Brianna Wiest has gained renown for her deeply moving, philosophical writing. This new compilation of her published work features pieces on why you should pursue purpose over passion, embrace negative thinking, see the wisdom in daily routine, and become aware of the cognitive biases that are creating the way you see your life. Some of these pieces have never been seen; others have been read by millions of people around the world. Regardless, each will leave you thinking: This idea changed my life.

Have you ever felt a glitch in reality? A moment of déjà vu so intense it convinced you you’d lived this second before? Or a coincidence so strange it felt like a message from the universe? These moments are loose threads on the sweater of reality. This book grabs those threads and pulls. Journey through twenty of the most profound and unsettling thought experiments ever conceived. These aren't just dusty philosophical questions; they are living problems that haunt the frontiers of modern science and technology, presented here in clear, accessible language. Inside, you will confront ...

This philosophical essay is the development of a lecture on probabilities which I delivered in 1795 to the normal schools whither I had been called, by a decree of the national convention, as professor of mathematics with Lagrange. I have recently published upon the same subject a work entitled The Analytical Theory of Probabilities. I present here without the aid of analysis the principles and general results of this theory, applying them to the most important questions of life, which are indeed for the most part only problems of probability.

A Classic Collection of Philosophical Essays: Spinoza, Immanuel Kant, Schopenhauer, Herbert Spencer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell and Many Others by Will Durant offers an insightful and comprehensive anthology of essays on some of the most influential philosophers in Western thought. This collection captures the essence of each thinker's contributions to philosophy, making complex ideas accessible and engaging for a broad audience. Spinoza: Durant explores Spinoza's pantheism and his view of a universe governed by natural laws, presenting his ideas on ethics, politics, and the nature of reality.

This edition of Matias Aires’s Reflections on the Vanity of Men presents a selection of one of the most significant works of 18th-century Christian moral philosophy in the Portuguese language. In these reflections, Aires offers a penetrating analysis of vanity as the central force shaping human behavior. He examines how vanity influences judgment, distorts moral perception, and operates not only in vice but also within actions commonly regarded as virtuous. Throughout the work, he explores themes such as honor, reputation, ambition, self-love, and the illusions sustained by society. He ...

God. Atheism. Beauty. Can faith survive the university classroom? Can reason lead us back to God? And what does beauty have to do with truth? In this second volume of The Sleepy Seminarian series, David Suarez—Christian apologist, philosopher, and former Ivy League biology student—takes readers on a journey through the collision of theology, philosophy, and aesthetics. From Catholic–Protestant debates about salvation, to atheism’s self-defeating assumptions, to the transcendent logic of beauty as evidence for God, Eclectic Essays II: God, Atheism, and Beauty offers a rare mix of ...

People often believe relationships succeed or fail because of emotion. More often, they succeed or fail because of patterns no one realizes they are repeating. Identity does not form in isolation. It forms through attachment, approval, rejection, and adaptation. Long before people consciously choose who they want to be, relationships have already begun shaping who they become. Metaphors We Live By: Love, Relationships, & Identity is a collection of forty essays exploring how connection quietly shapes identity, belonging, and the versions of ourselves we carry into adulthood. Inside, you ...

A spectre is haunting fear. We are constantly confronted with apocalyptic pandemics, world war, the climate catastrophe. Images of the end of the world and the end of human civilization are conjured up with ever greater urgency. Anxiously, we face a bleak future. Preoccupied with crisis...

James V. Schall is a treasure of the Catholic intellectual tradition. A prolific author and essayist, Schall readily connects with his readers on sundry topics from war to friendship, philosophy, politics, and to ordinary everyday living. In his newest work, The Mind That Is Catholic, he presents a retrospective collection of his academic and literary essays written in the past 50 years.

Who needs philosophy? Ayn Rand's answer: Everyone. This collection of essays was the last work planned by Ayn Rand before her death in 1982. In it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with a broad spectrum of topics. According to Ayn Rand, the choice we make is not whether to have a philosophy, but which one to have: a rational, conscious, and therefore practical one, or a contradictory, unidentified, and ultimately lethal one.

