These readings from the literature of western philosophy have been collected to serve a practical home and classroom purposes: to make available to readers a sampling of the ideas of some of history’s great thinkers on the subject of human values. The selection is eclectic but not random. The excerpts included have been used in philosophy classes and have been the basis for thoughtful and spirited discussions. The intent of the anthologists is not to instill values but to encourage readers to test their own assumptions and opinions against a variety of ideas and to emerge from the encounter better prepared to shape the values by which they will live their own lives. This book contains selected passages from significant works by some of the most influential thinkers in western civilization, such as: Socrates, Bacon, Kant, Plato, Hobbes, Hegel, Aristotle, Descartes, Schopenhauer, Epicurus, Spinoza, Mill, Epictetus, Locke, Kierkegaard, Marcus, Aurelius, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Augustine, Hume, James