This little book contains some of the greatest wisdom literature of the ages. Everyone, and especially young people, should be familiar with it. Both Epicureanism and Stoicism taught that if we want to be happy and productive, we must strengthen and train our willful and wayward minds. There are echoes of the Buddha’s Dhammapada. The passages selected are both beautiful and moving.

Volume 1: Graeco-Roman to Early Modern Ethics

Volume One: Ethical thought from 500 BCE, to the 18th century. The focus is primarily on Greece, Rome, and Europe, but also touches on Jewish and Muslim ethical thinkers.

Volume 2: Modern and Comtemporary Ethics

Volume Two: The modern period to mid-20th century.

For this edition of her well established book, Mary Warnock has made a number of additions, in particular a discussion of John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice. These bring up to date a well-informed and discriminating account of the main ethical problems of the 20th and 21st centuries.