Philosophers: Their Lives and Works

An illuminating celebration of more than 80 of the world's most important thinkers, this book explores the fascinating stories of their lives, their loves, and their pioneering ideas.

Introduced with a stunning portrait of each featured philosopher, entries trace the ideas and beliefs, and the relationships and rivalries that inspired the great thinkers and influenced their work. This provides revealing insights into what drove them to question the meaning of life and develop new ways of understanding the world.

Lavishly illustrated with photographs and paintings of philosophers, their homes, friends, studies, and their personal belongings, along with pages from original manuscripts, first editions, and correspondence, the book introduces the key ideas, themes, and working methods of each featured individual. It sets their ideas within a wider historical and cultural context.

Charting the development of ideas across the centuries in both the East and West—from ancient Chinese philosophy to the work of contemporary thinkers—Philosophers provides a compelling glimpse into the personal lives, loves, and influences of the great philosophers as they probed into life's "big ideas".