Philosophy
5 works
18th Century
The Age of Reason
A systematic critique of revealed religion that cost Paine his reputation and nearly his life, written while he awaited execution in a French prison.
18th Century
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
The most readable and rigorous statement of empiricist philosophy, including Hume's devastating argument against the rational basis for belief in miracles.
19th Century
On Liberty
The most rigorous philosophical defense of free expression ever written, grounding it not in rights but in epistemic necessity.
20th Century
Why I Am Not a Christian
A lecture delivered at the National Secular Society in 1927, still the clearest short statement of secular humanism ever written.
19th Century
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
The Dresden Edition lectures of 'the Great Agnostic', the most celebrated orator of nineteenth-century America. A sustained, witty, and fearless critique of religious orthodoxy paired with a passionate defence of individual liberty and the scientific method.