Phenomenology and Existentialism Books

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Book SynopsisThis book is a significant novelty in the scientific and editorial landscape. Morphology is both an ancient and a new discipline that rests on Goethe's heritage and re-forms it in the present through the concepts of form and image. The latter are to be understood as structural elements of a new cultural grammar able to make the late modern world intelligible. In particular, compared to the original Goethean project, but also to C.P. Snow's idea of unifying the “two cultures”, the fields of morphological culture that are the object of this glossary have profoundly changed. The ever-increasing importance of the image as a polysemic form has made the two concepts absolutely transitive, so to speak. This is concomitant with the emergence of a culture that revolves around the image, attracting the verbal logos into its orbit. Incidentally, even the hermeneutic relationship between past and present relies more and more on the image, causing deep changes in cultural environments. Form and image are not just bridging concepts, as in the field of ancient morphology, but real transitive concepts that define the state of a culture. From the Internet to smartphones, television, advertising, etc., we are witnessing – as Horst Bredekamp observes – an immense mass of images that fill our time and affect the most diverse areas of our culture. The ancient connection between science and art recalled by Goethe emerges with unusual evidence thanks to intersecting patterns and expressive forms that are sometimes shared by different forms of knowledge. Creating a glossary and a culture of these intersections is the task of morphology, which thus enters into the boundaries between aesthetics, art, design, advertising, and sciences (from mathematics to computer science, to physics, and to biology), in order to provide the founding elements of a grammar and a syntax of the image. The latter, in its formal quality, both expressive and symbolic, is a fundamental element in the unification of the various kinds of knowledge, which in turn come to be configured, in this regard, also as styles of vision. The glossary is subdivided into contiguous sections, within a complex framework of cross-references. In addition to the two curators, the book features the collaboration of a team of scholars from the individual disciplines appearing in the glossary. Table of ContentsAesthetics.- Analogy.- Artefact.- Artifex.- Artistic Morphology.- Atmosphere.- Attractors/Basin of Attraction.- Biopolitics.- Body.- Character/State.- Chreod.- Classics.- Code (Biological).- Code (Juridical).- Colour.- Complexity.- Contour/Outline/Silhouette.- Dance.- Degeneration.- Demography.- Development/Evolution.- Device.- Diagrams.- Diaphane.- Drawing.- Dynamic System.- Eidetics.- Emergence.- Enactivism.- Epidemiology.- Epigenesis / Preformation(ism).- Epigenetic Landscape.- Epigenetics.- Ethics of image.- Evidence/Intuibility.- Extension.- Figuration/Figure/Form.- Folktale, Morphology.- Food.- Form Constancy.- Formation.- Formula

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the concepts of subjectivity and selfhood developed in the oeuvre of Jean-Paul Sartre. Although Sartre is a prominent philosopher, the reception of his work is shrouded in misguided ideas concerning his alleged subjectivism. This book accurately positions Sartre in debates concerning the two themes which form a guiding thread throughout his work and remain immensely relevant in the philosophical landscape of today. Gusman expertly tracks and uncovers the nuances of the evolving notions of subjectivity and selfhood, paying particular attention to his claim that the Self is a ‘thing among things’ and to his views on narrative identity.Using as a framework the critical reception from thinkers in Sartre’s own tradition, the book also draws from the recent popularity of his thought in analytic philosophy of mind. Illuminating and impactful, this book provides an invaluable resource to scholars looking for a contemporary and up-to-date critical study of Sartre’s work.Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Subjectivity without Self3. The Project of Freedom4. The Force of Things5. Conclusion

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Book Synopsis1 On Exploring the Intertwining: Engaging with the Thoughts and Writings of James Mensch.- Part I Reconfiguring Subjectivity.- 2 Another Beginning: On Birth, Childhood, and the Existential State of Being Human.- 3 Jan Patocka and James Mensch on World and Movement.- 4 The Path of Phenomenology: James Mensch and Jan Patocka on Subjectivity.- Part II Unthinking Embodiment and its Implications.- 5 Self-Identity from the Perspective of the Body.- 6 Paradigm Changes in Times of Pandemics, Embodied Vulnerability, and Responsibility.- 7 Merleau-Ponty's Parallel Between Art and Philosophy: The Case of Poetry from Baudelaire and Akhmatova.- Part III Unfolding the Phenomenology of Time.- 8  Ego Splitting and Intuitive Presentifications.- 9 Intersubjective Constitution of Time in the C-Manuscripts.- 10 In the Flow of Experience: Genetic Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis Toward a New Subjectivity Model.- Part IV Probing the Foundations of the Ethico-Political.- 11 Empathy and Trust as Different Foundations of Ethics.- 12 Living In: A Sketch for an Oikology.- 13 Pandemic Times and James Mensch's Political Philosophy.- Part V On Violence and the Wager of Dialogue.- 14 Shame: Experiencing, Enduring and Resisting the Violence of Vulnerability.- 15 Jan Patocka on War: From Hysterical Men to the Solidarity of the Shaken.- 16 The Affective Ambiguity of Violence: A Study in the Phenomenology of Spectacular Violence.- 17 Epilogue.

