Understanding Plato is the award-winning first book in the eight-book series on the classical philosophers.

The series is designed for beginning and intermediate philosophy students who would like more depth than they would ordinarily get from …

 It has been said that Kant's Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals "is the single most important work in modern moral philosophy" (Henry Allison). It is also one of the most difficult books to comprehend, especially for beginning philosophy …

In the eighteenth century, the words “natural religion” referred to religious beliefs based on reason and evidence instead of revelation. In Understanding David Hume, Professor Laurence Houlgate guides serious students through the labyrinth of …

This philosophy study guide for Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy is the seventh book in the Smart Student's Guides to Philosophical Classics series. Like the other books in the series, it is much more than an outline or a set of notes …

Understanding John Locke is an introduction and guide to one of the most influential books in the history of political philosophy: John Locke's Second Treatise of Government, first published in 1689. John Locke's short book was the intellectual …

There are only a few books that have made a significant change in political society. There are even fewer books that inspired a revolution. But in 1789, 11 years after his death, Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract did just that. The …

John Rawls, the famous political philosopher of the 20th century, called Thomas Hobbes' 17th century book Leviathan "the greatest single work of political thought in the English language.” 

But it is not the most accessible work. Beginning …

Understanding John Stuart Mill, like all books in the philosophical classics series, is a guide or companion for beginning philosophy and political science students. 

The guides are for smart students who are reading classic philosophical works …