Emily Starkiss undertakes the biography of the famous autodidactic and mononymous philosopher, Cometan, who is the first Astronic philosopher, the founder of Astronism, and the sole author of the Omnidoxy. Starkiss focuses on the latter teenage years of Cometan as his identity and philosophership are first created and begin to establish themselves. In this exclusive biography, Starkiss investigates how Brandon Taylorian created and dealt with his newfound identity as Cometan and the many challenges, worries, and tribulations that he was experiencing and that were facing him in the future as he struggled to establish the philosophy of Astronism. In addition, Starkiss chronicles the life of Cometan during his authorship of the philosophical treatise of the Omnidoxy, how the writing of Cometan's seminal work at such a young age change the young man's perceptions, identity, and personality. Emily Starkiss thoroughly analyses how Cometan became Cometan during the most pivotal years at the beginning of his philosophership during the founding of the philosophy of Astronism. Starkiss's chronicle of the young philosopher's earliest years provides a unique insight into a person whose ambitions quickly not only became the dominate force in their life, but also moulded their entire identity.

One day Sophie comes home from school to find two questions in her mail: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" Before she knows it she is enrolled in a correspondence course with a mysterious philosopher. Thus begins Jostein Gaarder's unique novel, which is not only a mystery, but also a complete and entertaining history of philosophy.

Philosopher of the Heart is the groundbreaking biography of renowned existentialist Søren Kierkegaard’s life and creativity, and a searching exploration of how to be a human being in the world. Søren Kierkegaard is one of the most passionate and challenging of all modern philosophers, and is often regarded as the founder of existentialism. Over about a decade in the 1840s and 1850s, writings poured from his pen pursuing the question of existence—how to be a human being in the world?—while exploring the possibilities of Christianity and confronting the failures of its institutional manifestation around him. Much of his creativity sprang from his relationship with the young woman whom he promised to marry, then left to devote himself to writing, a relationship which remained decisive for the rest of his life. He deliberately lived in the swim of human life in Copenhagen, but alone, and died exhausted in 1855 at the age of 42, bequeathing his remarkable writings to his erstwhile fiancée. Clare Carlisle’s innovative and moving biography writes Kierkegaard’s life as far as possible from his own perspective, to convey what it was like actually being this Socrates of Christendom—as he put it, living life forwards yet only understanding it backwards.

In this beautifully written account, Julian Young provides the most comprehensive biography available today of the life and philosophy of the nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Young deals with the many puzzles created by the conjunction of Nietzsche's personal history and his work: why the son of a Lutheran pastor developed into the self-styled 'Antichrist'; why this archetypical Prussian came to loath Bismarck's Prussia; and why this enemy of feminism preferred the company of feminist women. Setting Nietzsche's thought in the context of his times - the rise of Prussian militarism, anti-Semitism, Darwinian science, the 'Youth' and emancipationist movements, as well as the 'death of God' - Young emphasises the decisive influence of Plato and of Richard Wagner on Nietzsche's attempted reform of Western culture.

A lively and accessible introduction to the quintessential philosopher, and the civilized world’s first enemy of the state. Named a Best Teen & YA Nonfiction title of 2022 by Kirkus Reviews Socrates: A Life Worth Living traces the life and ideas of one of Western Civilization’s founding philosophers, whose influence is still felt more than two thousand years later. Socrates is famous for how he died, executed by the Athenian government for corrupting the youth of Athens, but his most important contribution was to challenge the people around him to test their ideas and beliefs in conversation with each other, in the belief that in this way we could become a society that knows the difference between truth and falsehood, and find what makes a life worthwhile. He did not claim to have definitive answers, but he knew that knowledge was the key to finding them, and he invited everyone he met to join him in his quest. The Socratic Method is the first, and still the best, method for distinguishing truth from falsehood. In Socrates: A Life Worth Living, award-winning author Devra Lehmann gives us the first biography for young readers of the thinker who has seen no equal.

The life, times, and work of Herbert Marcuse, one of the 20th century's most remarkable cultural figures.