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Book SynopsisIntroduction.- Section I The Husserlian legacy and the initial motivations of Merleau Ponty's thought: crisis of rationality, oneiric world, and risk of madness.- Introduction: crisis and imaginary.- The modern crisis.- Husserl's greatest discovery according to Merleau Ponty: the Heraclitean flow, between reason and unreason.- The problem of authenticity in Merleau Ponty: humanity and world dissolved by the imaginary?.- Section II Imagination, nothingness, and inauthenticity in Sartre.- Introduction.- Consciousness is nothingness.- Image, imagination, and imaginary in Sartre.- Existence and the world: a froth of nothingness at the surface of Being.- The theatrics of existence.- The overcoming of the dualism of Being and Nothingness is prefigured in Sartrean philosophy.- Section III The Merleau Pontian definition of the imaginary as a particular register of phenomena alongside the real .- Introduction: thematization of the imaginary and definition of a broadened reality.- Merleau Ponty's invocations of the Sartrean definition of the imaginary are inseparable from his critique of the opposition between Being and Nothingness.- Merleau Ponty's critique of the Sartrean conception of the imaginary.- The genuine and even enhanced presence of the real in the imaginary.- The proximity between the Merleau Pontian redefinition of the imaginary and Bachelard's philosophy.- Section IV The conquest of authenticity.- Introduction: authenticity and poetic depth.- Imaginary love: a necessary and fruitful failure General definition of the imaginary as institution.- Institutions and creative acts of taking up in an authentic deep and poetic existence.- Authenticity, imaginary, and reality.- Section V The imaginary is the true Stiftung of Being.- The imaginary as introduction to ontology and then as fundamental ontological model.- An ungraspable Urstiftung: Being as dehiscence.- Depth loves masks: Being as a play of images.- Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThe Founding Role of Anna Teresa Tymieniecka in the History of Phenomenology in North America.- The Ontopoietic Phenomenology of Life and the Renewal of the Environmental Philosophy Reflectio.- A Philosophical Portrait of Anna Teresa Tymieniecka Logos and Life.

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Book SynopsisChapter 1. Philosophy of Nature.- Chapter 2. Phenomenology of Religion.- Chapter 3. Phenomenology of the Self.- Chapter 4. Faith and Reason.- Chapter 5. Schelling.- Chapter 6. Phenomenology of World.- Chapter 7. Self and Other.- Chapter 8. Practical Reason.- Chapter 9. Philosophical Theology.- Chapter 10. Philosophy and Poetry.

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Book SynopsisChapter 1. Ontology of the Extant.- Chapter 2. Time: The Aporia between Subjectivism and Impersonalism.- Chapter 3. The Horizonal Interpretation of Time.- Chapter 4. Intrinsic and Generalized Finitude.- Chapter 5. In the Same Wave.- Chapter 6. Resurrection of Subjectivity.- Chapter 7. Flimsy Plurality.- Chapter 8. Reversal of the Turn.- Chapter 9. Waiting for Meaning and the Meaning of Waiting.

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Book SynopsisSeit einem Paradigmenwechsel in Griechenland um 400 v. Chr. wird der Mensch als Produkt der Zusammensetzung von Körper und Seele verstanden. Zwischen ihnen wurde der ohne Beistand von Sehen und Tasten spürbare Leib vergessen, zu dem Schreck, Angst, Schmerz, Hunger, Durst, Wollust, Entzücken, Müdigkeit, affektives Betroffensein von Gefühlen, gespürte Bewegung und Richtungen (wie der Blick) gehören. Das damals Vergessene wird hier ans Licht gezogen und mit neuen Begriffen durchleuchtet. Das betrifft die Eigenart der Ausdehnung und Dynamik des Leibes. Die leibliche Dynamik erweitert sich zur leiblichen Kommunikation, der Grundform der Wahrnehmung und sozialer Kontakte. Anschließend wird die Bedeutung des Leibes in vielen Bezügen erörtert: als Grundlage des Personseins, als Resonanzstätte für Gefühle als ergreifende Atmosphären, als prägende Kraft in Kunst und Geschichte, als Faktor der Strukturen von Raum und Zeit, ferner mit Bezug auf die Seelenvorstellung und den Körper. Eine Skizze der Stationen des Denkens über den Leib als Thema von Homer bis zur Gegenwart schließt das Buch.

