Although we tend to associate social transformation with major events, historical turning points, or revolutionary upheaval, Revolutionary Routines argues that seemingly minor everyday habits are the key to meaningful change. Through...

This Norton Critical Edition includes the three most important of Rousseau's political writings: Discourse on Inequality, Discourse on Political Economy, and On Social Contract.

The science fiction genre has become increasingly influential in mainstream popular culture, evolving into one of the most engaging storytelling tools we use to think about technology and consider the shape of the future. Along the way...

We tend to suppose that the ancient Greeks had primitive ideas of the self, of responsibility, freedom, and shame, and that now humanity has advanced from these to a more refined moral consciousness. Bernard Williams's original and...

A collection of essays grounded in the author's belief that our largest problems have grown from the earth's remotest corners as well as from our own backyards, and that answers may lie in those places, too.

Johnson draws from little-known resources to construct a fascinating account of one of history's greatest thinkers. Socrates transcended class limitations in Athens during the fifth century B.C. to develop ideas that still shape...

An exploration of the production, transmission, and mutation of affective tonality―when sound helps produce a bad vibe.

Sound can be deployed to produce discomfort, express a threat, or create an ambience of fear or dread―to...

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

Alain de Botton examines the origins of status anxiety--the universal anxiety about what others think of us--and reveals ingenious ways in which people have been able to overcome their worries in the search for happiness.