When we lose someone we love, when we suffer loss or defeat, when catastrophe strikes - war, famine, pandemic - we go in search of consolation. But how do we console each other and ourselves in an age of unbelief? In a series of lapidary meditations on writers, artists, musicians, and their works - from the books of Job and Psalms to Albert Camus, Anna Akhmatova, and Primo Levi - esteemed writer and historian Michael Ignatieff shows how men and women in extremity have looked to each other across time to recover hope and resilience. 

Discover the quiet beauty of everyday life in Walking Without a Map: Quiet Reflections on Time, Observation, and Ordinary Days. This reflective and meditative book invites readers to slow down, step off the beaten path, and notice the subtle rhythms of ordinary days. Through fifteen thoughtfully crafted chapters, you’ll explore the gentle art of attention: the beauty of lingering in a moment, the significance of small details, the quiet lessons in habitual routines, and the wisdom hidden in silence. From ordinary mornings to unnoticed streets, from the passage of years to the fleeting ...

Bloomsbury presents A Political Philosophy by Roger Scruton, read by Kris Dyer. In this timely new edition of his classic book A Political Philosophy, celebrated conservative philosopher Roger Scruton interrogates contemporary values, virtues and morality. What principles should govern our...

In Over Here Growing a Soul: The Works of Mr. Joe, Joseph Santiago gathers a body of writing that is intimate, searching, and vividly alive to the textures of ordinary life. These pieces move through memory, place, longing, mortality, imagination, desire, and becoming, always returning to the deeper question of how a person makes meaning that can endure beyond the moment. Thoughtful, strange, playful, and emotionally resonant, this collection invites readers into a world where even the smallest experience can open into philosophy, tenderness, wonder, and hard-won insight. Across essays, ...

What happens after you get what you wanted? We’re taught to believe success resolves things—that once the climb is over, life will feel clearer, fuller, complete. But few people talk about what often follows: the quiet. The loss of urgency. The strange sense that something essential hadn’t arrived with the achievement. After the Summit is a reflective, clear-eyed exploration of life beyond ambition. Not a guide to getting ahead, but a meditation on what comes after—when pressure fades, desire shifts, and the frameworks that once gave life meaning no longer hold. Written with ...

Slip into the extraordinary world of Mr. Joe, where words transcend the page, weaving together memories, dreams, and the relentless pursuit of understanding life’s deepest mysteries. This book is more than just a collection of stories; it’s a journey through time, identity, and the very essence of what it means to be human. With a blend of flash fiction, lyric essays, character sketches, and monologues, Joseph Santiago explores the intricate dance between reality and imagination, leaving readers with a sense of connection that resonates long after the last page is turned. Whether ...

Dear Diary, It Got Weird Again The Works of Mr. Joe This isn’t a diary. It’s a legacy stitched from the strange, the sincere, and the sentences that refused to stay quiet. Inside are fragments that became foundations—moments of insight, humor, heartbreak, and clarity gathered over years and held together by a single thread: the need to make meaning in a world that doesn’t always offer it freely. This collection speaks to those who feel everything a little too deeply, think a little too sideways, and laugh in the middle of their most serious questions. It’s for anyone who’s ever ...

Maybe life is too short to waste it with … useless things. Maybe it’s time to start meditating more. To analyze our behavior … but also the one of the people around us. To pay attention to the impact of influences over our lives … but also on the lives of others. Understand that … domination … no matter of its character… positive or negative …. It’s a concept that we should not allow it to become real. And we should also be aware of how a simple small influence … that is repeated on and on and on … could become … dominance …. without even realizing.

Afraid of losing the reality i've chased so, so much for ... i've ended up ... keep trying lots of so called "motivational things" ... illusory hoping the scenario will be a non ending experience. Totally forgetting ... or probably not accepting that everything into this world is ephemeral. For me ... and anyone else. But ... i continue the same journey. Trying. Trying. And trying. Always failing ... but pretending i can be naive for the rest of my life. Allowing myself to push everything ... till it becomes obvious for everyone that i am nothing than ... an idiot. One having ... no dignity...

I had many times ... when i was really in love ... and ... It actually happened ... 2, 3 ... 27 times. Adoring it. But ... certainly being into a state of totally losing the control on myself ... and ... Unfortunately ... today i understand that the act of being in love ... it's a way of playing with our souls. Allowing it to happen. Discovering ... what we knew ... but actually couldn't really accept that can be real. At least ... into my case. But fortunately ... this is actually the moment of deeply feeling the connection with ... the inner self. And understanding ... that all is ...