Existentialism: A Philosophical Inquiry

Existentialism: A Philosophical Inquiry PDF Author: Joel Smith
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000590070
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Existentialism asks some of the most fundamental questions about human existence: What gives our lives meaning and value? What is it to choose freely? How do I live an authentic life? How should I relate to myself and to others? In this book Joel Smith introduces and assesses the arguments and controversies surrounding these questions in an engaging way, providing a superb introduction to this important and perennial philosophical subject. Connecting existentialist themes with contemporary questions in ethics, philosophy of action, and the emotions, he brings existentialism to life. He does so by focusing on a set of distinctively existentialist questions and themes, including race and gender, whilst at the same time engaging with the classic existentialist texts from Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Fanon and others. The book is organised clearly around the following key topics: Life Subjectivity Meaning Freedom Angst Bad Faith Alienation Gender Race Authenticity Including chapter summaries and annotated further reading, Existentialism: A Philosophical Inquiry is the ideal starting point for anyone interested in this fascinating and important subject, in Philosophy as well as related disciplines such as Literature and Religion.

Existentialism: A Philosophical Inquiry

Existentialism: A Philosophical Inquiry PDF Author: Joel Smith
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000590070
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
Existentialism asks some of the most fundamental questions about human existence: What gives our lives meaning and value? What is it to choose freely? How do I live an authentic life? How should I relate to myself and to others? In this book Joel Smith introduces and assesses the arguments and controversies surrounding these questions in an engaging way, providing a superb introduction to this important and perennial philosophical subject. Connecting existentialist themes with contemporary questions in ethics, philosophy of action, and the emotions, he brings existentialism to life. He does so by focusing on a set of distinctively existentialist questions and themes, including race and gender, whilst at the same time engaging with the classic existentialist texts from Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Fanon and others. The book is organised clearly around the following key topics: Life Subjectivity Meaning Freedom Angst Bad Faith Alienation Gender Race Authenticity Including chapter summaries and annotated further reading, Existentialism: A Philosophical Inquiry is the ideal starting point for anyone interested in this fascinating and important subject, in Philosophy as well as related disciplines such as Literature and Religion.

French Existentialism

French Existentialism PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004493875
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
This book is a critical appraisal of the distinctive modern school of thought known as French existentialism. It philosophically engages the ideas of the major French existentialists, namely, Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, Marcel, Camus, and, because of his central role in the movement, especially Sartre, in a fresh attempt to elucidate their contributions to contemporary philosophy.

On Being and Becoming

On Being and Becoming PDF Author: Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190913673
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
While existentialism has long been associated with Parisian Left Bank philosophers sipping cocktails in smoke-filled cafés, or with a brooding, angst-filled outlook on life, Gosetti-Ferencei shows how vital and heterogeneous the movement really was. In this concise, accessible book, Gosetti-Ferencei offers a new vision of existentialism. As she lucidly demonstrates, existentialism is a rich and diverse philosophy that encourages meaningful engagement with the world around us, offering a host of fascinating concepts that pertain to life as we experience it. The movement was as heterogeneous as it is now misunderstood, influenced by jazz music, involving diverse thinkers from around the world, challenging received ideas about the meaning of human existence. Part of the difficulty in defining existentialism is that it was never a unified philosophy, but came to identify a set of shared concerns about the meaning and possibility of human freedom, as it may be expressed in authentic choices, actions, and projects. Existentialists all explored how, in the absence of traditional reassurances about the meaning of life, we may transcend our present circumstances, and give our situation new meaning. With existentialism, concrete, lived experience of the single individual emerged from the shadow of abstract systems and long-defended traditions, and became subject-matter in its own right for philosophical inquiry. Far from solipsistic, Gosetti-Ferencei shows that existentialist attention to the human self can be intertwined with ways of conceiving the world, our being with others, the earth, and the encompassing concept of being. Fully appreciating what existentialism has to offer requires recognizing the rich diversity of its prospects, which involve not only anxiety, absurdity, awareness of death and the loss of religious meaning, but also hope, the striving for happiness, and a sense of the transcendent. On Being and Becoming unpacks this philosophical movement's insights, and reveals how its core ideas promote creative responses to the question of life's meaning.

Silence in Philosophy, Literature, and Art

Silence in Philosophy, Literature, and Art PDF Author: Steven Bindeman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004352589
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Silence exists at the edge of the world, where words break off and meaning fades into ambiguity. The numerous treatments of silence in Steven L. Bindeman’s Silence in Philosophy, Literature, and Art question the misleading clarity of certainty, which persists in the unreflective discourse of common experience. Significant philosophical problems, such as the limits of language, the perception of sound and the construction of meaning, the dynamics of the social realm, and the nature of the human self, all appear differently as a consequence of this questioning. Silence is shown to have two modes, disruptive and healing, which work together as complementary stages within a creative process. The interaction between these two modes of silence serves as the dynamic behind the entire work.

