“The Prince” is one of the most important and famous political works by Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527), a Florentine thinker, philosopher, writer, and politician. Many rulers used it as a table-top book. Machiavelli developed a theory of a secular state devoid of the ecclesial morality. He insisted that any means were good in struggling for a sound state – violence, treachery, and deception, in particular. This might shock with its cruelty, but if you read carefully, you will see that many points of the book can really be taken for granted. They have indeed found their levels today. The book also includes “The Art of War” tractate, a sample of rough and practical approach to the tactics and strategy of war.

Selected works chosen from the literary heritage of the Netherlands philosopher Benedict Spinoza (1632 – 1677) accurately reflect his main ideas. The book considers the world as a law-governed system that can be understood only using a geometric method, the pantheistic identification of nature with God, the coincidence of will with reason and the inevitable inclusion of man in the chain of universal world determination. The ideas conquered the enlightened Europeans of the 17th century, and today they are being studied with enthusiasm and interest by the modern intelligent reader.