Existentialism Books

Edmund Husserl is really an unsung hero in early twentieth century philosophy. His fundfamental importance for such thinkers as Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty should in and of itself be cause for Husserl's popular rehabilitation; this is the book to accomplish just that.

Part of a new publishing venture Routledge press has initiated in order to produce introductory studies on important philosophers (the backlist so far includes thinkers from Plato to the later Heidegger) which are at the same time vital contributions to contemporary scholarship, this volume on Husserl is the first secondary text to address Husserl's Cartesian Meditations, a breathtaking lapse if you think about it, since authors seldom get taught in introductory classes in primary text alone. Husserl's students, intellectual progeny, and even enemies have really been the focus of Husserl studies (much like Irenaeus was the focus of gnostic studies until the full publication of the Nag Hammadi documents several years ago), and anyone wanting an introduction to Husserl's thought had to do the best they could. His work, and the Cartesian Meditations in particular, has been and is deserving of competent, thoughtful commentary, and Smith's volume neatly fits the bill. It is a deep and detailed investigation of the genesis of Husserl's thinking (in itself a phenomenological "to the thing itself" kind of approach), and almost a line-by-line commentary on the ideas, problems, and contributions of Husserl's book which never fails to remember that it is aimed at newcomers as well as specialists. Plainly put, it is no longer responsible to teach Husserl without this volume, and no class on existentialism, phenomenology, or deconstruction should proceed without it, either.

The person seeking to understand Husserl's masterwork should begin with the Cartesian Meditations in one hand and this volume in the other. Incidentally, any doctoral students responsible for the Cartesian Meditations in general exams without the benefit of a faculty that actually teaches Husserl (sadly, a rather common situation) owes Smith a heartfelt thank-you card. It is a book that makes anyone with Husserlian questions happy. It is not the final word on Husserl's work, but thankfully, it is a very important first word.

The best new book on the subject, written by America's best young Adorno scholar, and our most promising Sartre scholar. Brilliant, clear,. a must-read.

In Philosophy, German owns a kind of originary advantage over many other languages. Martin Heidegger would think of many of those "essential" advantages, but I'd like only to state a quite simple one. The most important part of modern and contemporary philosophy is written in German, and a translation, even a good one, does not entirely cope with the full comprehension of a work. Even more, the better the translation of an important German philosopher you get to read, the more you see a clear need to put your hands on the original. If this is true of Kant, Hegel, and Husserl, it is even more important for Heidegger.

Sein und Zeit deals with many problems, and mainly, with concrete human existence (Dasein). The categories it uses to describe the phenomenon of existence seem strange and abstract in English, and even more in Spanish, my language. In German, they become almost transparent, and you can see words form not a system, but a constellation that gives another sense to the whole picture. German words have an inmediate and concrete anchoring in the relation of the existent subject: they are, in a way, a map of possible relations within a world. I eagerly recommend this book to enrich the hard readings of Heidegger translations. Bye.

Drabinski's book is the first full-length treatment of Levinas' relation to Husserl to appear in English, and for this reason it will occupy an important place in Levinas scholarship for many years to come. Anyone with a serious interest in Levinas' relation to Husserl should take this book seriously.

Drabinski's argument is, among many things, a response to Dominique Janicaud's argument that the so-called "theological turn" in phenomenology---which Janicaud thinks begins with Levinas---does not remain true to the central tenets of the phenomenological method. Drabinski argues that Levinas does not "escape" from phenomenology, but rather extends its boundaries by reworking the idea of sensibility from within. This reworking is accomplished from within Husserl's method itself, so, Drabinski reasons, Levinas' relation to Husserl is essentially a positive one.

Drabinski shows a deep acquaintance with both Levinas' thought and phenomenology in general, and the quality of scholarship is high. If there is one problem with this book, however, it would be with Drabinski's assessment of Levinas' relation to Heidegger. Heidegger always remained an important phenomenological influence on Levinas, and it would have been useful for Drabinski to indicate in more depth exactly how Heidegger fits in Levinas' constellation of influences.

