A philosophical essay on man [pt.1] By Jean Paul Marat MARAT, JEAN PAUL (1743-1793), French revolutionary leader, eldest child of Jean Paul Marat, a native of Cagliari in Sardinia, and Louise Cabrol of Geneva, was born at Boudry, in the principality of Neuchâtel, on the 24th of May 1743. His father was a designer, who had abandoned his country and his religion, and married a Swiss Protestant. On his mother's death in 1759 Marat set out on his travels, and spent two years at Bordeaux in the study of medicine, whence he moved to Paris, where he made use of his knowledge of his two favourite sciences, optics and electricity, to subdue an obstinate disease of the eyes. After some years in Paris he went to Holland, and then on to London, where he practised his profession We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

Angeregt von Freunden und Kollegen, legte Ernst Cassirer 1944 im amerikanischen Exil mit dem Essay on Man eine komprimierte und zugleich überarbeitete Fassung seiner Kulturphilosophie vor, in der er die dreibändige Philosophie der symbolischen Formen in ihren Hauptgedanken fortführt. Dabei wird der wohl wichtigste Bestandteil der Cassirerschen Kulturphilosophie, die Idee der Humanität, thematisiert und zusammenfassend begründet. Mit Bezugnahme auf das komplexe und vielschichtige Gefüge von Sprache, Mythos, Religion, Kunst, Geschichte und Wissenschaft bestimmt Cassirer den Menschen als »animal symbolicum«, als ein Wesen, das Symbole schafft und sich durch Symbole verständigt. Dank seiner klaren, verständlichen Sprache und Argumentationsstruktur ermöglicht der »Essay on Man« nicht nur dem philosophischen Fachpublikum, sondern auch einem weiteren Kreis interessierter Leser den Zugang zu Cassirers Denken. Er darf somit als allgemeine Einführung in die Philosophie Cassirers verstanden werden. Inhalt: Part I. What is man? I. The Crisis in Man's Knowledge of Himself II. A Clue to the Nature of Man: the Symbol III. From Animal Reactions to Human Responses IV. The Human World of Space and Time V. Facts and Ideals Part II. Man and Culture VI. The Definition of Man in Terms of Human Culture VII. Myth and Religion VIII. Language IX. Art X. History XI. Science XII. Summary and Conclusion

Drawing upon a wealth of scientific, anthropological and historical date, the author examines man's efforts to understand himself and to deal with the problems of his universe through the creation and use of symbols. Analyzes the major symbolic forms of human enterprise: language, myth, art, religion, history and science. Discusses such subjects as the origins of language, doctrines of aesthetics, Frazer's theory of magic, the religious significance of taboo, the symbolic implications of philosophic thought from Heraclitus to Kierkegaard and Einstein.

"For millennia, idleness and laziness have been regarded as vices. We're all expected to work to survive and get ahead, and devoting energy to anything but labor and self-improvement can seem like a luxury or a moral failure. Far from questioning this conventional wisdom, modern philosophers have worked hard to develop new reasons to denigrate idleness. In Idleness, the first book to challenge modern philosophy's portrayal of inactivity, Brian O'Connor argues that the case against an indifference to work and effort is flawed--and that idle aimlessness may instead allow for the highest form of freedom. Idleness explores how some of the most influential modern philosophers drew a direct connection between making the most of our humanity and avoiding laziness. Idleness was dismissed as contrary to the need people have to become autonomous and make whole, integrated beings of themselves (Kant); to be useful (Kant and Hegel); to accept communal norms (Hegel); to contribute to the social good by working (Marx); and to avoid boredom (Schopenhauer and de Beauvoir). O'Connor throws doubt on all these arguments, presenting a sympathetic vision of the inactive and unserious that draws on more productive ideas about idleness, from ancient Greece through Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Schiller and Marcuse's thoughts about the importance of play, and recent critiques of the cult of work. A thought-provoking reconsideration of productivity for the twenty-first century, Idleness shows that, from now on, no theory of what it means to have a free mind can exclude idleness from the conversation."--Provided by publisher