Examines the origins of the religious traditions of the world during the ninth century B.C.E. in four distinct regions--Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical rationalism in Greece.

More than 2,500 years later, the fundamental questions asked by the ancient Greeks continue to challenge, fascinate, and instruct us. Is reality stable and permanent or is it always changing? Are ethical values like justice and courage relative? What is justice? What is happiness? How shall we best live our lives?In this series of 24 lectures, Professor Roochnik invites you to join this eternal discussion. You'll study the development of Greek

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The author draws on great thinkers like Confucius, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Christian monks to show us what stillness is and how it might be achieved. He believes stillness is the doorway to self-mastery, discipline, and focus. He examines many of the figures that exemplify the power of stillness, including Winston Churchill, Fred Rogers and Anne Frank. This book aims to equip you with everything you need to find stillness in your own life.

"Benjamin Jowett's translations of Plato have long been classics in their own right. In this volume, Professor Hayden Pelliccia has substantially revised Jowett's renderings of five of Plato's key dialogues, giving us a fresh, modern Plato faithful to both Jowett's best elements and the inimitable original. Ion takes up the question of poetry and introduces the Socratic method. Protagoras discusses poetic interpretation and shows why cross-examination...

Paul R. Goldin explores how Confucianism was conceived and molded by its earliest masters, discusses its main tenets, and considers its history and relevance for the modern world. Goldin guides readers through the philosophies of the three major classical Confucians--Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi--as well as two short anonymous treatises, the "Great Learning" and the "Classic of Filial Piety." He also discusses some of the main Neo-Confucian philosophers...

In this volume of the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Ansgar Allen charts the long history of cynicism, from the "fearless speech" of Greek Cynics in the fourth century BCE to the contemporary cynic's lack of social and political convictions. Allen describes ancient Cynicism as an improvised philosophy and a way of life disposed to scandalize contemporaries, subjecting their cultural commitments to derision. He chronicles the subsequent "purification"...

If we all want happiness and pleasure so much, then why are we so bad at getting it? Pleasure feels amazing! Anxiety, however, does not. The Ancient Greek Philosopher Epicurus rolled these two strikingly intuitive claims into a simple formula for happiness and well-being--pursue pleasure without causing yourself anxiety. But wait, is that even possible? Can humans achieve lasting pleasure without suffering anxiety about failure and loss? Epicurus...