Politics and Philosophy
Discover the Ideas that Shape the World!
Politics and philosophy are the tools that help us understand power, justice, freedom and the challenges of society. If you want to reflect on the great questions of humanity or understand the forces that move governments and nations, books on politics and philosophy are your essential guide.
​
Why delve into these topics?
-
Understand today's world: Politics and philosophy explain the power structures, ideologies and conflicts that define our era.
-
Think critically: Develop your ability to analyze, question and form informed opinions.
-
Get to know the great thinkers: From Plato to Machiavelli, from Marx to Hannah Arendt, discover the minds that revolutionized human thought.
-
Debate with authority: Expand your repertoire to discuss complex topics with clarity and depth.
​
Our selection of books includes:
-
Timeless classics: The essential works that every lover of politics and philosophy needs to know.
-
Contemporary analyses: Books that connect the ideas of great thinkers to the challenges of the 21st century.
-
Biographies and histories: Learn about the lives and legacies of philosophers and leaders who changed the course of history.
-
Current debates: Explore topics such as democracy, authoritarianism, ethics, social justice and much more.
​
Who are these books for?
-
Students and academics: Rich and reliable sources for your studies and research.
-
Curious and self-learners: Learn in an accessible and engaging way about ideas that have transformed the world.
-
Professionals: Develop critical and analytical skills essential for any field.
-
Conscious citizens: Understand your role in society and how to contribute to a better future.
​
Transform your mind and expand your horizons!
​
Each book is an opportunity to explore new ideas, question old certainties and understand the forces that move the world. Let yourself be inspired by thoughts that challenge, provoke and enlighten.
​
Politics and philosophy are the keys to understanding the past, present, and future. Start your journey today!
Choose your next book and embark on an intellectual adventure.
Because great ideas don’t just change minds—they change the world.
​
Below are some of the great classic books on Politics and Philosophy. Those interested can buy them on Amazon. Just click on the “Buy on Amazon” button below the book cover and you will be directed to the purchase page.
As a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, I get paid for qualifying purchases.
THE REPUBLIC
English | Plato (author)
Plato's The Republic is widely acknowledged as the cornerstone of Western philosophy. Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, it is an inquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it.
During the conversation other questions are raised: what is goodness; what is reality; what is knowledge? The Republic also addresses the purpose of education and the role of both women and men as "guardians" of the people.
With remarkable lucidity and deft use of allegory, Plato arrives at a depiction of a state bound by harmony and ruled by "philosopher kings".
Pages
416
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin Books
Publication Date
September 14, 2007
APOLOGY
English | Plato (author)
Socrates defends himself in court in this resounding speech, recounted firsthand by one of history’s greatest philosophers.
Plato’s Apology is an account of the speech Socrates makes at the Athenian trial in which he is charged with not accepting the gods recognized by the state, inventing new deities, and corrupting the youth of Athens.
Recounted by Plato, Socrates’s speech is a rousing examination of integrity, wisdom, and the role of a philosopher. It is filled with wit, intelligence, and lessons that remain relevant today.
Pages
36
Language
English
Publisher
Open Road Media
Publication Date
September 18, 2018
THE LAST DAYS OF SOCRATES
English | Plato (author)
The trial and death of Socrates (469-399 BCE) have almost as central a place in Western consciousness as the trial and death of Jesus. In four superb dialogues, Plato provides the classic account. Euthyphro finds Socrates outside the court-house, debating the nature of piety, while the Apology is his robust rebuttal of the charges of impiety and a defence of the philosopher's life. In the Crito, while awaiting execution in prison, Socrates counters the arguments of friends urging him to escape. Finally, in the Phaedo, he is shown calmly confident in the face of death, skilfully arguing the case for the immortality of the soul.​ For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world.
With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Pages
272
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin Books
Publication Date
April 29, 2003
EXISTENTIALISM IS A HUMANISM
English | Jean Paul Sartre (author)
"Sartre matters because so many fundamental points of his analysis of the human reality are right and true, and because their accuracy and veracity entail real consequences for our lives as individuals and in social groups." - Benedict O'Donohoe, Philosophy Now.
​
It was to correct common misconceptions about his thought that Jean-Paul Sartre, the dominant European intellectual of the post-World War II decades, accepted an invitation to speak on October 29, 1945, at the Club Maintenant in Paris. The unstated objective of his lecture ("Existentialism Is a Humanism") was to expound his philosophy as a form of "existentialism," a term much bandied about at the time. Sartre asserted that existentialism was essentially a doctrine for philosophers, though, ironically, he was about to make it accessible to a general audience. The published text of his lecture quickly became one of the bibles of existentialism and made Sartre an international celebrity.
Pages
108
Language
English
Publisher
Yale University Press
Publication Date
July 24, 2007
THUS SPOKE ZARATHRUSTRA
English | Friedrich Nietzsche (author)
Friedrich Nietzsche's most accessible and influential philosophical work, misquoted, misrepresented, brilliantly original and enormously influential, Thus Spoke Zarathustra is translated from the German by R.J. Hollingdale in Penguin Classics. Nietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and subversive thinkers in Western philosophy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra remains his most famous and influential work. It describes how the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra descends from his solitude in the mountains to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman, the human embodiment of divinity, is his successor.
