Free summaries
Philosophy & Ethics — page 12
560 public-domain philosophy & ethics books, summarised. Page 12 of 12.
The phantom public
Walter Lippmann
Political life is often presented as a grand, unified drama of the people, but it is actually a fragmented, invisible, and often overwhelming system. This analysis strips away the romantic myths surrounding democracy to reveal the sober, limited reality of how a public actually functions.
The nature of man
Elie Metchnikoff
A organism designed for youth and survival finds itself betrayed by its own internal machinery as time goes on.
The Other Side of Evolution: Its Effects and Fallacy
Alexander Patterson
Science and theology clash in an early twentieth-century crusade to dismantle Darwinian theory, presenting a rigorous, lay-accessible broadside against scientific consensus to preserve traditional Christian faith.
An Atheist Manifesto
Joseph Lewis
When humanity casts off the paralyzing fear of a tyrant deity, it exchanges mythical promises of salvation for real, practical progress on earth.
The sacred theory of the Earth, Volume 2 (of 2)
Thomas Burnet
A grand natural history of the universe envisions the Earth melting into a fiery ruin before rebuilding itself into an everlasting paradise.
Anarchism is not enough
Laura Riding
A sharp, unsparing assault on the comforting fictions of modern culture, this critical tour de force strips away social conventions to reveal the fierce independence of the individual mind.
The Camel and the Needle's Eye
Ponsonby, Arthur Ponsonby, Baron
The accumulation of unearned riches acts as an artificial dam on human society, suffocating the spirit of the wealthy while starving the poor.
Rationalism
J. M. (John Mackinnon) Robertson
The pursuit of truth is not a surrender to cynicism, but an act of intellectual courage that demands the steady application of reason to every facet of human belief. To think clearly is to accept the responsibility of holding one’s own convictions up to the light of evidence, even when that light reveals…
The Secret of Dreams
Yacki Raizizun
Sleep is not merely a period of rest, but a voyage into the astral realm where the human soul transcends the physical body to gain knowledge, guidance, and spiritual growth. By mastering the art of conscious dreaming, an individual can bridge the gap between their waking life and their eternal, higher existence.
Recent Tendencies in Ethics: Three Lectures to Clergy Given at Cambridge
W. R. (William Ritchie) Sorley
Understanding the complex intellectual movements of the early twentieth century is a daunting task, yet these lectures offer a clear, critical guide to how we define goodness in an age of shifting scientific and philosophical certainties.
An Essay on the Scriptural Doctrine of Immortality
James Challis
The quest to understand life beyond the veil begins with a simple, unsettling premise: immortality is not an innate quality of the human soul, but a transformative gift to be earned through divine order.
Philistine and genius
Boris Sidis
The tragedy of modern childhood is that society treats brilliance as an illness, systematically training children to be fearful, obedient machines rather than free-thinking individuals.
The faithful steward
Sereno D. (Sereno Dickenson) Clark
A rigorous call to integrate financial generosity into the daily life of a believer, this treatise argues that Christian charity should be as deliberate, orderly, and disciplined as any successful secular business venture.
The Gospel of Evolution: From "The Atheistic Platform", Twelve Lectures
Edward B. Aveling
A new and better Gospel is now preached to men, founded not on supernatural faith, but on the enduring, demonstrable realities of the natural world. This scientific shift offers a path to universal human brotherhood that ancient creeds have failed to provide.
A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival: The Fourth Dimension and Its Applications
W. Whately (Walter Whately) Smith
Can a mathematical concept solve the mystery of what happens after we die? This inquiry explores whether higher spatial dimensions provide a bridge between the physical world and the afterlife.
Fraternal Charity
Benôit Valuy
The path to harmony in any communal life, the author suggests, lies not in the perfection of others, but in the deliberate cultivation of a charitable heart. This is a manual for turning the friction of human interaction into an opportunity for spiritual growth.
Philosophies
Ross, Ronald, Sir
This collection captures the intense, solitary struggle of a mind searching for objective truth while confined by the physical and mental decay of a colonial landscape. It is a work of philosophical poetry that grapples with the tension between scientific inquiry and the emotional weight of human suffering.
The Limits of Atheism
George Jacob Holyoake
A spirited defense of the intellectual and moral validity of non-belief, this work argues that the label of "Atheist" is often a political weapon used to disenfranchise honest, law-abiding citizens.
Ethics and Modern Thought: A Theory of Their Relations
Rudolf Eucken
The erosion of traditional moral certainty in the modern age requires a conscious, active leap toward a deeper, spiritual reality. This work argues that human life finds its true significance only by transcending mere natural impulse.
Problems of Immanence: studies critical and constructive
Joseph Warschauer
A study of the divine presence that warns against the risks of confusing the Creator with the creation, arguing that true religious life requires a clear distinction between the finite soul and the infinite God.
Phrenology Examined
P. (Pierre) Flourens
In an era obsessed with reading the human mind through the topography of the skull, one scientist stands firm against the tide of popular pseudoscience. This precise, surgical takedown exposes the fundamental errors behind the belief that intellect can be measured by lumps on a head.
Biology
Edmund B. (Edmund Beecher) Wilson
The biological sciences aim to understand the order of nature within the living world, yet they remain humble before the persistent mysteries of existence. This lecture serves as a foundational inquiry into the mechanisms of life and the nature of organic adaptation.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 26: Ecclesiasticus: The Challoner Revision
Unknown
A profound collection of ancient moral guidance, these teachings weigh the heavy cost of human pride against the enduring, quiet strength of wisdom and fear of the Lord.
Theism and Humanism: Being the Gifford Lectures Delivered at the University of Glasgow, 1914
Arthur James Balfour
How can we trust our own reason if it is merely the accidental byproduct of blind physical forces? This inquiry examines the fragile foundations of human knowledge, morality, and beauty.
Intelligence in Plants and Animals: Being a New Edition of the Author's Privately Issued "Soul and Immortality."
Thomas G. (Thomas George) Gentry
A grand survey of natural history seeks to erase the line between human and animal minds, finding spiritual purpose in every living creature.
Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena
Chung Ling Soo
Behind the velvet curtains and dimly lit parlors of the nineteenth-century séance room lay no true messages from the dead, but rather a brilliant, calculated array of mechanical deceptions, chemical reactions, and theatrical misdirection.
Determinism or Free-Will?
Chapman Cohen
A conviction of absolute choice feels real, yet every human decision traces back to causes within mind, body, and history. Resolving that tension requires looking past theological fog to see how character actually forms.
Evolution Social and Organic
Arthur M. (Arthur Morrow) Lewis
A thinker scans three centuries of science to prove that nature moves by relentless transformation, arguing that human society must follow the same evolutionary law into a cooperative future.
Is Life Worth Living Without Immortality?: A Lecture Delivered Before the Independent Religious Society, Chicago
M. M. (Mangasar Mugurditch) Mangasarian
Physical vitality and earthly devotion provide more than enough purpose for human existence, making the distant promise of an afterlife entirely unnecessary.
Reformed Logic: A System Based on Berkeley's Philosophy with an Entirely New Method of Dialectic
D. B. McLachlan
A bold attempt to strip formal logic of its obscure academic jargon, rebuilding it upon real human perception and mental experience.
The Book of Courage
John T. (John Thomson) Faris
A singing canary in a frozen schoolroom, a ruined historian writing through a wire frame, and an heir who gave away a fortune all point to a single truth: life is won by those who refuse to surrender.
Gamblers and Gambling
Henry Ward Beecher
A step toward vice begins not in deep darkness, but under the glowing guise of innocent pleasure.