-
Purity and Danger
- An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo
- Narrated by: Sarah Sherborne
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Purity and Danger
Buy for $23.36
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Consciousness Explained
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Paul Mantell
- Length: 21 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 508
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 439
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 430
The national bestseller chosen by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 1991 is now available as an audiobook. The author of Brainstorms, Daniel C. Dennett replaces our traditional vision of consciousness with a new model based on a wealth of fact and theory from the latest scientific research.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Confuses Consciousness with Ego
- By Rahul Yadav on 07-11-19
-
No Logo
- Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 178
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 160
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 156
In the last decade, No Logo has become an international phenomenon and a cultural manifesto for the critics of unfettered capitalism worldwide. As America faces a second economic depression, Klein's analysis of our corporate and branded world is as timely and powerful as ever. Equal parts cultural analysis, political manifesto, mall-rat memoir, and journalistic exposé, No Logo is the first book to put the new resistance into pop-historical and clear economic perspective. Naomi Klein tells a story of rebellion and self-determination in the face of our new branded world.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Irritating Over-Enunciated Narration
- By Bryan on 05-08-12
By: Naomi Klein
-
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
- By: Émile Durkheim
- Narrated by: Mike Rogers
- Length: 19 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 13
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 12
Religion is at the heart of man’s societies. ‘For a long time,’ Durkheim writes early on in his book, ‘it has been known that the first systems of representations with which men have pictured to themselves the world and themselves were of religious origin.’ Durkheim decided to examine how and why this phenomenon functioned and evolved - by looking specifically at simple societies and their religions, rather than at religions in more complex or developed societies.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A truly insightgul conclusion, the rest is good
- By GATINEAU Jeremy on 08-03-22
By: Émile Durkheim
-
Orientalism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 576
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 463
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 464
This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
We're lucky to have this on audio
- By Delano on 02-27-13
By: Edward Said
-
The Golden Bough
- A Study in Magic and Religion
- By: Sir James George Frazer
- Narrated by: Andrew Cullum
- Length: 44 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 47
The Golden Bough, the monumental study of religious rites and practices in ‘primitive’ societies, was one of the earliest influential texts in anthropology. Its author, Sir James Frazer, surveyed the wide range of cultural habits, taboos and beliefs in communities across the world concluding that there was an observable pattern in the way magic developed into religion, though formal expression emerged in different ways.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Epic
- By Mississippi Hippy on 08-01-23
-
Illuminations
- Essays and Reflections
- By: Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 22
Walter Benjamin was an icon of criticism, renowned for his insight on art, literature, and philosophy. This volume includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and Brecht’s epic theater. Illuminations also includes his penetrating study “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, an enlightening discussion of translation as a literary mode, and his theses on the philosophy of history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
finally
- By Anonymous User on 12-08-21
By: Walter Benjamin, and others
-
Consciousness Explained
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Paul Mantell
- Length: 21 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 508
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 439
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 430
The national bestseller chosen by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 1991 is now available as an audiobook. The author of Brainstorms, Daniel C. Dennett replaces our traditional vision of consciousness with a new model based on a wealth of fact and theory from the latest scientific research.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Confuses Consciousness with Ego
- By Rahul Yadav on 07-11-19
-
No Logo
- Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 178
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 160
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 156
In the last decade, No Logo has become an international phenomenon and a cultural manifesto for the critics of unfettered capitalism worldwide. As America faces a second economic depression, Klein's analysis of our corporate and branded world is as timely and powerful as ever. Equal parts cultural analysis, political manifesto, mall-rat memoir, and journalistic exposé, No Logo is the first book to put the new resistance into pop-historical and clear economic perspective. Naomi Klein tells a story of rebellion and self-determination in the face of our new branded world.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Irritating Over-Enunciated Narration
