Routledge Classics
About the Book Series
"Routledge Classics is more than just a collection of texts...it embodies and circulates challenging ideas and keeps vital debates current and alive." – Hilary Mantel
The Routledge Classics series, with titles by Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Mary Midgley, was launched in 2001. The series contains the very best of Routledge’s publishing over the past century or so, books that have, by popular consent, become established as classics in their field. Drawing on a fantastic heritage of innovative writing published by Routledge and its associated imprints, this series makes available in attractive, affordable form some of the most important works of modern times.
In 2026 we are delighted to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Routledge Classics series with the publication of seven stellar new titles. All include new prefaces, forewords, introductions or postscripts as well as eye-catching cover designs, a hallmark of the series.
My Philosophical Development
1st Edition
By Bertrand Russell
September 15, 2022
My Philosophical Development is Russell's intellectual autobiography and provides a fascinating insight into the extraordinary energy and philosophical ambition that saw him write over 40 books. As well as offering some fascinating glimpses into the changing nature of his philosophical beliefs, ...
The Analysis of Matter
1st Edition
By Bertrand Russell
September 15, 2022
The Analysis of Matter is the product of thirty years of thinking by one of the twentieth century's best-known philosophers. An inquiry into the philosophical foundations of physics, it was written against the background of stunning new developments in physics earlier in the century, above all ...
The Analysis of Mind
1st Edition
By Bertrand Russell
September 15, 2022
Bertrand Russell wrote The Analysis of Mind during one of the most turbulent periods of his life. He began it in 1918 whilst in in prison in London for his opposition to the First World War, and completed it in Peking (now Beijing) in 1921, where he had been giving lectures at the National ...
The Philosophy of 'As If'
2nd Edition
By Hans Vaihinger
May 31, 2021
Hans Vaihinger (1852–1933) was an important and fascinating figure in German philosophy in the early twentieth century, founding the well-known journal Kant-Studien. Yet he was overshadowed by the burgeoning movements of phenomenology and analytical philosophy, as well as hostility towards his work...
The Ecological Self
1st Edition
By Freya Mathews
May 27, 2021
Environmental disasters, from wildfires and vanishing species to flooding and drought, have increased dramatically in recent years and debates about the environment are rarely far from the headlines. There is growing awareness that these disasters are connected – indeed, that in the fabric of ...
The Explanation of Behaviour
1st Edition
By Charles Taylor
May 27, 2021
The Explanation of Behaviour was the first book written by the renowned philosopher Charles Taylor. A vitally important work of philosophical anthropology, it is a devastating criticism of the theory of behaviourism, a powerful explanatory approach in psychology and philosophy when Taylor's book ...
Waiting for God
1st Edition
By Simone Weil
May 27, 2021
'You cannot get far in these essays without sensing yourself in the presence of a writer of immense intellectual power and fierce independence of mind.' - Janet Soskice, from the Introduction to the Routledge Classics edition Simone Weil (1909–1943) is one of the most brilliant and unorthodox ...
England Under the Stuarts
1st Edition
By G. M. Trevelyan
May 17, 2021
'While Germany boasts her Reformation and France her Revolution, England can point to her dealings with the House of Stuart.' - G.M. Trevelyan, from the Introduction England Under the Stuarts is an outstanding and highly engaging account of English history in the years between 1603 and 1714, ...
The Franco-Prussian War
1st Edition
By Michael Howard
May 17, 2021
In 1870 the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck ordered the Prussian Army to invade France, inciting one of the most dramatic conflicts in European history. It transformed not only the states-system of the European continent but the whole climate of European moral and political thought. The ...
The Theory of Economic Development
1st Edition
By Joseph A. Schumpeter
May 17, 2021
Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) is one of the most fascinating and influential economists of the twentieth century, renowned for his brilliant and unorthodox insights into the nature of capitalism. His students include leading economists such as Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow and the former chairman of...
The World We Have Lost
1st Edition
By Peter Laslett
May 17, 2021
What was life like in England before the Industrial Revolution? The World We Have Lost is widely regarded as a classic of historical writing and a vital book in reshaping our understanding of the past and the structure of family life in England. Turning away from the prevailing fixation of ...
Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative
1st Edition
By Judith Butler
March 30, 2021
‘When we claim to have been injured by language, what kind of claim do we make?’ - Judith Butler, Excitable Speech Excitable Speech is widely hailed as a tour de force and one of Judith Butler’s most important books. Examining in turn debates about hate speech, pornography and gayness within the ...