Popular European Philosophical Books
Find philosophical books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (173)
151.
The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau EN
Country: Europe / 
Switzerland
Switzerland
Description:
"Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains" These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has not ceased to stir vigorous debate since its first publication in 1762. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau argues instead for a pact, or 'social contract', that should exist between all the citizens of a state and that should be the source of sovereign power. From this fundamental premise, he goes on to consider issues of liberty and law, freedom and justice, arriving at a view of society that has seemed to some a blueprint for t... continue
152.
The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder EN
NorwayDescription:
In The Solitaire Mystery, Hans Thomas and his father set out on a car trip through Europe, from Norway to Greece - the birthplace of philosophy - in search of Hans Thomas's mother, who left them many years earlier. On the way, Hans Thomas receives a mysterious miniature book - the fantastic memoir of a sailor shipwrecked in 1842 on a strange island where a deck of cards has come to life. But how do these stories fit together? Who is the little man who keeps cropping up on their trip? And why must Hans Thomas learn about the distant past before he can understand his mother's more recent disappe... continue
153.
The Sublime Object of Ideology by Slavoj Žižek EN
SloveniaDescription:
In this provocative and original work, Slavoj _i_ek takes a look at the question of human agency in a postmodern world. From the sinking of the Titanic to Hitchcock’s Rear Window, from the operas of Wagner to science fiction, from Alien to the Jewish Joke, the author’s acute analyses explore the ideological fantasies of wholeness and exclusion which make up human society. _i_ek takes issue with analysts of the postmodern condition from Habermas to Sloterdijk, showing that the idea of a ‘post-ideological’ world ignores the fact that ‘even if we do not take things seriously, we are still doing t... continue
Greece155.
Country: Europe / 
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Description:
From its gripping first sentence onward, this novel exemplifies the term "Kafkaesque." Its darkly humorous narrative recounts a bank clerk's entrapment in a bureaucratic maze, based on an undisclosed charge.
156.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera EN
Country: Europe / Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Description:
A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover—these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel "the unbearable lightness of being" not only as the consequence of our pristine actions but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.
157.
The Uncanny by Sigmund Freud EN
Country: Europe / Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Description:
Freud was fascinated by the mysteries of creativity and the imagination. The groundbreaking works that comprise The Uncanny present some of his most influential explorations of the mind. In these pieces Freud investigates the vivid but seemingly trivial childhood memories that often "screen" deeply uncomfortable desires; the links between literature and daydreaming; and our intensely mixed feelings about things we experience as "uncanny." Also included is Freud's celebrated study of Leonardo Da Vinci-his first exercise in psychobiography. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leadi... continue
158.
The Undiscovered Self by Carl Gustav Jung EN
Country: Europe / Switzerland
Switzerland
Description:
In The Undiscovered Self Jung explains the essence of his teaching for a readership unfamiliar with his ideas. He highlights the importance of individual responsibility and freedom in the context of today's mass society, and argues that individuals must organize themselves as effectively as the organized mass if they are to resist joining it. To help them achieve this he sets out his influential programme for achieving self-understanding and self-realization. The Undiscovered Self is a book that will awaken many individuals to the new life of the self that Jung visualized.
159.
ItalyDescription:
In this novel "about ambition, family, and old-age ... [a] grandfather and grandson match wits as [the elder] heads toward a reckoning with his own ambitions and life choices"--Amazon.com.
160.
Under the Glacier by Halldor Laxness EN
IcelandDescription:
Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness’s Under the Glacier is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, a wryly provocative novel at once earthy and otherworldly. At its outset, the Bishop of Iceland dispatches a young emissary to investigate certain charges against the pastor at Snæfells Glacier, who, among other things, appears to have given up burying the dead. But once he arrives, the emissary finds that this dereliction counts only as a mild eccentricity in a community that regards itself as the center of the world and where Creation itself is a work in progress. What is the emissary to make, for example, of ... continue