- By Bryan on 05-08-12
By: Naomi Klein
-
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
- By: Émile Durkheim
- Narrated by: Mike Rogers
- Length: 19 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 13
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 12
Religion is at the heart of man’s societies. ‘For a long time,’ Durkheim writes early on in his book, ‘it has been known that the first systems of representations with which men have pictured to themselves the world and themselves were of religious origin.’ Durkheim decided to examine how and why this phenomenon functioned and evolved - by looking specifically at simple societies and their religions, rather than at religions in more complex or developed societies.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A truly insightgul conclusion, the rest is good
- By GATINEAU Jeremy on 08-03-22
By: Émile Durkheim
-
Orientalism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 576
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 463
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 464
This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
We're lucky to have this on audio
- By Delano on 02-27-13
By: Edward Said
-
The Golden Bough
- A Study in Magic and Religion
- By: Sir James George Frazer
- Narrated by: Andrew Cullum
- Length: 44 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 47
The Golden Bough, the monumental study of religious rites and practices in ‘primitive’ societies, was one of the earliest influential texts in anthropology. Its author, Sir James Frazer, surveyed the wide range of cultural habits, taboos and beliefs in communities across the world concluding that there was an observable pattern in the way magic developed into religion, though formal expression emerged in different ways.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Epic
- By Mississippi Hippy on 08-01-23
-
Illuminations
- Essays and Reflections
- By: Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 22
Walter Benjamin was an icon of criticism, renowned for his insight on art, literature, and philosophy. This volume includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and Brecht’s epic theater. Illuminations also includes his penetrating study “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, an enlightening discussion of translation as a literary mode, and his theses on the philosophy of history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
finally
- By Anonymous User on 12-08-21
By: Walter Benjamin, and others
-
Doppelganger
- A Trip into the Mirror World
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Naomi Klein
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 527
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 489
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 488
What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired another self—a double who was almost you and yet not you at all? What if that double shared many of your preoccupations but, in a twisted, upside-down way, furthered the very causes you’d devoted your life to fighting against? Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience—she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Elite Psychobabble
- By A Reviewer on 09-30-23
By: Naomi Klein
-
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
- By: Thomas S. Kuhn
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,135
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 817
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 799
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were - and still are. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that kind of book.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
The problem is not with the book
- By Marcus on 08-09-09
By: Thomas S. Kuhn
-
Elite Capture
- How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (and Everything Else)
- By: Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
- Narrated by: Jaime Lincoln Smth
- Length: 3 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 149
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 122
“Identity politics” is everywhere, polarizing discourse from the campaign trail to the classroom. But the “identity politics” so compulsively referenced bears little resemblance to the concept as first introduced by the radical Black feminist Combahee River Collective. While the Collective articulated a political viewpoint grounded in their own position as Black lesbians with the explicit aim of building solidarity across lines of difference, “identity politics” is now frequently weaponized as a means of closing ranks around ever-narrower conceptions of group interests.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An Essential Read
- By TheFrozenBiscuit on 04-22-23
-
Discipline & Punish
- The Birth of the Prison
- By: Michel Foucault
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 472
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 392
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 384
This groundbreaking audiobook by Michel Foucault, the most influential philosopher since Sartre, compels us to reevaluate our assumptions about all the ensuing reforms in the penal institutions of the West. For as Foucault examines innovations that range from the abolition of torture to the institution of forced labor and the appearance of the modern penitentiary, he suggests that punishment has shifted its focus from the prisoner's body to his soul-and that our very concern with rehabilitation encourages and refines criminal activity.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
MORE FOUCAULT PLEASE!!