​
Nietzsche's utterance 'God is dead', his insistence that the meaning of life is to be found in purely human terms, and his doctrine of the Superman and the will to power were all later seized upon and unrecognisably twisted by, among others, Nazi intellectuals. With blazing intensity and poetic brilliance, Nietzsche argues that the meaning of existence is not to be found in religious pieties or meek submission to authority, but in an all-powerful life force: passionate, chaotic and free.
Pages
368
Language
English
Publisher
Modern Library
Publication Date
September 19, 1995
THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
English | Jean Jacques Rousseau (author)
These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has not ceased to stir vigorous debate since its first publication in 1762. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau argues instead for a pact, or 'social contract', that should exist between all the citizens of a state and that should be the source of sovereign power. From this fundamental premise, he goes on to consider issues of liberty and law, freedom and justice, arriving at a view of society that has seemed to some a blueprint for totalitarianism, to others a declaration of democratic principles.
​
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Pages
192
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin Books
Publication Date
June 30, 1968
ON LIBERTY
English | John Stuart Mill (author)
John Stuart Mill was a prominent English philosopher and political economist in the 19th century. Mill is considered to be one of the most influential liberal thinkers in history and he was a significant contributor to many fields such as social theory, political theory, and political economy.
Mill is also notable for being the first Member of Parliament to argue in favor of women's suffrage. On Liberty, published in 1859, is generally considered to be Mill's most famous work. Mill applies his ethical system of utilitarianism to society in order to establish a relationship between liberty and authority.
Pages
120
Language
English
Publisher
12th Media Services
Publication Date
January 1, 1859
LEVIATHAN
English | Thomas Hobbes (author)
Written during the turmoil of the English Civil War, Leviathan is an ambitious and highly original work of political philosophy. Claiming that man's essential nature is competitive and selfish, Hobbes formulates the case for a powerful sovereign - or "Leviathan" - to enforce peace and the law, substituting security for the anarchic freedom he believed human beings would otherwise experience. This worldview shocked many of Hobbes's contemporaries, and his work was publicly burnt for sedition and blasphemy when it was first published. But in his rejection of Aristotle's view of man as a naturally social being, and in his painstaking analysis of the ways in which society can and should function, Hobbes opened up a whole new world of political science.
​
Based on the original 1651 text, this edition incorporates Hobbes's own corrections, while also retaining the original spelling and punctuation, to read with vividness and clarity. C. B. Macpherson's introduction elucidates one of the most fascinating works of modern philosophy for the general reader.
Pages
688
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin Classics
Publication Date
October 10, 2017
THE PRINCE
English | Niccolo Machiavelli (author)
As a young Florentine envoy to the courts of France and the Italian principalities, Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was able to observe firsthand the lives of people strongly united under one powerful ruler. In his most famous work, THE PRINCE (Il Principe), Machiavelli described the ideal prince and encouraged the people of Italy to imagine what it might be like if such a person led a unified Italy. Written in 1513 and published posthumously in 1532, THE PRINCE has been interpreted both as a genuine handbook for potential rulers and as a satirical portrait of certain prevailing styles of leadership of the time. Instead of advocating a sense of moral obligation to one's constituents, Machiavelli believed that it is far better for a leader to be feared than liked. He believed that the ends justify the means, and deceit, ruthlessness, and greed are acceptable in the interest of maintaining power. Though THE PRINCE may have influenced Hitler and Mussolini, the Machiavellian principles outlined in it have earned the work a place on many, if not most, lists of required reading for government and political science courses.
Pages
90
Language
English
Publisher
Kindle
Publication Date
May 4, 2017
ETHICS
English | Benedict de Spinoza (author)
Published shortly after his death, the Ethics is undoubtedly Spinoza's greatest work - an elegant, fully cohesive cosmology derived from first principles, providing a coherent picture of reality, and a guide to the meaning of an ethical life. Following a logical step-by-step format, it defines in turn the nature of God, the mind, the emotions, human bondage to the emotions, and the power of understanding - moving from a consideration of the eternal, to speculate upon humanity's place in the natural order, the nature of freedom and the path to attainable happiness.
A powerful work of elegant simplicity, the Ethics is a brilliantly insightful consideration of the possibility of redemption through intense thought and philosophical reflection. The Ethics is presented in the standard translation of the work by Edwin Curley. This edition also includes an introduction by Stuart Hampshire, outlining Spinoza's philosophy and placing it in context.
Pages
186
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin Books
Publication Date
July 26, 2005
LETTERS FROM A STOIC
English | Lucius Annaeus Seneca (author)
"It is philosophy that has the duty of protecting us...without it no one can lead a life free of fear or worry".
