Free summaries
Philosophy & Ethics — page 13
627 public-domain philosophy & ethics books, summarised. Page 13 of 14.
Allegories of Life
Adams, J. S., Mrs.
The moral landscapes of these fables reveal that true growth requires embracing the hardship of the climb, for only at the summit can one find the clarity necessary to navigate life’s deepest valleys.
The Creator, and what we may know of the method of creation
W. H. (William Henry) Dallinger
A rigorous attempt to reconcile Darwinian evolution with divine creation, this text demonstrates that dynamic natural laws enhance, rather than diminish, the grandeur of an ultimate mind.
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 Ethics of Coöperation
James Hayden Tufts
Cooperation serves as the vital, neglected foundation for modern human progress, offering a necessary alternative to the destructive cycles of dominance and competition that have long defined global history.
The Character of a Priest
Richard Carlile
The priesthood is a fraudulent trade predicated on hypocrisy and the systematic exploitation of human fear. This work serves as a fierce, uncompromising indictment of institutional religion as an obstacle to human reason and liberty.
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 Church, the Schools and Evolution
J. E. (Judson Eber) Conant
A sharp conflict threatens evangelical faith when modern educational institutions try to replace divine revelation with naturalistic theories.
The Essentials of Spirituality
Felix Adler
A practical guide to the inner life, these pages argue that spirituality is not a mystical retreat but the rigorous, daily application of high moral principles to every human interaction.
Immortality proved by the testimony of sense
Abraham Cummings
In the turn of the nineteenth century, a small Maine town bore witness to an extraordinary apparition that challenged materialism and affirmed the eternal soul.
Pirke Avot: The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers
Joseph I. (Joseph Isaac) Gorfinkle
Transmitted through generations of ancient sages, this collection of ethical teachings anchors a spiritual tradition in practical wisdom, humility, and the relentless pursuit of learning.
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 07 (of 11)
Thomas Hobbes
This collection showcases a polymath’s late-life commitment to physical and geometric inquiry, revealing an intellect that refuses to concede ground to his rivals or the shifting tides of scientific consensus. It is a rigorous, often combative survey of seventeenth-century natural philosophy.
Beyond
Henry Seward Hubbard
The unseen reaches of existence are not distant, but rather an immediate, parallel reality where thoughts function as tangible forces and character acts as the final arbiter of one’s state.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 25: Wisdom: The Challoner Revision
Unknown
This ancient meditation on the nature of justice and the divine reaches out to leaders and the weary alike, offering a timeless promise that wisdom serves as a bridge to immortality. It remains a foundational exploration of moral living, framing the pursuit of virtue not as a chore, but as an infinite, life-giving…
Living for the Best
James G. K. (James Gore King) McClure
An open, hopeful spirit and deliberate moral striving transform human existence into a journey toward noble character and enduring spiritual fulfillment.
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.
The Lost Faith, and Difficulties of the Bible, as Tested by the Laws of Evidence
Thomas S. (Thomas Spencer) Childs
Spiritual doubt grips the children of the faithful, leaving them adrift on a shoreless sea of skepticism until they test their inherited beliefs against the calm, unyielding rules of legal evidence.
Twenty-Four Short Sermons On The Doctrine Of Universal Salvation
John Bovee Dods
A comprehensive exploration of the doctrine of universal salvation, arguing for the eventual redemption of all souls through divine love and justice.
Modern thinkers and present problems
Edgar A. (Edgar Arthur) Singer
Human inquiry constantly wrestles with the tension between scientific mechanism and moral freedom, seeking a personal faith or rational anchor to make sense of an indifferent universe.
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.
The Tattva-Muktavali
active 17th century Gaudapurnanandacakravarti
This polemical poem serves as a spirited defense of dualism, challenging the assertion that the individual soul and the supreme Divine are one and the same.
The place of the individual in society
Emma Goldman
The individual stands as the ultimate reality against the crushing weight of institutional authority and the shifting sands of political ideology.
No and Yes
Mary Baker Eddy
A spiritual treatise reinterpreting Christian doctrine asserts that sin, disease, and death are unreality, and that divine Mind heals humanity through love and right thinking.
The Gospel of the Hereafter
J. Paterson (John Paterson) Smyth
Human life is a romantic adventure stretching far beyond the grave, yet most people pass into the unseen world with little curiosity or wonder about the boundless career ahead.
Promoting good citizenship
Bryce, James Bryce, Viscount
True civic health depends less on the machinery of laws and elections than on the character, vigilance, and active conscience of the individual citizen. This enduring work challenges the reader to look past apathy and self-interest toward a more demanding standard of public service.
Gamblers and Gambling
Henry Ward Beecher
A step toward vice begins not in deep darkness, but under the glowing guise of innocent pleasure.
