Renaissance Philosophy

From the darkness of a plagued and war-torn Middle Ages, the Renaissance (we’re told) heralds the dawning of a new world—a halcyon age of art, prosperity, and rebirth. Hogwash! or so says award-winning novelist and historian Ada Palmer. In Inventing the Renaissance, Palmer turns her witty and irreverent eye on the fantasies we’ve told ourselves about Europe’s not-so-golden age, myths she sets right with sharp clarity.

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.

Nearly six hundred years ago, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late 30s took a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic by Lucretius—a beautiful poem containing the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles.

Beginning in the heady days just after the First Crusade, this volume - the third in the series that began with The History of the Ancient World and The History of the Medieval World - chronicles the contradictions of a world in transition. Impressively researched and brilliantly told, The History of the Renaissance World offers not just the names, dates, and facts but the memorable characters who illuminate the years between 1100 and 1453 - years that marked a sea change in mankind's perception of the world.

 Brunelleschi's Dome is the story of how a Renaissance genius bent men, materials, and the very forces of nature to build an architectural wonder we continue to marvel at today. Denounced at first as a madman, Brunelleschi was celebrated at the end as a genius. He engineered the perfect placement of brick and stone, built ingenious hoists and cranes to carry an estimated 70 million pounds hundreds of feet into the air, and designed the workers' platforms and routines so carefully that only one man died during the decades of construction. 

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, here is “an intricate and dazzling novel” (The New York Times) about the perfect butler and his fading, insular world in post-World War II England. This is Kazuo Ishiguro's profoundly compelling portrait of a butler...

This book is not a museum of doctrines or a dry catalog of names and dates. It is a journey through the restless spirit of European thought—from Petrarch’s anxious letters to the ancients, to Pico della Mirandola’s vision of human dignity, from Ficino’s hymns to harmony, to Bruno’s infinite cosmos, from Machiavelli’s stark realism to Montaigne’s gentle skepticism, from Bacon’s call for experience to Descartes’s radical doubt and Spinoza’s infinite substance.

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) est l’un des auteurs les plus sous-estimés de l’histoire. Philosophiquement, il n’est pas au même niveau qu’Aristote, Platon et Socrate, mais lorsqu’il s’agit du développement personnel, il est l’un des meilleurs. Montaigne a fait preuve d’une curiosité remarquable dans son œuvre littéraire, à laquelle il a consacré les deux dernières décennies de sa vie. Il a étudié les auteurs classiques, prenant d’abondantes notes et cherchant à en tirer des conclusions de valeur universelle. Ses recherches se sont concentrées sur un seul ...

Unlock the Secrets of the Island Nation That Shaped the Modern World From the shadowy origins of its first inhabitants to its transformation into a dazzling technological superpower, Japan’s history is a saga of warriors, emperors, artistic genius, and global power plays that changed the world forever. This book is your engaging, fast-paced journey through the legendary moments that built the spirit of Japan. Dive deep into the compelling questions that define Japan’s unique identity: Who were the mysterious Jōmon people, and what do their 10,000-year-old artifacts reveal? Was the ...

The Arabic legacy of science and philosophy has long been hidden from the West. British-Iraqi physicist Jim Al-Khalili unveils that legacy to fascinating effect by returning to its roots in the hubs of Arab innovation that would advance science and jump-start the European Renaissance. 

A lively and engaging guide to vital habits of mind that can help you think more deeply, write more effectively, and learn more joyfully. 

A Landmark Translation of the Original Renaissance Quadrivium Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) was the last great Renaissance polymath—and one of the first global scholars. In the mid-1600s, he published his monumental three-volume work, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, which aimed to decode the ancient world’s symbolic language. This volume contains Kircher’s exploration of the Quadrivium: Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy—the four liberal arts of classical education. Drawing on ancient sources from Pythagoras to Plato, Kircher weaves a cosmological vision in which number, form, sound...

Alchemist, occultist, magician, astrologer, writer, physician, lawyer, theologian, philosopher, and mercenary soldier - Henry Cornelius Agrippa was the quintessential Renaissance Man. In this fresh translation of Joseph Orsier's concise 1911 biography of the mercurial author of Occult Philosophy we are given an overview of his tumultuous existence at a time when Europe was shaking off the long sleep of the Middle Ages and the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo were creating masterworks. At the same time that Erasmus was giving the Catholic Church a gentle nudge and Martin...

If you want to discover the captivating history of the Renaissance, then pay attention.

Why do some leaders maintain their power through every crisis while others fall at the first sign of conflict? In The Art of War, Niccolò Machiavelli reveals that the secret to lasting success lies in the cultivation of a disciplined citizenry. Structured as a dialogue between a seasoned commander and young aristocrats, this work critiques the reliance on mercenaries and advocates for a return to the strategic ideals of Rome. Unlike The Prince, this text focuses on the practical and philosophical organization required for a society to survive and thrive.

This second volume of Émile Bréhier’s History of Philosophy continues the monumental exploration of Western thought begun in the first volume, which traced the transformations of philosophy through the Hellenistic and Roman eras. Here, Bréhier turns to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance — two periods that, though often contrasted, are shown to be profoundly interconnected in the evolution of philosophical ideas. The volume opens with the dawn of medieval thought, when the collapse of the Roman Empire gave way to a new spiritual civilization founded upon Christianity. Bréhier ...

The Renaissance did not begin in Florence. Long before Leonardo painted, before Copernicus moved the Earth, before European universities became centers of philosophy and science, another civilization had already gathered the knowledge of the ancient world and set it on fire again. In Baghdad, translators rendered Greek philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and astronomy into Arabic. In Persia and Central Asia, scholars such as al-Khwarizmi, Avicenna, al-Razi, al-Biruni, and al-Tusi transformed inherited knowledge into new systems of calculation, healing, measurement, and cosmic inquiry. In ...

Scholars suggest the Renaissance started with the first scientific study of perspective. It was introduced in a treatise named De pictura, published in 1435. The author was Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472). He was an Italian polymath.

The Prince and Beyond: Understanding the Enduring Ideas of Machiavelli explores the bold, provocative, and often misunderstood insights of one of history’s most influential political thinkers. From the chaos of Renaissance Italy to today’s halls of power, Niccolò Machiavelli’s writings continue to shape the way we think about leadership, politics, and human nature. This engaging and accessible book introduces readers to Machiavelli’s most important concepts, including virtù and fortuna, the role of fear and love in leadership, the relationship between morality and politics, and ...

In this masterful work, listeners will encounter: the poets Petrarch and Boccaccio, the fathers of the Renaissance; the paintings, sculptures, and architecture of Milan, Florence, and Venice; the life and accomplishments of Leonardo DaVinci; the Catholic church and the popes of Avignon and Rome; the politicians and philosophers of Italy, including the Borgia family, Julius II, and Machiavelli; the Italian Wars, the conflicts with France, and the country's decline.