On Obligations (De officiis) was written by Cicero in late 44 BC after the assassination of Julius Caesar to provide principles of behaviour for aspiring politicians It explores the apparent tensions between honourable conduct & expediency in public life & the right & wrong ways of attaining political leadership The principles of honourable behaviour are based on the Stoic virtues of wisdom justice magnanimity & propriety; in Cicero's view the intrinsically useful is always identical with the honourable Cicero's famous treatise has played a seminal role in the formation of ethical values in western Christendom Adopted by the fourth-century Christian humanists it beame transmuted into the moral code of the high Middle Ages Thereafter in the Renaissance from the time of Petrarch & in the Age of Enlightenment that followed it was given central prominence in discussion of the government of states Today when corruption & conflict in political life are the focus of so much public attention On Obligations is still the foremost guide to good conduct ABOUT THE SERIES For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more ...

Artist architect poet & philosopher Leon Battista Alberti revolutionized the history of art with his theories of perspective in On Painting (1435) Inspired by the order & beauty inherent in nature his groundbreaking work sets out the principles of distance dimension & proportion; instructs the painter on how to use the rules of composition representation light & colour to create work that is graceful & pleasing to the eye; & stipulates the moral & artistic pre-requisites of the successful painter On Painting had an immediate & profound influence on Italian Renaissance artists including Ghiberti Fra Angelico & Veneziano & on later figures such as Leonardo da Vinci & remains a compelling theory of art ...

On Palestine is Noam Chomsky & Ilan Pappe's indispensable update on a suffering region Operation Protective Edge Israel's most recent assault on Gaza left thousands of Palestinians dead & cleared the way for another Israeli land grab The need to stand in solidarity with Palestinians has never been greater Noam Chomsky & Ilan Pappe two leading voices in the struggle to liberate Palestine discuss the road ahead for Palestinians & how the international community can pressure Israel to end its human rights abuses against the people of Palestine This urgent & timely book offers hope & a way forward for all those committed to the struggle to liberate Palestine On Palestine is the sequel to Chomsky & Pappe's acclaimed book Gaza in Crisis ...

Susan Sontag&s On Photography is a seminal & groundbreaking work on the subject Susan Sontag&s groundbreaking critique of photography asks forceful questions about the moral & aesthetic issues surrounding this art form Photographs are everywhere & the &insatiability of the photographing eye& has profoundly altered our relationship with the world Photographs have the power to shock idealize or seduce they create a sense of nostalgia & act as a memorial & they can be used as evidence against us or to identify us In these six incisive essays Sontag examines the ways in which we use these omnipresent images to manufacture a sense of reality & authority in our lives & Sontag offers enough food for thought to satisfy the most intellectual of appetites& The Times&A brilliant analysis of the profound changes photographic images have made in our way of looking at the world & at ourselves& Washington Post& The most original & illuminating study of the subject& New Yorker One of America&s best-known & most admired writers Susan Sontag was also a leading commentator on contemporary culture until her death in December 2004 Her books include four novels & numerous works of non-fiction among them Regarding the Pain of Others On Photography Illness as Metaphor At the Same Time Against Interpretation & Other Essays & Reborn Early Diaries 1947-1963 all of which are published by Penguin A further eight books including the collections of essays Under the Sign of Saturn & Where the Stress Falls & the novels The Volcano Lover & The Benefactor are available from Penguin Modern Classics ...

Susan Sontag&s On Photography is a seminal & groundbreaking work on the subject Susan Sontag&s groundbreaking critique of photography asks forceful questions about the moral & aesthetic issues surrounding this art form Photographs are everywhere & the &insatiability of the photographing eye& has profoundly altered our relationship with the world Photographs have the power to shock idealize or seduce they create a sense of nostalgia & act as a memorial & they can be used as evidence against us or to identify us In these six incisive essays Sontag examines the ways in which we use these omnipresent images to manufacture a sense of reality & authority in our lives & Sontag offers enough food for thought to satisfy the most intellectual of appetites& The Times&A brilliant analysis of the profound changes photographic images have made in our way of looking at the world & at ourselves& Washington Post& The most original & illuminating study of the subject& New Yorker One of America&s best-known & most admired writers Susan Sontag was also a leading commentator on contemporary culture until her death in December 2004 Her books include four novels & numerous works of non-fiction among them Regarding the Pain of Others On Photography Illness as Metaphor At the Same Time Against Interpretation & Other Essays & Reborn Early Diaries 1947-1963 all of which are published by Penguin A further eight books including the collections of essays Under the Sign of Saturn & Where the Stress Falls & the novels The Volcano Lover & The Benefactor are available from Penguin Modern Classics ...

A bestseller in hardback this critically acclaimed collection of short essays & reflections on poetry is now available in paperback llustrating Maxwell's poetic philosophy with examples from canonical poets this is a beautiful accessible guide to the most ancient & sublime of the realms of literature ...

These early philosophical writings underpinned the Chinese revolutions & their clarion calls to insurrection remain some of the most stirring of all time Drawing on a dizzying array of references from contemporary culture & politics Zizek's firecracker commentary reaches unsettling conclusions about the place of Mao's thought in the revolutionary canon" ...

Hannah Arendt's penetrating observations of the modern world based on a profound knowledge of the past have been fundamental to our understanding of the political landscape On Revolution is her classic exploration of a phenomenon that has reshaped the globe From the eighteenth-century rebellions in America & France to the explosive changes of the twentieth-century Arendt traces the changing face of revolution & its relationship to war while underscoring the crucial role such events will play in the future Illuminating & prescient this timeless work will fascinate anyone who seeks to decipher the forces that shape our tumultuous age ...

Norwegian Wood meets The Tao of Pooh meets a flock of Swedish sheep in this playful profound & philosophical diary written by a literary academic turned novice shepherd 160 pages Linden Axel ...

In this fully revised & expanded book Nicholas Beer examines the sight-size portrait method in which the artist stands back at a distance to view the picture & sitter side-by-side & to scale Nick demonstrates the technique in a series of projects that culminate in portrait painting There are also sections on the history of sight-size early treatises on portraiture & the 'philosophy' of seeing This new edition also

Includes:: a 'starts & studies' section which looks at a series of unfinished paintings in detail to analyse the thought processes & techniques of great artists

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