Tag Archives | Martyn Swain

THE POVERTY OF HISTORICISM

By Karl Popper
Read by Martyn Swain
5 hours 37 minutes

‘Probably the only book published this year which will outlive the century’

– Arthur Koestler

CONJECTURES AND REFUTATIONS

By Karl Popper
Read by Martyn Swain
22 hours 14 minutes

Conjectures and Refutations is one of Karl Popper’s most wide-ranging and popular works, notable not only for its acute insights into the way scientific knowledge grows, but also for applying those insights to politics and to history. Continue Reading →

WHAT IS METAPHYSICS, WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY AND OTHER WRITINGS

By Martin Heidegger
Read by Martyn Swain
4 hours 24 minutes

This recording contains four important and related works by Heidegger: ‘What is Philosophy’, ‘What is Metaphysics’, ‘On the Essence of Truth’ and ‘The Question of Being’. It starts with ‘What is Philosophy’ which originated as a lecture given in Normandy in 1955, and was first published a year later. Continue Reading →

SUMMA THEOLOGICA VOLUME 5

SUMMA THEOLOGICA VOLUME 5 SUPPLEMENT TO PART III

By Thomas Aquinas
Read by Martyn Swain
39 hours 8 minutes

Thomas Aquinas (c1225-1274) died before he could complete his ambitious plan for Summa Theologica, described as ‘a systematic compendium’ of Roman Catholic theology. Drawing on a wide range of Christian sources – and, controversially, on Greek and Latin philosophers as well as Arabian commentators – he sought to explicate matters of doctrine through a specific scheme of Question, Article, Objection, Answer and Reply. Continue Reading →

ON WAR

By Carl von Clausewitz
Read by Martyn Swain
29 hours 20 minutes

On War was first published in 1832, at a time when muskets and cavalry were a dominating presence on the battlefield. Yet in the 21^st century it remains a much-read and studied treatise on the subject – perhaps the most important European classic of its kind – and this despite the author’s demise before he could finish what was an extended review of the whole subject of military strategy. Continue Reading →

SUMMA THEOLOGICA VOLUME 4 PART III (TERTIA PARS)

By Thomas Aquinas
Read by Martyn Swain
47 hours 52 minutes

Summa Theologica Part III (Tertia Pars) is Volume 4 in Ukemi Audiobooks’ complete recording of Thomas Aquinas’s momentous work on Christian theology and philosophy. Born in Sicily in 1225, he was a friar in the Dominican Order, but during his lifetime he was recognized as a leading figure through his writings as a philosopher, theologian and jurist. He was the first major Christian theologian to absorb the ideas of Aristotle, Averroes and other non-Christian figures, a stance that made him a target for criticism. Continue Reading →

THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY

By Ludwig Feuerbach
Read by Martyn Swain
12 hours 08 minutes

This extraordinary work (Das Wesen Des Christentums) is an anthropological dissection of Christianity in particular and a critique of religion in general. It proved both controversial and influential following its publication in 1841. But soon it became a classic of humanism – so much so that it was none other than George Eliot, under her real name of Marian (Mary Ann) Evans, who felt impelled to undertake the first English translation (1851), and which helped to underscore her humanistic attitudes which infused her novels. Continue Reading →

THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

By C.G Jung
Read by Martyn Swain
13 hours 44 minutes

What are Archetypes? What is the Collective Unconscious? Both these concepts are two of Jung’s most famous and exciting ideas. In this volume, taken from the Collective Works, Jung describes and elaborates upon these two central concepts of his psychology. Included are essays on specific archetypes, a study of the process of individuation, and an account of mandala symbolism. Continue Reading →

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

By C.G Jung
Read by Martyn Swain
16 hours 31 minutes

Published first in 1912, Psychology of the Unconscious was one of the most important stepping stones in the development of Jung’s thought and practice. It has a long subtitle: ‘A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of Thought’. This expressed the underlying impetus – a break from the view of the libido and its functions as taught by Sigmund Freud, which Jung had earlier adopted. Continue Reading →

KANT AND THE PROBLEM OF METAPHYSICS

By Martin Heidegger
Read by Martyn Swain
8 hours 9 minutes

In 1929 Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) published his remarkable book, Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics. The Kantbuch, as Heidegger often called it, is regarded by many as a vital supplement to the unfinished second part of Heidegger’s most influential work, Being and Time, which was published two years earlier in 1927. Continue Reading →

SUMMA THEOLOGICA Volume 2 Part I of Part II (Prima Secundae)

