Moral Essays

David Hume (1711-1776) remains a major figure in British philosophy, particularly for two or three works, including A Treatise on Human Nature and An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. But he was also a prolific essayist and historian. During his lifetime Essays Moral, Political and Literary went through a number of editions and collections, far outselling his philosophy. Now, the situation is reversed. But listening to the essays today it is difficult to see why. 

These four poems, which deal with ethical issues, were collated and published in 1751 by William Warburton, seven years after Pope's death.

An essay concerning the final part of Friedrich Nietzsche's "On the Genealogy of morals". What does he mean by "man would rather will nothingness than not will"?

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), 1st Viscount St Albans, Attorney General and then Lord Chancellor of England, was an immensely learned, clever and ambitious man, with considerable political influence. However, he was also a philosopher with a wide interest in science, medicine and the classification of knowledge. Throughout his life he wrote a series of essays - following the manner set particularly by Montaigne, though extending back to Aristotle and others - the first 10 of which appeared in 1597.

In On the Genealogy of Morals, subtitled "A Polemic", Nietzsche furthers his pursuit of a clarity that is less tainted by imposed prejudices. He looks at the way attitudes towards 'morality' evolved and the way congenital ideas of morality were heavily colored by the Judaic and Christian traditions.

In Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction outing, an examination of the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life through an insightful, unsparing argument that proves the greatest horrors are not the products of our imagination but instead are found in reality. "There is a signature motif discernible in...

For fans of Everything Is F*cked and Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times, a book about facing the multiple crises of modernity--and hospicing modernity--with maturity, humility, and integrity. This book is not easy: it contains no quick-fix plan for a better, brighter tomorrow...

“A witty, learned, authoritative survey of philosophical thought.” —The New York Times Book Review The first authoritative and accessible single-volume history of philosophy to cover both Western and Eastern traditions, from one of the world’s most eminent thinkers The story of...

The autobiographical essays in The Girls in My Town create an unforgettable portrait of a family in Los Angeles. Reaching back to her grandmother's childhood and navigating through her own girlhood and on to the present, Angela Morales contemplates moments of loss and longing, truth and beauty, motherhood and daughterhood. 

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 ...

Are Australian schools safe? And if they're not, what happens when kids are caught in a bleak collision between ill-equipped school staff and a confected media scandal? In 2016, the Safe Schools program became the centre of an ideological firestorm. In QE67, Benjamin Law explores how and why this happened. He weaves a subtle, gripping account of schools today, sexuality, teenagers, new ideas of gender fluidity, tabloid media scares and mental health.

Thoughts in Words: Essays and Poems by Constantina Ionescu is a compelling collection of reflections on faith, society, human dignity, and the moral trials of contemporary life. Bringing together 57 essays and 11 poems, this volume is rooted, for the most part, in Romanian realities – in the tensions, disappointments, and contradictions of everyday life as observed by the author with sincerity and moral urgency. Yet these pages are never limited to a local frame. From specifically Romanian experiences, Constantina Ionescu draws conclusions that speak to universal human concerns: the ...

Sex and gender are among the most controversial topics of our time—but human confusion about desire, identity, and the body is nothing new. The Bible acknowledged this struggle long before our modern debates. In Sex, Gender, and the Bible: A Need to Know Essay, C. W. Steinle offers a clear, compassionate, and deeply grounded exploration of what Scripture actually says about human sexuality. With pastoral sensitivity and historical insight, this essay addresses some of the most pressing questions facing Christians today: Why did God create humanity male and female? Why do our desires so ...

The essays in this fascinating volume examine present-day psychological and cultural problems with the keen insight and humanistic sympathies characteristic of Erich Fromm's work. The Dogma of Christ provides some of the sharpest critical insights into how the contemporary world of human destructiveness and violence can no longer separate religion, psychology, and politics. The book brilliantly summarizes Fromm's ideas on how culture and society shape our behavior.

America has been exposed. Not by enemies abroad. Not by foreign adversaries. But by a mirror. A Letter to America: Thank You for Showing Us Who We Are is a powerful civic reflection written by a U.S. Navy Veteran examining what the past political era revealed about our democracy, our institutions, and ourselves. This is not a partisan attack. It is a moral examination. Inside this letter, you will explore: • The fragility of democratic norms • The elasticity of patriotism • The normalization of rhetoric once considered disqualifying • The silence that enables erosion • The ...

A meditation on how lives endure through the things they leave behind: letters never sent, portraits fading in their frames, and the quiet eloquence of remembrance. Letters and Objects: Essays on Memory, Objects, and the Margins of History In an age captivated by progress, the nineteenth century turned instead toward remembrance. Through its letters, keepsakes, and portraits, it sought to preserve the fragile substance of feeling, to rescue the self from silence. Letters and Objects opens The Library of Quiet Things, a series devoted to the moral imagination of history and to the tender ...

Martin Luther King Jr. may be America's most revered political figure, commemorated in statues, celebrations, and street names around the world. But despite his stature, the significance of King's writings and political thought remains underappreciated. In To Shape a New World, Tommie Shelby and Brandon Terry state that the marginalization of King's ideas reflects a romantic consensus history that renders the civil rights movement inherently conservative - an effort not at radical reform but at "living up to" enduring ideals laid down by the nation's founders.

Introduction Published in 1928, On Happiness gathers a selection of Propos—brief philosophical essays originally written by Émile Chartier, known as Alain, for the newspaper La Dépêche de Rouen. These meditations, born from everyday life and addressed to ordinary people, form one of the most luminous and accessible works of modern French thought. A direct heir of Montaigne and a disciple of Descartes, Alain sought in clarity of reason and in the discipline of will the foundation of an art of living. Against pessimism and morbid abstractions, he proposes a philosophy of attention and of...

A tribute to a great man, an important and interesting writer, an inspiring teacher, and a friend some will not likely find again. Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper wrote a memorable biography about their pal, C.S. Lewis. "...We have sought to tell his story as best we could, to lay before...

While the World Watched is a lyrical and contemplative meditation on grief, silence, and the cost of watching without acting. It bears witness to moral numbness in the face of human suffering and insists that memory—however quiet—is a form of resistance. This is not a book about sides. It is a book about conscience.