Paul Strathern – författare

A dazzling piece of Italian history of the infamous family that become one of the most powerful in Europe, weaving its history with Renaissance greats from Leonardo da Vinci to GalileoAgainst the background of an age which saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, The Medici is a remarkably modern story of power, money and ambition. Strathern paints a vivid narrative of the dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence, as well as the Italian Renaissance which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Strathern also follows the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello; as well as scientists like Galileo and Pico della Mirandola; and the fortunes of those members of the Medici family who achieved success away from Florence, including the two Medici popes and Catherine de' Médicis, who became Queen of France and played a major role in that country through three turbulent reigns. ‘A great overview of one family's centuries-long role in changing the face of Europe’ Irish Independent

'Enlightening and fascinating' John Banville, Wall Street JournalThrough the lives of major figures from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, including Copernicus, Gutenberg, Luther, Catherine de Medici, Rabelais, van Eyck and Shakespeare, Paul Strathern tells the fascinating story of the northern European Renaissance, which rivalled its Italian counterpart.There is no denying that many of the first developments of the Renaissance took place in Italy. However, a revolution of similar magnitude was also occurring across northern Europe, which would forever alter European culture in its own unique fashion. Initially centred on the city of Bruges, its influence was soon felt in France, the German states, England and even in Italy itself.By vividly bringing to life the key players of the northern Renaissance, Paul Strathern explores some of the most significant advances of the whole era, revealing how they not only introduced new ways of thinking in art, literature, science, philosophy, mathematics and medicine, but also allowed for the evolution of an entirely different concept of life. In this compelling and original history, Strathern shows how the 'Other Renaissance' would play a role at least as significant as the Italian Renaissance in shattering the constraints of medieval life and bringing our modern world into being.

Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642 something happened which completely revolutionized Western civilization. Painting, sculpture and architecture would all visibly change in a striking fashion. Likewise, the thought and self-conception of humanity would take on a completely different aspect. Sciences would be born - or emerge in an entirely new guise.In this sweeping 400-year history, Paul Strathern reveals how, and why, these new ideas which formed the Renaissance began, and flourished, in the city of Florence. Just as central and northern Germany gave birth to the Reformation, Britain was a driver of the Industrial Revolution and Silicon Valley shaped the digital age, so too, Strathern argues, did Florence play a similarly unique and transformative role in the Renaissance.While vividly bringing to life the city and a vast cast of characters - including Dante, Botticelli, Machiavelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Galileo - Strathern shows how these great Florentines forever altered Europe and the Western world.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Karl Marx in just one hour.Karl Marx's philosophical critique of capitalism and his solution of communism directly led to the formation of the communist state in the Soviet Union. Whilst this great venture has now all but completely failed, Marx’s philosophy has proved to be arguably the most influential of the twentieth century; the influence of Marxism can be seen in subjects as diverse as the infamous policies of Joseph Stalin to many of the progressive humanitarian reforms of the twentieth century.Here is a concise, expert account of Marx’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Marx’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Marx in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Aristotle in just one hour.The philosophy of Aristotle dominated Western thought for over a thousand years. He had a mind that mastered all disciplines from mathematics to politics and had a continuing impact on every sphere of knowledge he touched. Above all, Aristotle is credited with the founding of logic. He divided human knowledge into separate categories, and enabled our understanding of the world to develop in a systematic fashion.Here is a concise, expert account of Aristotle’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Aristotle’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Aristotle in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Machiavelli in just one hour.Niccolò Machiavelli’s work remains misunderstood – synonymous with wicked scheming and underhand politics – nearly 350 years after his death. His philosophy of statecraft was scientific and highly rational, leaving sentiment, and ultimately morality, to one side. His advice is as relevant to modern politics as it was during the Renaissance – and reflects many profound and disturbing truths about the human condition.Here is a concise, expert account of Machiavelli’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Machiavelli’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Machiavelli in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Plato in just one hour.Plato is still seen by many as the greatest of all philosophers, inspiring many of the finest thinkers through the ages. Indeed, many see all later philosophy as nothing but attempts to answer the questions he raised. He founded the Academy, the world’s first university, in 387 BC and taught that the physical world is not reality but rather a reproduction of the true source.Plato: Philosophy in an Hour is a concise, expert account of Plato’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from his work, suggested further reading and chronologies that place Plato in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Descartes in just one hour.Descartes was the first modern philosopher. His scepticism led him to doubt all certainties, until finally he arrived at his famous maxim 'I think therefore I am'. He would also apply his rationalism with great effect in science and mathematics, conceiving a scheme for scientific method and inventing Cartesian co-ordinates in geometry.Descartes: Philosophy in an Hour a concise, expert account of Descartes’ life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Descartes’ work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Descartes in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Wittgenstein in just one hour.Ludwig Wittgenstein saw himself as `the last philosopher’. In his view, philosophy in the traditional sense was finished. A superb logician, Wittgenstein distrusted language and sought to solve the problems of philosophy by reducing them to the purest form of logic. Everything else – metaphysics, aesthetics, ethics, finally even philosophy itself – was excluded. He famously stated, `of that which we cannot speak we must remain silent', thus eliminating all concepts which do not arise from experience or are amenable to logical thoughtWittgenstein: Philosophy in an Hour is a concise, expert