By Thomas Aquinas
Read by Martyn Swain
48 hours 32 minutes

Summa Theologica consists of three main Parts. The second Part is divided two and this recording presents Prima Secundae – the Part I of Part II. Taken in its entirety Summa Theologica forms an essential contribution to the canon of Catholic doctrine and was written in the last decade of his life by Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) an Italian-born Dominican Friar. Although he died before completing it the body of thought it contains is a continuing influence to the education and guidance of students of theology in the main Christian traditions. Continue Reading →

SUMMA THEOLOGICA PART I (PRIMA PARS)

By Thomas Aquinas
Read by Martyn Swain
52 hours 33 minutes

The Summa Theologica, a fundamental text in Catholic doctrine, is a compendium of theology that has been studied and debated since its first publication in the 13^th century. Furthermore, it has been widely regarded as one of the classics of Western philosophy, not least because, perhaps for the first time in such a systematic manner, it set out to consider the views of non-Christian figures such as Aristotle, Boethius, Muslim writers including Averroes (Ibn Rushd) and Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and the Sephardic Jewish scholar Maimonides. Continue Reading →

THE OLD MAN IN THE CORNER

By Baroness Orczy
Read by Martyn Swain
7 hours 04 minutes

An old man sits in the corner of a London tea house. It is the early years of the 20^th century. In comes a young lady reporter, and a conversation ensues. “Mysteries!” he comments. “There is no such thing as a mystery in connection with any crime, provided intelligence is brought to bear upon its investigation.” At first, the reporter wants to terminate the exchange, swiftly. But she cannot walk away when a notorious unsolved murder becomes the topic of their conversation and this slightly disreputable yet decided character declares that the solution, of course, is obvious! Continue Reading →

COLLECTED PAPERS ON ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

By C.G Jung
Read by Martyn Swain
17 hours 49 minutes

Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology comprises a selection of key writings and lectures by Carl Gustav Jung produced between 1902 and 1916, which are presented in chronological order. As such they provide a fascinating exposition of the nature and essence of the psychological content of psychoses and neuroses, as explored and discovered by Dr Jung in the early years of his long and distinguished career. Continue Reading →

MODERN MAN IN SEARCH OF A SOUL

By C.G Jung
Read by Martyn Swain
9 hours 11 minutes

This collection of eleven wide-ranging lectures which appeared originally in 1933, was based on lectures previously given when Jung was in the process of absorbing a considerable period of study of Eastern religions, Gnosticism and other religious sources. It was a time, according to the translator Cary F. Baynes, ‘when the Western world stands on the verge of a spiritual rebirth… Continue Reading →

BEING AND TIME

By Martin Heidegger
Read by Martyn Swain With Introduction by Professor Taylor Carman
23 hours 18 minutes

In his lucid introduction to this recording, Professor Taylor Carman declares unequivocally that Being and Time by Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is ‘one of the great masterpieces of 20^th century philosophy.’ And that is despite the fact that it is unquestionably a challenging read. Continue Reading →

PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES

By C.G Jung
Read by Martyn Swain
24 hours 03 minutes

In the 21st century, Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) remains one of the key figures in the field of analytical psychology – and ‘Psychological Types’, or The Psychology of Individuation, published in 1921, is one of his most influential works. It was written during the decade after the publication of Psychology of the Unconscious (1912) which effectively ended his friendship and collaboration with Sigmund Freud. Continue Reading →

THE ANNALS

By Tacitus
Read by Martyn Swain
17 hours 1 minute

The Annals, written by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (56c-120 CE) is regarded as one of the great literary works of history in the Roman world. Considered by many to be the greatest of Roman historians The Annals is Tacitus’s outstanding achievement. Originally comprising eighteen volumes, books seven to ten and parts of books five, six, eleven and sixteen have been lost but those that remain, read here by Martyn Swain, tell the fascinating tale of the Julio Claudian emperors and their times. Continue Reading →

THE SPIRIT OF THE LAWS

By Baron de Montesquieu
Read by Martyn Swain
23 hours 36 minutes

From the moment of its publication in 1748, ‘The Spirit of the Laws’ proved to be a controversial work provoking widespread interest. Within three years it had been translated into various European languages – and was swiftly added to the List of Prohibited Books by the Roman Catholic Church. It is a remarkable book, a pot-pourri of observations and comments ranging far and wide over the social activities of mankind and it exerted a great influence on political leaders in the following decades. Continue Reading →

CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS TOTEM AND TABOO

CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS

TOTEM AND TABOO

By Sigmund Freud
Read by Martyn Swain
9 hours 19 minutes

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is remembered as The Father of Psychoanalysis. Civilization and Its Discontents (1930), is one of his key works, written three decades after his seminal book – The Interpretation of Dreams. In it he considers the conflict between the needs of the individual acting both egotistically and altruistically in the pursuit of happiness contrasted with the myriad demands of civilized society and the ensuing tensions this clash of needs and demands generates. Continue Reading →

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