- By Maggie on 01-02-14
By: Michel Foucault
-
Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 50th Anniversary Edition
- By: Paulo Freire, Myra Bergman Ramos - translator, Donaldo Macedo - foreword, and others
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 447
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 360
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 355
First published in Portuguese in 1968, Pedagogy of the Oppressed was translated and published in English in 1970. Paulo Freire's work has helped to empower countless people throughout the world and has taken on special urgency in the United States and Western Europe, where the creation of a permanent underclass among the underprivileged and minorities in cities and urban centers is ongoing. This 50th anniversary edition includes an updated introduction by Donaldo Macedo, a new afterword by Ira Shor, and many inspirational interviews.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not easy listening
- By Berel Dov Lerner on 02-20-19
By: Paulo Freire, and others
-
Society of the Spectacle
- By: Guy Debord
- Narrated by: Bruce T Harvey
- Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 161
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 138
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 135
This is the "Das Kapital" of the 20th century - an essential text, and the main theoretical work of the Situationists. Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative. From its publication amid the social upheavals of the 1960s up to the present, the volatile theses of this book have decisively transformed debates on the shape of modernity, capitalism, and everyday life in the 21st century. This is the original translation by Fredy Perlman, kept in print continuously for the last 50 years, keeping the flame of personal and collective autonomy alive.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant
- By Rachel on 08-28-19
By: Guy Debord
-
The WEIRDest People in the World
- How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
- By: Joseph Henrich
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 448
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 354
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 349
In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more. He illuminates the origins and evolution of family structures, marriage, and religion, and the profound impact these cultural transformations had on human psychology. Mapping these shifts through ancient history and late antiquity, Henrich reveals that the most fundamental institutions of kinship and marriage changed dramatically under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Lots of mispronounced words
- By Phillip Falk on 10-24-20
By: Joseph Henrich
-
Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 37
Pirates have long lived in the realm of romance and fantasy, symbolizing risk, lawlessness, and radical visions of freedom. But at the root of this mythology is a rich history of pirate societies—vibrant, imaginative experiments in self-governance and alternative social formations at the edges of the European empire.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A fun historical analysis of Pirate political systems
- By Ian Turner on 01-30-23
By: David Graeber
-
A Secular Age
- By: Charles Taylor
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 42 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 256
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 216
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 212
What does it mean to say that we live in a secular age? Almost everyone would agree that we - in the West, at least - largely do. And clearly the place of religion in our societies has changed profoundly in the last few centuries. In what will be a defining book for our time, Charles Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean - of what, precisely, happens when a society in which it is virtually impossible not to believe in God becomes one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is only one human possibility among others.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Needs Guest Narrators for French and German
- By Norman on 06-13-15
By: Charles Taylor
-
The Mushroom at the End of the World
- On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins
- By: Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 292
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 243
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 240
Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world - and a weed that grows in human-disturbed forests across the northern hemisphere. Through its ability to nurture trees, matsutake helps forests to grow in daunting places. It is also an edible delicacy in Japan, where it sometimes commands astronomical prices. In all its contradictions, matsutake offers insights into areas far beyond just mushrooms and addresses a crucial question: what manages to live in the ruins we have made?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
An interesting book full of great ideas but lacking clarity.
- By Amazon Customer on 06-29-21
-
Strange New World
- How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution
- By: Carl R. Trueman, Ryan T. Anderson - foreword
- Narrated by: Carl R. Trueman
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 561
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 488
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 483
How did the world arrive at its current, disorienting state of identity politics, and how should the church respond? Historian Carl R. Trueman discusses how influences ranging from traditional institutions to technology and pornography moved modern culture toward an era of “expressive individualism.” Investigating philosophies from the Romantics, Nietzsche, Marx, Wilde, Freud, and the New Left, he outlines the history of Western thought to the distinctly sexual direction of present-day identity politics and explains the modern implications of these ideas.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Read and reread
- By Daniel on 04-04-22
By: Carl R. Trueman, and others
-
The Abolition of Man
- By: C. S. Lewis
- Narrated by: Douglas Gresham
- Length: 1 hr and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 956
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 810
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 797
Both astonishing and prophetic, The Abolition of Man remains one of C. S. Lewis's most controversial works. Lewis sets out to persuade his audience of the ongoing importance and relevance of universal objective values, such as courage and honor, and the foundational necessity of natural law. He also makes a cogent case that a retreat from these pillars of our educational system, even if in the name of "scientism", would be catastrophic. National Review lists it as number seven on their "100 Best Nonfiction Books of the 20th Century".
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Lewis the philosopher, not the theologian
- By Ian McKay on 05-11-17
By: C. S. Lewis
Publisher's summary
Is cleanliness next to godliness? What does such a concept really mean? Why does it recur as a universal theme across all societies? And what are the implications for the unclean?
