Paul Strathern

These brief and enlightening explorations of our greatest thinkers bring their ideas to life in entertaining and accessible fashion. Philosophical thought is deciphered and made comprehensive and interesting to almost everyone. Far from being a novelty, each book is a highly refined appraisal of the philosopher and his work, authoritative and clearly presented.

In Thomas Aquinas in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Aquinas's life and ideas and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world.

René Descartes spent most of his childhood in solitude, a situation that also came to characterize his adult life. Fortunately, these countless lonely hours helped Descartes produce the declaration that changed all philosophy: “I think, therefore I am.” Eventually convincing himself to doubt and disregard sensory knowledge, Descartes found he could prove his existence through his thoughts. This internal information, he believed, was the true...

Hegel's dialectical method produced the most grandiose metaphysical system known to man. Its most vital element was the dialectic of the thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. This sprung from Hegel's aim to overcome the deficiencies of logic and ascend toward Mind as the ultimate reality. His view of history as a process of humanity's self-realization inspired Marx to synthesize his philosophy of dialectical materialism. In Hegel in 90 Minutes, Paul...

In Rousseau in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Rousseau's life and ideas and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world.

“If we accept Wittgenstein's word for it,” Paul Strathern writes, “he is the last philosopher. In his view, philosophy in the traditional sense was finished.” Ludwig Wittgenstein was a superb logician who distrusted language and sought to solve the problems of philosophy by reducing them to logic. All else—metaphysics, aesthetics, ethics, finally even philosophy itself—was excluded. They were all wrong, he argued. “What we cannot speak...

An original, illuminating history of the northern European Renaissance in art, science, and philosophy, which often rivaled its Italian counterpart. It is generally accepted that the European Renaissance began in Italy. However, a historical transformation of similar magnitude also took place in northern Europe at the same time. This "Other Renaissance" was initially centered on the city of Bruges in Flanders (modern Belgium), but its influence...

A sweeping history of “The Age of Reason”, revealing how-although it was a time of great progress-it was also an era of brutality and intolerance with a very human cost. During the 1600s-between the end of the Renaissance and the start of the Enlightenment-Europe lived through an era known as The Age of Reason. This was a revolutionary period that saw great advances in areas such as art, science, philosophy, political theory, and economics. However,...

These brief and enlightening explorations of our greatest thinkers bring their ideas to life in entertaining and accessible fashion. Philosophical thought is deciphered and made comprehensive and interesting to almost everyone. Far from being a novelty, each book is a highly refined appraisal of the philosopher and his work, authoritative and clearly presented.

Arquímedes es uno de los tres matemáticos más grandes de todos los tiempos. Revolucionó lo mecánica con su descubrimiento del punto de apoyo y lo palanca y también inventó, entre otros, lo bomba de agua y la polea. Lo exclamación "Eureka" es de todos conocido pero, ¿por qué dijo que era capaz de mover el mundo? ¿y qué es hoy de sus obras perdidas? Arquímedes y la palanca nos presenta un brillante retrato de este genial científico y matemático....