​
For several years of his turbulent life, Seneca was the guiding hand of the Roman Empire. His inspired reasoning derived mainly from the Stoic principles, which had originally been developed some centuries earlier in Athens. This selection of Seneca's letters shows him upholding the austere ethical ideals of Stoicism--the wisdom of the self-possessed person immune to overmastering emotions and life's setbacks--while valuing friendship and the courage of ordinary men, and criticizing the harsh treatment of slaves and the cruelties in the gladiatorial arena. The humanity and wit revealed in Seneca's interpretation of Stoicism is a moving and inspiring declaration of the dignity of the individual mind.
Pages
254
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin Books
Publication Date
July 30, 1969
CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON
English | Immanuel Kant (author)
A seminal text of modern philosophy, Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (1781) made history by bringing together two opposing schools of thought: rationalism, which grounds all our knowledge in reason, and empiricism, which traces all our knowledge to experience. Published here in a lucid reworking of Max Müller's classic translation, the Critique is a profound investigation into the nature of human reason, establishing its truth, falsities, illusions, and reality.
​
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Pages
708
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin Books
Publication Date
February 1, 2008
DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
English | Alexis de Tocqueville (author)
In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat and ambitious civil servant, set out from post-revolutionary France on a journey across America that would take him 9 months and cover 7,000 miles. The result was Democracy in America, a subtle and prescient analysis of the life and institutions of 19th-century America. Tocqueville looked to the flourishing democratic system in America as a possible model for post-revolutionary France, believing that the egalitarian ideals it enshrined reflected the spirit of the age and even divine will. His study of the strengths and weaknesses of an evolving democratic society has been quoted by every American president since Eisenhower, and remains a key point of reference for any discussion of the American nation or the democratic system.
​
This new edition is the only one that contains all Tocqueville's writings on America, including the rarely-translated Two Weeks in the Wilderness, an account of Tocqueville's travels in Michigan among the Iroquois, and Excursion to Lake Oneida.
Pages
992
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin Books
Publication Date
July 1, 2003
SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT
English | John Locke (author)
Locke wrote his Second Treatise of Government as a direct response to the political situation in England at the time. He defines political power morally; arguing that the state can and must make and enforce laws for the good of the public. Locke argues that although all people are equal in what he calls a ‘state of nature’, they must surrender some ‘natural’ freedoms upon entering society in order to be protected by common laws.
Although very different to Hobbes, Locke also argues that the state only has power over the people so far as they are willing to accept it. Going further, he writes that sovereignty is firmly in the hands of the people, and they can choose to depose a state executive if it no longer works in their best interests.
Pages
148
Language
English
Publisher
Hackett Pub Co Inc
Publication Date
June 1, 1980
ARISTOTLE'S POLITICS
English | Aristotle (author)
One of the fundamental works of Western political thought, Aristotle's masterwork is the first systematic treatise on the science of politics. For almost three decades, Carnes Lord's justly acclaimed translation has served as the standard English edition. Widely regarded as the most faithful to both the original Greek and Aristotle's distinctive style, it is also written in clear, contemporary English.​ This new edition of the Politics retains and adds to Lord's already extensive notes, clarifying the flow of Aristotle's argument and identifying literary and historical references. A glossary defines key terms in Aristotle's philosophical-political vocabulary. Lord has made revisions to problematic passages throughout the translation in order to enhance both its accuracy and its readability. He has also substantially revised his introduction for the new edition, presenting an account of Aristotle's life in relation to political events of his time; the character and history of his writings and of the Politics in particular; his overall conception of political science; and his impact on subsequent political thought from antiquity to the present. Further enhancing this new edition is an up-to-date selected bibliography.
Pages
265
Language
English
University of Chicago Press
Publication Date
March 4, 2013
THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM
English | Hannah Arendt (author)
Arendt was a German-Jewish intellectual who fled during the rise of the Nazis in 1933, first to France and then on to the United States. In this work, she aims to understand the origins, rather than the causes, of totalitarianism. Her analysis claims that societies after World War I were filled with resentment, and so prone to be manipulated by demagogues.
Arendt believed that party politics and parliamentary government were going through a crisis of legitimacy, and the appeal of totalitarianism lay in its manipulation of the truth. Her account of the origins of totalitarianism concludes with a description of concentration and death camps in Europe, which she believed representative of totalitarian rule.
Pages
752
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin Classics
Publication Date
April 6, 2017
MEDITATIONS
English | Marcus Aurelius (author)
Written in Greek by an intellectual Roman emperor without any intention of publication, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius offer a wide range of fascinating spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the leader struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe. Spanning from doubt and despair to conviction and exaltation, they cover such diverse topics as the question of virtue, human rationality, the nature of the gods and the values of leadership. But while the Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation, in developing his beliefs Marcus also created one of the greatest of all works of philosophy: a series of wise and practical aphorisms that have been consulted and admired by statesmen, thinkers and ordinary readers for almost two thousand years.​ To provide a full understanding of Aurelius's seminal work, this edition includes explanatory notes, a general index, an index of quotations, an index of names, and an introduction by Diskin Clay putting the work in its biographical, historical, and literary context, a chronology of Marcus Aurelius's life and career.
Pages
254
Language
English
Publisher
Penguin Books
Publication Date
November 1, 2006