account of Wittgenstein’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from his work, suggested further reading and chronologies that place Wittgenstein in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Neitzsche in just one hour.Philosophy has always been dangerous for philosophers; Friedrich Nietzsche made it dangerous for everyone. His ideas presaged a collective madness which was to ravage Europe throughout the first half of the twentieth century, drawing a chilling parallel with the insanity that gripped Nietzsche towards the end of his life. His philosophy is one of aphorisms and penetrating psychological insights, his major concept being the Will to Power – a notion that he saw as the basic impulse for all our acts. Viewing Christianity as a subtle perversion of this concept Nietzsche is famous for his pronouncement that `God is dead’.Here is a concise, expert account of Nietzsche’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Nietzsche’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Nietzsche in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Socrates in just one hour.Socrates is widely renowned as one of the founders of Western philosophy, despite the fact that his ideas survive largely through the work of his pupil Plato. Socrates’ dialectic – a method of aggressive questioning – was the forerunner of logic; he used it to cut through the pretentions of his adversaries and arrive at the truth. Socrates placed philosophy on the sound basis of reason, believing it to be better to question ourselves rather than the world around us and viewing the world as inaccessible to our senses – only to thought. Charged with impiety and the corruption of youth Socrates was eventually tried and sentenced to death, ending his life by drinking the judicial hemlock.Here is a concise, expert account of Socrates’ life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Socrates’ work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Socrates in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Sartre in just one hour.Here is a concise, expert account of Jean-Paul Sartre’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Jean-Paul Sartre’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Sartre in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Locke in just one hour.Much of Locke’s thought we would now regard as common sense. One of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers; his philosophy was to lay the foundations of empiricism with its belief that our knowledge of the world is based on experience. Locke’s work introduced the idea of liberal democracy – a concept that has become the shibboleth of Western civilisation. People who can’t even spell philosophy are now likely to accept these ideas; just over three centuries ago they were incomprehensible.Here is a concise, expert account of Locke’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Locke’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Locke in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Rousseau in just one hour.In Rousseau we encounter a walking ego, a naked sensibility – his arguments are both deeply stirring and deeply inconsistent. Yet whilst his contemporaries Kant and Hume may have been superior academic philosophers, the sheer power of Rousseau’s ideas was unequalled in his time. It was he who encouraged the introduction of both liberty and irrationality into the public domain, lamenting how `man is born free but everywhere he is in chains’.Here is a concise, expert account of Rousseau’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Rousseau’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Rousseau in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Kant in just one hour.Immanuel Kant taught and wrote prolifically about physical geography yet never travelled farther than forty miles from his home in Königsberg. Appropriately, his philosophy strenuously denies that all knowledge is derived from experience, insisting instead that all experience must conform to knowledge. Kant’s aim was to restore metaphysics. According to Kant, space and time are subjective; along with various `categories,’ they help us to see the phenomena of the world – though never in its true reality.Here is a concise, expert account of Kant’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Kant’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Kant in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Confucius in just one hour.Here is a concise, expert account of Confucious’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Confucious’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Confucious in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of J.S. Mill in just one hour.John Stuart Mill is remembered today as the leading exponent of Utilitarianism, arguing that our aim in life must be the attainment of pleasure and the minimizing of pain for the majority of people. The principle that lies at the heart of Utilitarianism is `the greatest benefit of the greatest number’ – an idea that perhaps seems self-evident today but one that was seen as radical within Mill’s own time. This central idea has become the unspoken founding principle of our modern way of life in the free Western democracies.Here is a concise, expert account of J.S. Mill’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from J.S. Mill’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place J.S. Mill in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Hume in just one hour.Hume reduced philosophy to ruins, denying the existence of everything except our actual perceptions themselves. The world is nothing more than part of my consciousness. Yet we know the world remains, and we go on as before. What Hume expressed was the status of our knowledge about the world – a world in which neither religion nor science is certain.Here is a concise, expert account of Hume’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Hume’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Hume in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Aquinas in just one hour.Thomas Aquinas remains the unacknowledged maestro of Scholasticism – the static, cumulative philosophy of the medieval period. More a method of learning than pure theology, Aquinas’ Scholasticism saw the careful synthesis of Christian doctrine with Greek rationalism – an amalgamation that came to define Catholic philosophy. Aquinas’ influence stretches far across the western world; much modern philosophy has been conceived as either a reaction against, or in accordance with, his original ideas.Here is a concise, expert account of Thomas Aquinas’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Thomas Aquinas’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Aquinas in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Foucault in just one hour.The French philosopher Michel Foucault set about his task rather like a historian. After painstaking research, he concluded that knowledge and power were intimately related throughout history. He illustrated this central idea of his philosophy through studies of madness, sexuality, and discipline and punishment, arguing that there is no such thing as absolute truth, only different truths about reality at particular moments – truths that fulfil the needs of power.Here is a concise, expert account of Foucault’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Foucault’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Foucault in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Hegel in just one hour.With Hegel philosophy became very difficult indeed – even the great man himself conceded that `only one man understands me, and even he does not.’ His dialectical method produced the most grandiose metaphysical system known to humanity, and included absolutely everything, its most vital element being the dialectic of the thesis, antithesis and synthesis. This method arose from Hegel’s ambition to overcome the deficiencies of logic and ascend towards Mind as the ultimate reality. His view of history as a process of humanity’s self-realisation ultimately inspired Marx to synthesise his philosophy of dialectical materialism.Here is a concise, expert account of Hegel’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Hegel’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Hegel in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Derrida in just one hour.Jacques Derrida’s `deconstructionism’ is nothing less than an effort to destroy all `writing’ by demonstrating its inevitable falsehood. The writer writes but does not know what he is writing. Derrida argues that all texts have their own hidden agenda and contain their own metaphysical assumptions – the writer’s very language inevitably distorts what he thinks and writes. The `truth’ of all our knowledge is thus undermined; post-structuralism arrives.Here is a concise, expert account of Derrida’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Derrida’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Derrida in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of St Augustine in just one hour.Augustine’s Confessions details his personal struggles with morality, his spiritual crisis and the conversion to Christianity that ultimately led him to his major contribution to philosophy: the fusion of the doctrines of Christianity and Neoplatonism. This provided Christianity with a strong intellectual backing by tying it to the Greek tradition of philosophy. Augustine also produced important philosophic ideas of his own, including theories of time and subjective knowledge that anticipated by many centuries the work of Kant and Descartes.Here is a concise, expert account of St Augustine’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from St Augustine’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place St Augustine in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Russell in just one hour.Bertrand Russell claimed to be driven by three great passions that drove his personal as well as his intellectual life: a longing for love, a quest for knowledge and a heart-rending pity for human suffering. His philosophical outlook, which took deep account of the science of his time, was nonetheless rooted in logic and empiricism. Russell’s greatest efforts were made in epistemology – the search for the ultimate grounds of our knowledge about the world. How can we be certain that what we know is true? Where lies the certainty in our experience of the world?Here is a concise, expert account of Bertrand Russell’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Bertrand Russell’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Russell in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Berkeley in just one hour.Berkeley’s philosophy denies the existence of matter. According to his work, there is no material world, only our own experience. So when you don’t see something, it isn’t there. Then how does the world persist? Because it is supported by the continuous perception of an all-seeing God. Berkeley’s ideas appear to take empiricism to a ludicrous extreme. But is this quite so absurd as it seems? We are frequently forced to abandon common sense and the obvious in order to progress beyond the immediate muddle of everyday existence towards what we consider to be the truths of science.Here is a concise, expert account of Berkeley’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Berkeley’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Berkeley in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Schopenhauer in just one hour.Arthur Schopenhauer, the `philosopher of pessimism,’ makes it clear that he regards the world and our life in it as a bad joke. However, if the world is indifferent to our fate it doesn’t thwart us deliberately – its façade is supported by what Schopenhauer calls the universal Will. He saw this as a force that is blind and without purpose, bringing on all our misery and suffering. Schopenhauer taught that our only hope is to liberate ourselves from the terrible power of the Will and from the trappings of individualism and egoism that are at its mercy.Here is a concise, expert account of Schopenhauer’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Schopenhauer’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Schopenhauer in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Kierkegaard in just one hour.Although Kierkegaard was not a philosopher in the academic sense, he produced what many people expect of philosophy. He didn’t write about the world, he wrote about life – how we live and how we choose to live, particularly focussing on the individual and the notion of his (or her) existence. Kierkegaard was one of the founders of existentialism, regarding the `existing being’ as a purely subjective entity that lay beyond the reach of reason, logic, philosophical systems, theology and even `the pretences of psychology’, yet simultaneously remaining the source of all these subjects.Here is a concise, expert account of Kierkegaard’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Kierkegaard’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place Kierkegaard in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Heidegger in just one hour.One of the two major philosophical traditions of the twentieth century was linguistic analysis, derived largely from Wittgenstein. The other, diametrically opposed, came from Heidegger, and its fundamental question was: `What is the meaning of existence?’ For Heidegger, this was not a query that could simply be `analysed away’ – it was beyond the reach of logic or reason. This was the primary `given’ of every individual life. To confront it, Heidegger needed to develop an entirely new form of philosophy.Here is a concise, expert account of Heidegger’s life and philosophical ideas that is entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Heidegger’s work, suggested further reading and chronologies that place Heidegger in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of John Dewey in just one hour.In early twentieth-century America John Dewey was regarded as the foremost philosopher of his age – no mean feat when his colleagues included the likes of Russell, Wittgenstein and Heidegger. Dewey produced a distinctly American philosophy, essentially different from that of his European contemporaries – his pragmatic theory of `instrumentalism’ or `experimentalism’, relying on modern experimental methods to prove truth and reality. Dewey saw the ultimate reality as being nothing more or less than that which we encounter in everyday life – there is no mystery hidden within.Here is a concise, expert account of Dewey’s life and philosophical ideas that is entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from Dewey’s work, suggested further reading and chronologies that place Dewey in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.