Books by Ernest Gellner

Gellner's political philosophy in these volumes combines the down-to-earth realism of political sociology with a rational treatment of the normative issues of traditional political thought.

This collection of essays is concerned with philosophy, politics and society. The essays deal not only with classical theories concerning the problems of the implied nature of society in general, the cognitive predicament and nationalism, the nature of the liberalisation process and the future of the welfare and consumer state, but also with various recent discussions.

Includes essays which gather Gellner's thinking on the connection between philosophy and life. This book approaches the topic from various directions such as philosophy of morals, history of ideas, a discussion of individuals including Noam Chomsky, and discussions on the setting of philosophy in the culture of England and America.

These essays deal with the problem of relativism and, in particular, cultural relativism. If our society knows better than other societies, how do we know that it knows better? The claim to cognitive superiority is often restricted to the sciences - raising the second theme of the volume: the difference between human and natural sciences.

These essays explore the relationship between culture and politics in the modern world. They are all inspired by a cluster of linked preoccupations with the nature of the emerging social order. The volume will interest a wide range of readers in the social sciences and philosophy.

First published in 1959, this classic challenge to the prevailing philosophical orthodoxy of the day, remains the most devastating attack on a conventional wisdom in philosophy to this day.

This shrewd and penetrating book, written by one of the world's most respected social thinkers, delves to the heart of the controversy between Islam and the West.

Ernest Gellner (1925-95) has been described as 'one of the last great central European polymath intellectuals'. His last book, first published in 1998, throws light on two leading thinkers of their time. Wittgenstein, arguably the most influential and the most cited philosopher of the twentieth century, is famous for having propounded two radically different philosophical positions. Malinowski, the founder of modern British social anthropology, is usually credited with being the inventor of ethnographic fieldwork, a fundamental research method throughout the social sciences. In a highly original way, Gellner shows how the thought of both men grew from a common background of assumptions - widely shared in the Habsburg Empire of their youth - about human nature, society, and language. Tying together themes which preoccupied him throughout his working life, Gellner epitomizes his belief that philosophy - far from 'leaving everything as it is' - is about important historical, social and personal issues.