In Purity and Danger, Mary Douglas identifies the concern for purity as a key theme at the heart of every society. In lively and lucid prose, she explains its relevance for every listeners by revealing its wide-ranging impact on our attitudes to society, values, cosmology and knowledge. This book has been hugely influential in many areas of debate—from religion to social theory. With a specially commissioned preface by the author which assesses the continuing significance of the work, this Routledge Classics edition will ensure that Purity and Danger continues to challenge, question, and inspire for many years to come.
Critic reviews
"Professor Douglas writes gracefully, lucidly and polemically. She continually makes points which illuminate matters in the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of science and help to show the rest of us just why and how anthropology has become a fundamentally intellectual discipline." - New Society
"Professor Douglas' book sparkles with intellectual life and is characterised by a concern to understand. Right or wrong, sound or idiosyncratic, it presents a rare and exciting spectacle of a mind at work." - Times Literary Supplement
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
The God Argument
- The Case Against Religion and for Humanism
- By: A. C. Grayling
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 208
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 191
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 188
What are the arguments for and against religion and religious belief - all of them - right across the range of reasons and motives that people have for being religious, and do they stand up to scrutiny? Can there be a clear, full statement of these arguments that once and for all will show what is at stake in this debate? Equally important: what is the alternative to religion as a view of the world and a foundation for morality?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating Topic Made Mind Numbingly Dull
- By m.emery on 06-17-15
By: A. C. Grayling
-
The Portable Atheist
- Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
- By: Christopher Hitchens
- Narrated by: Nicholas Ball
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 868
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 555
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 550
Christopher Hitchens continues to make the case for a splendidly godless universe in this first-ever gathering of the influential voices past and present that have shaped his side of the current (and raging) God/no-god debate. With Hitchens as your erudite and witty guide, you'll be led through a wealth of philosophy, literature, and scientific inquiry, including generous portions of the words of Lucretius, Benedict de Spinoza, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Mark Twain, and more.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
This is ABRIDGED
- By David Wolf on 06-05-08
-
The Faith Instinct
- How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures
- By: Nicholas Wade
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 165
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 92
For at least the last fifty thousand years, and probably much longer, people have practiced religion. Yet little attention has been given, either by believers or atheists, to the question of whether this universal human behavior might have an evolutionary basis. Did religion evolve, in other words, because it helped people in early societies survive?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
If you're religious or into religion read this
- By Adam on 08-16-10
By: Nicholas Wade
-
The Alphabet Versus the Goddess
- The Conflict Between Word and Image
- By: Leonard Shlain
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 24 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 89
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
Who changed the sex of God? This groundbreaking book proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy reconfigured the human brain and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and feminine values.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Can't Even Get Started
- By Marie on 02-08-19
By: Leonard Shlain
-
The Dream of Enlightenment
- The Rise of Modern Philosophy
- By: Anthony Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Anthony Gottlieb
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 192
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 170
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 166
In The Dream of Enlightenment, Anthony Gottlieb expertly navigates a second great explosion of thought, taking us to northern Europe in the wake of its wars of religion and the rise of Galilean science. In a relatively short period - from the early 1640s to the eve of the French Revolution - Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Hume all made their mark. The Dream of Enlightenment tells their story and that of the birth of modern philosophy.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Enlightenment meets Neuroscience
- By Rodger on 12-05-19
By: Anthony Gottlieb
-
The Dream of Reason, New Edition
- A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance
- By: Anthony Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Anthony Gottlieb
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
Already a classic, this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages. Author Anthony Gottlieb looks afresh at the writings of the great thinkers, questions much of conventional wisdom, and explains his findings with unbridled brilliance and clarity. From the pre-Socratic philosophers through the celebrated days of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, up to Renaissance visionaries like Erasmus and Bacon, philosophy emerges here as a phenomenon unconfined by any one discipline.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Bias spoils the work.