On Existentialism

On Existentialism PDF Author: Mark Tanzer
Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing Company
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Book Description
ON EXISTENTIALISM introduces the fundamental tenets of existentialism, focusing on the existentialist denial of the claim that the world is rationally structured. With reference to the seminal thinking of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre, the book is divided into two main chapters, one focusing on existentialist ontology and the other on existentialist ethics. Unlike most books introducing existentialism, ON EXISTENTIALISM is less concerned with presenting the reader with a wealth of detail regarding what the philosophers examined have said, but rather, is more concerned with presenting arguments for their most fundamental claims. THE WADSWORTH PHILOSOPHICAL TOPICS SERIES presents readers with concise, timely, and insightful introductions to a variety of traditional and contemporary philosophical subjects. With this series, students of philosophy will be able to discover the richness of philosophical inquiry across a wide array of concepts, including hallmark philosophical themes and themes typically underrepresented in mainstream philosophy publishing. Written by a distinguished list of scholars who have garnered particular recognition for their excellence in teaching, this series presents the vast sweep of today's philosophical exploration in highly accessible and affordable volumes. These books will prove valuable to philosophy teachers and their students as well as to other readers who share a general interest in philosophy. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Is Human Life Absurd? A Philosophical Inquiry into Finitude, Value, and Meaning

Is Human Life Absurd? A Philosophical Inquiry into Finitude, Value, and Meaning PDF Author: Raymond Angelo Belliotti
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004408797
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
In this work, Belliotti unravels the paradoxes of human existence. The purpose of this philosophical journey is to reveal paths for forging meaningful, significant, valuable, even important lives. By examining notions of The Absurd expressed within Search for the Holy Grail, The Seventh Seal, and The Big Lebowski, the author crafts a working definition of “absurdity.” He then investigates the contributions of classical thinkers such as Shakespeare, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Tolstoy, Sartre, Camus, as well as philosophers such as Nagel, Feinberg, and Taylor. After arguing that human life is not inherently absurd, Belliotti examines the implications of mortality for human existence, the relationship between subjective and objective meaning, and the persuasiveness of several challenging contemporary renderings of meaningful human lives.

Rethinking Existentialism

Rethinking Existentialism PDF Author: Jonathan Webber
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191054763
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
In Rethinking Existentialism, Jonathan Webber articulates an original interpretation of existentialism as the ethical theory that human freedom is the foundation of all other values. Offering an original analysis of classic literary and philosophical works published by Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Frantz Fanon up until 1952, Webber's conception of existentialism is developed in critical contrast with central works by Albert Camus, Sigmund Freud, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Presenting his arguments in an accessible and engaging style, Webber contends that Beauvoir and Sartre initially disagreed over the structure of human freedom in 1943 but Sartre ultimately came to accept Beauvoir's view over the next decade. He develops the viewpoint that Beauvoir provides a more significant argument for authenticity than either Sartre or Fanon. He articulates in detail the existentialist theories of individual character and the social identities of gender and race, key concerns in current discourse. Webber concludes by sketching out the broader implications of his interpretation of existentialism for philosophy, psychology, and psychotherapy.

Existentialism

Existentialism PDF Author: Thomas E. Wartenberg
Publisher: Oneworld
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Suitable for both the everyday reader and the introductory student, this clear and enlightening guide introduces the elusive philosophical school of Existentialism.

Philosophical Methodology

Philosophical Methodology PDF Author: Paul F. Kisak
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781533353429
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
Philosophical methodology is the study of how to do philosophy. A common view among philosophers is that philosophy is distinguished by the ways that philosophers follow in addressing philosophical questions. There is not just one method that philosophers use to answer philosophical questions.Systematic philosophy is a generic term that applies to philosophical methods and approaches that attempt to provide a framework in reason that can explain all questions and problems related to human life. Examples of systematic philosophers include Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, and Hegel. In a meaningful sense, all of western philosophy from Plato to the modern schools of theoretical metaphysics. In many ways, any attempts to formulate a philosophical method that provides the ultimate constituents of reality, a metaphysics, can be considered systematic philosophy. In modern philosophy the reaction to systematic philosophy began with Kierkegaard and continued in various forms through analytic philosophy, existentialism, hermeneutics, and deconstructionism. Some common features of the methods that philosophers follow (and discuss when discussing philosophical method) include:* Methodic doubt - a systematic process of being skeptical about (or doubting) the truth of one's beliefs.* Argument (logic) - provide an argument or several arguments supporting the solution.* Dialectic - present the solution and arguments for criticism by other philosophers, and help them judge their own.

What Is Existentialism?

What Is Existentialism? PDF Author: Simone de Beauvoir
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141994770
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 75

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Book Description
'It is possible for man to snatch the world from the darkness of absurdity' How should we think and act in the world? These writings on the human condition by one of the twentieth century's great philosophers explore the absurdity of our notions of good and evil, and show instead how we make our own destiny simply by being. One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.