This author with wide interests and published fiction and nonfiction concentrates on Simon de Beauvoir's writings for a comprehension of the purposes she defined for herself and the commitments she made. Or as Appighanesi puts it in her own words, "I have tried to render the flavour of Simone de Beauvois's singular life, her judiciousness, the vitality of her intellect, as well as highlight certain aspects of her most important books." The author gives special attention to de Beauvoir's influence through her books and her actions as a latter-day feminist; while her social ideas and activities, along with those of her lover Sartre, and her literary accomplishments are also given adequate and informative attention. Appignanesi writes with the stylistic innovation of including relatively lengthy passages from de Beauvois's writings within paragraphs; rather than setting off the quotes in separate blocks of text as is the common style. This has the effect of drawing writer and subject closer, allowing the writer to be particularly revealing about her subject. A little different from a conventional biography, this work presents de Beauvoir as a feeling, thinking, activist individual while also being an introspective one; and it's a good supplement to other works on this leading French philosophical and literary figure of the post-War decades who continues to offer insights and guidance on social, gender, and political questions.

This is a thoroughly done and scholarly work which was of great assistance to me in preparing for oral examinations as part of a doctoral program in the Humanities. The author has done an exceptional job of explaining the intricacies, complexities and meaning of difficult material in the works of Sartre, de Beauvoir, Marcel and Merleau Ponty. I have not found a more understandable text pertinent to the subject which she so ably addresses.

Translated out of French, Gusdorf's philosophy is deceptively simplistic and very easy to read. He focuses on the importance of language to our lives and, ultimately, the way that it shapes our very world, including our ethics.

I read this book during an ethics course and I have to warn that it is much deeper than it appears on the surface. If you can wade through the paradigm shifts, however, it may change your life - Gusdorf has such a thorough grasp of how things work that my point of view has been irrevocably changed.

(I) Philosophy of Human Communication: (1) Communication as Problematic; (2) Philosophic Method and Communication; (3) Speech Act Propositions; (II) Speech Act Structures: (1) Constatives; (2) Performatives; (3) Rules and Conventions; (4) Locutionary Acts (Phones, Phemes, Rhemes); (III) Speech Act Contents: (1) Meaning (Typologies, Natural Menaing, Non-natural Meaning); (2) Illocutionary Acts (Intention, Force and Effect, Propositonal Acts); (IV) Speech Act Communication: (1) Perlocutionary Acts (Intention and Intentionality, Effect, Proposition and Argument); (2) Speech as Comunication (Marking and Master Speech Acts, Rhetorical Acts, Metacommunication and Infracommunication: A Phenomenology); (V) Existential Speech and the Phenomenology of Communication: (1) Existential Phenomenology; (2) Encountering Phenomenological Existence (Perception: silence, thought, dialectic of perception; Expression: synchronic and diachronic language; Communication: speaking, speech acts, dialectic of communication); (3) The Dialectic Critique. Appendix: Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Communication. Extensive Bibliograpy; Index.

Dr. Klemke brings his characteristic careful scrutiny of philosophical issues to the difficult work of the 19th century Christian existential philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. A must read for any serious student of the Great Dane.

Dr. Klemke, a gifted and much respected philosopher in his own right, bring clarity and resolution to some of the works of the very difficult "Magister of Irony". By first aborting often place misunderstandings and ambuities in the difficult works "Philosophical Fragments" and "Concluding Unscientific Postscript" Klemke makes room for further introspective decipherment of the founder of modern existentialism.

With this work convincingly done--with meticulous arguments and reference to back his vies--Klemke enterprises so as to pose answers to timeless questions raised everytime one seriously contemplates the paradoxes of Kierkegaard. Was Kierkegaard an anti-realist? What were his views on ethics? Was he, or more properly, was johannas climicas a theist? And what was Kierkegaard's real views on Christianity?

In a short and accessible work, Klemke proposes convincing answers to such difficult questions that will forever plague the student of Kierkegaard.

A must for anyone who is seeking to become "that solitary individual."

Soren Kierkegaard original wrote his philosophy of life in the 1840s and offered more than 13,000 pages of existential thought and exploration into the meaning of Christianity and God. His work was not discovered by the French existentialist movement until after his death and became widely known in the 1930s. In Soren Kierkegaard: An Authentic Life, The Life And Writings Of A Christian Philosopher With Samples From His Works, Ben Alex shares his profound and personal experiences of pilgrimage to Denmark and his detailed and exhaustive studies of Kierkegaard's powerful life and thought. This Northstone Publishing edition is a beautiful treasury of Kierkegaard's existential philosophy in light of his religious experience and devout faith. Compelling photographs link Kierkegaard's words to important historical sites. This highly recommended compendium of quotes, inspirational passages, and interviews with scholars, is enhanced for the student of Kierkegaard's work with a concise biographical sketch.