- By MC on 08-21-20
By: Anthony Gottlieb
-
The God Argument
- The Case Against Religion and for Humanism
- By: A. C. Grayling
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 208
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 191
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 188
What are the arguments for and against religion and religious belief - all of them - right across the range of reasons and motives that people have for being religious, and do they stand up to scrutiny? Can there be a clear, full statement of these arguments that once and for all will show what is at stake in this debate? Equally important: what is the alternative to religion as a view of the world and a foundation for morality?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating Topic Made Mind Numbingly Dull
- By m.emery on 06-17-15
By: A. C. Grayling
-
The Portable Atheist
- Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
- By: Christopher Hitchens
- Narrated by: Nicholas Ball
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 868
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 555
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 550
Christopher Hitchens continues to make the case for a splendidly godless universe in this first-ever gathering of the influential voices past and present that have shaped his side of the current (and raging) God/no-god debate. With Hitchens as your erudite and witty guide, you'll be led through a wealth of philosophy, literature, and scientific inquiry, including generous portions of the words of Lucretius, Benedict de Spinoza, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Mark Twain, and more.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
This is ABRIDGED
- By David Wolf on 06-05-08
-
The Faith Instinct
- How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures
- By: Nicholas Wade
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 165
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 92
For at least the last fifty thousand years, and probably much longer, people have practiced religion. Yet little attention has been given, either by believers or atheists, to the question of whether this universal human behavior might have an evolutionary basis. Did religion evolve, in other words, because it helped people in early societies survive?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
If you're religious or into religion read this
- By Adam on 08-16-10
By: Nicholas Wade
-
The Alphabet Versus the Goddess
- The Conflict Between Word and Image
- By: Leonard Shlain
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 24 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 89
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
Who changed the sex of God? This groundbreaking book proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy reconfigured the human brain and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and feminine values.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Can't Even Get Started
- By Marie on 02-08-19
By: Leonard Shlain
-
The Dream of Enlightenment
- The Rise of Modern Philosophy
- By: Anthony Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Anthony Gottlieb
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 192
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 170
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 166
In The Dream of Enlightenment, Anthony Gottlieb expertly navigates a second great explosion of thought, taking us to northern Europe in the wake of its wars of religion and the rise of Galilean science. In a relatively short period - from the early 1640s to the eve of the French Revolution - Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Hume all made their mark. The Dream of Enlightenment tells their story and that of the birth of modern philosophy.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Enlightenment meets Neuroscience
- By Rodger on 12-05-19
By: Anthony Gottlieb
-
The Dream of Reason, New Edition
- A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance
- By: Anthony Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Anthony Gottlieb
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
Already a classic, this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages. Author Anthony Gottlieb looks afresh at the writings of the great thinkers, questions much of conventional wisdom, and explains his findings with unbridled brilliance and clarity. From the pre-Socratic philosophers through the celebrated days of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, up to Renaissance visionaries like Erasmus and Bacon, philosophy emerges here as a phenomenon unconfined by any one discipline.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Bias spoils the work.
- By MC on 08-21-20
By: Anthony Gottlieb
-
Deep Thought
- 42 Fantastic Quotes That Define Philosphy
- By: Gary Cox
- Narrated by: Richard Mitchley
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
As Douglas Adams points out, if there is no final answer to the question "what is the meaning of life?" 42 is as good or bad an answer as any other. Indeed, 42 quotes might be even better! Gary Cox guides us through 42 of the most misunderstood, misquoted, provocative, and significant quotes in the history of philosophy, providing witty and compelling commentary along the way.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best philosophy intro ever
- By Fabian on 04-14-18
By: Gary Cox
-
A Secular Age
- By: Charles Taylor
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 42 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 256
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 216
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 212
What does it mean to say that we live in a secular age? Almost everyone would agree that we - in the West, at least - largely do. And clearly the place of religion in our societies has changed profoundly in the last few centuries. In what will be a defining book for our time, Charles Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean - of what, precisely, happens when a society in which it is virtually impossible not to believe in God becomes one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is only one human possibility among others.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Needs Guest Narrators for French and German
- By Norman on 06-13-15
By: Charles Taylor
-
The Witch
- A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present
- By: Ronald Hutton
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 117
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 101
Why have societies all across the world feared witchcraft? This book delves deeply into its context, beliefs, and origins in Europe's history. The witch came to prominence - and often a painful death - in early modern Europe, yet her origins are much more geographically diverse and historically deep. In this landmark book, Ronald Hutton traces witchcraft from the ancient world to the early modern state.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Meticulously researched, dry but great.