On Mr. Spencer's Data of Ethics
Malcolm (Writer on Herbert Spencer) Guthrie
The nature of moral obligation finds a rigorous, critical examination through the lens of nineteenth-century evolutionary theory. This inquiry challenges whether ethical behavior can be truly deduced from the impersonal laws of biological development.
Christianity and Progress
Harry Emerson Fosdick
Mechanical mastery and scientific pride cannot shield a civilization from moral collapse when it loses hold of spiritual purpose.
Evolution
Edward Hoare
Common sense is the primary tool for evaluating the grand theories of science when they move beyond observed facts into the realm of philosophy. This text provides a critical examination of evolution from a theological perspective.
The Proportions of Truth
Edward Hoare
True faith requires a balanced perspective, yet many religious traditions lose their way by elevating minor practices above the central, life-giving truths of the Gospel. Proper spiritual sight depends entirely on maintaining the intended proportions of divine revelation.
God : Outlines of the new theology, based on facts, science, nature, reason, intuition, revelation and common sense
T. D. (Thomas Day) Curtis
HOOK This work presents a radical, verse-driven theology where human beings are divine embryos, evolving through endless sexual union toward a future of infinite, progressive godhood.
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.
New Thought Pastels
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
An inner journey through thought, love, and spiritual resilience, offering practical verses to elevate daily consciousness and build a heavenly paradise from within.
The Great Implication
Stanley R. Lee
Human agency and divine order collide in a university office, where an eccentric repairman attempts to use a time machine to settle the question of God’s existence once and for all.
Nature and Culture
Harvey Rice
The natural world and the human spirit are mirrors reflecting the same divine design, waiting for the diligent mind to unlock their shared laws.
Anarchy
Robert LeFevre
The seeker of liberty eventually confronts a daunting fork in the road: must one choose between state-enforced coercion and the perceived chaos of anarchy? This investigation navigates that dilemma to reconcile the pursuit of freedom with the requirements of an ordered society.
Superstition unveiled
Charles Southwell
Faith is the foundation of political injustice, and a people in the fetters of superstition cannot hope to secure political freedom.
The Cross and Crown
T. D. (Thomas Day) Curtis
A fierce call to cast off the chains of superstition and embrace reason, T. D. Curtis’s 1886 text views the cross and crown not as sacred honors, but as instruments of tyranny.
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.
The Cathedral
James Russell Lowell
A man seeks a quiet afternoon at Chartres Cathedral to escape the noise of his modern life, only to find that his own restless, questioning mind follows him into the sanctuary.
Ludicrous Aspects Of Christianity: A Response To The Challenge Of The Bishop Of Manchester
Austin Holyoake
This polemical tract challenges the unquestioned sanctity of Christian doctrine by applying a literal, skeptical reading to the contradictions found within the four Gospels.
Many Gods
Cale Young Rice
A traveler’s meditation on global faiths and the relentless sea, these poems capture the search for meaning in a world where gods are many and time is fleeting.
Proteus
Vernon Lee
The shifting, multifaceted nature of reality demands a nimble, skeptical, and ever-evolving mind. This exploration of the future of intelligence argues that progress relies not on rigid dogmas, but on our ability to witness and adapt to change.
Curiosities of Heat
Lyman Beecher Tefft
HOOK This narrative explores the intersection of nineteenth-century physics and Christian theology, tracing a skeptic’s intellectual journey from secular cynicism to spiritual conviction through the study of heat.
I don't know, do you?
Marilla M. (Marilla Marks) Ricker
A defiant challenge to religious orthodoxy, this work demands that individuals reclaim their autonomy from the priesthood and base their morality on reason, nature, and human experience rather than ancient, fear-based dogma.
The passing of the phantoms
Charles Joseph Patten
The phantom fears of our ancestors—born from dreams and shadows—still haunt the modern mind, yet they are slowly being eclipsed by the cool, clear light of evolutionary biology. This study reconciles the moral instincts we share with the animal kingdom with the rational, secular future of humanity.
Heroes in Peace: The 6th William Penn Lecture, May 9, 1920
John Haynes Holmes
The traditional image of the hero is a soldier in uniform, yet true courage often manifests in the quiet, solitary, and unrewarded acts of ordinary life. This lecture redefines heroism by shifting the focus from the battlefield to the spirit.
An epitome of astronomy, with the new discoveries: including an account of the eídouraníon, or transparent orrery
William Walker
Peer into a twenty-foot transparent universe where glowing planets float in silent majesty, revealing the grand, clockwork harmony of the cosmos through light and motion.
Rebuttal
Betsy Curtis
A space mission discovers a dead civilization and loses its faith, until a hospital pathologist demonstrates that cellular biology holds the secret to eternal purpose.