- By Matthew T Shank on 09-21-18
By: Ronald Hutton
-
A Short History of Ethics
- By: Alasdair MacIntyre
- Narrated by: Tim Dalgleish
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
A Short History of Ethics is a significant contribution written by one of the most important living philosophers. It remains an important work, ideal for all students interested in ethics and morality.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great philosopher made ridiculous by accents
- By Olivia Walling on 10-04-17
-
The Evolution of God
- By: Robert Wright
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,061
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 678
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 675
In this sweeping narrative, which takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms of archeology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright's findings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Very heavy reading
- By Stephen on 08-07-09
By: Robert Wright
-
Psychotherapy East and West
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
Alan Watts examines the problem of humans in a seemingly hostile universe in ways that question the social norms and illusions that bind and constrict modern humans. Marking a groundbreaking synthesis, Watts asserts that the powerful insights of Freud and Jung, which had, indeed, brought psychiatry close to the edge of liberation, could, if melded with the hitherto secret wisdom of the Eastern traditions, free people from their battles with the self.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not what I have come to expect from Alan Watts works
- By Shiva Latchmipersad on 03-22-19
By: Alan Watts
-
Philosophy
- Who Needs It
- By: Ayn Rand
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 418
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 273
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 272
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Deep and provocative
- By Sierra Bravo on 05-21-09
By: Ayn Rand
-
The Soul of the World
- By: Roger Scruton
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 101
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 100
In The Soul of the World, renowned philosopher Roger Scruton defends the experience of the sacred against today’s fashionable forms of atheism. He argues that our personal relationships, moral intuitions, and aesthetic judgments hint at a transcendent dimension that cannot be understood through the lens of science alone. To be fully alive - and to understand what we are - is to acknowledge the reality of sacred things.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
"Against Reductionism"
- By Edmund Schilvold on 10-08-15
By: Roger Scruton
-
Civilization and Its Discontents, Totem and Taboo
- By: Sigmund Freud
- Narrated by: Martyn Swain
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is remembered as the father of psychoanalysis. Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) is one of his key works, written three decades after his seminal book The Interpretation of Dreams. In it he considers the conflict between the needs of the individual acting both egotistically and altruistically in the pursuit of happiness and the myriad demands of civilised society and the ensuing tensions this clash of needs and demands generates.
By: Sigmund Freud
-
Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers
- The Ideas That Have Shaped Our World
- By: Philip Stokes
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 116
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 94
This engaging and accessible book invites the listener to explore the questions and arguments of philosophy through the work of 100 of the greatest thinkers within the Western intellectual tradition - covering philosophical, scientific, political, and religious thought over a period of 2500 years.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Unpretentious, honest, with a big picture
- By Mike S. on 05-29-17
By: Philip Stokes
-
Escape from Freedom
- By: Erich Fromm
- Narrated by: Anthony Haden Salerno
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 396
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 328
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 324
lf a man cannot stand freedom, he will probably turn fascist. This, in the fewest possible words, is the essential argument in this modem classic, Escape from Freedom. The author, Erich Fromm, is a distinguished psychologist, late of Berlin and Heidelberg, now of New York City.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Why is this not required reading in high school?
- By Xander on 09-07-16
By: Erich Fromm
-
Battling the Gods
- Atheism in the Ancient World
- By: Tim Whitmarsh
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
Long before the European Enlightenment and the Darwinian revolution, which we often take to mark the birth of the modern revolt against religious explanations of the world, brave people doubted the power of the gods. Religion provoked skepticism in ancient Greece, and heretics argued that history must be understood as a result of human action rather than divine intervention. They devised theories of the cosmos based on matter and notions of matter based on atoms.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
We have a history as long and as rich as any relig
- By Glencannnon on 08-13-19
By: Tim Whitmarsh
What listeners say about Purity and Danger
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- H.H.
- 01-25-24
Great book
I wish all academic books were also available as audiobooks. If you have the book you can read it as you listen for the first time and then re-study the book without the audio. Great voice and very well read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!