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Book SynopsisHusserl's Ideas for a Pure Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy (1913) is one of the key texts of twentieth century philosophy. It is the first of Husserl's published works to present his distinctive version of transcendental philosophy and to put forward the ambitious claim that phenomenology is the fundamental science of philosophy. In Ideas, Husserl introduces for the first time the conceptual arsenal of his mature phenomenology: the principle of all principles, the phenomenological epoché and reduction, pure consciousness, and the noema. All these difficult notions have been influential and controversial in subsequent philosophy, both analytic and Continental. In this commentary, thirteen leading scholars of Husserlian phenomenology set out to clarify and defend Husserl's views, connecting them to the vast corpus of his published and unpublished writings, and discussing the main available interpretations in the existing scholarship. The result is a detailed and comprehensive account of the most original form of transcendental philosophy since Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.

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Book SynopsisThis collection establishes Nietzsche's importance as a political philosopher. It includes a substantial introduction and eighteen chapters by some of the most renowned Nietzsche scholars. The book examines Nietzsche's connections with political thought since Plato, major influences on him, his methodology, and his influence on subsequent thought. The book includes extensive coverage of the debate between radical aristocratic readings of Nietzsche, and more liberal or democratic readings. Close readings of Nietzsche's texts are combined with a contextualising approach to build up a complete picture of his place in political philosophy. Topics include the relevance of Bonapartism and classical liberalism, Nietzsche on Christianity, the cultural history of Germany, the Übermensch, ethics and politics in Nietzsche, and the controversial question of his political preferences and affinities. Nietzsche's political thought is compared with that of Humboldt, Weber and Foucault. The book is essential reading for anyone concerned with Nietzsche's thought, political philosophy, and the history of political ideas.

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Book SynopsisThe concept of sin permeates Søren Kierkegaard’s writing. This study looks at the entirety of his works in order to systematize his doctrine of sin. It demonstrates four key aspects: sin as misrelation, sin as untruth, sin as an existence state, and sin as redoubling in the crowd. Upon categorizing Kierkegaard’s doctrine of sin, his writings are examined to determine if his hamartiology is consistent across his numerous pseudonyms. To conclude, the study places Kierkegaard’s doctrine of sin within the broader theological discussion.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first translation into English of early phenomenologist Hedwig Conrad-Martius’ Metaphysical Conversations, originally published in 1921. Conrad-Martius was one of Husserl’s first students, an important part of the Göttingen Phenomenology Circle and mentor to Edith Stein, Jean Héring, and other early phenomenologists. The present volume provides the full German and English texts of the conversations, a phenomenological discussion of the nature of the human, examining the nature of body, soul, and spirit, and drawing distinctions between plants, animals, humans, and various other beings. The volume also includes two important essays on phenomenology, in which Conrad-Martius distinguishes between the phenomenological approaches of Husserl, Heidegger, and the more ontological approach of the Göttingen school of phenomenology. She is critical of Husserl’s "transcendental" and Heidegger’s "existential" approach. The conversations illustrate her use of the phenomenological method for fundamental investigations into the nature (or Wesen) of things.

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Book SynopsisThe volume begins with what is in common to contemporary phenomenological historians and historiographers. That is the understandings that temporality is the core of human judgment conditioning in its forms how we consciously attend and judge phenomena. For every phenomenological historian or historiographer, all history is an event, a span of time. This time span is not external to the individual, rather forms the content and structure of every judgment of the person. It is the logic used by the individual to structure the phenomenon attended. Rather than the phenomenon being seen as something solely external, it is understood by phenomenologists as also of our immediate awareness and thought. Thus, the phenomenological method discerns all judgment as based upon one’s span of attention of inner or outer phenomena.. There is an intentionality to attention. One intends one’s own foci. Attention is the temporal duration of that intending. The volume offers a text that enables contemporary historians, graduate students, and even undergraduates who are well taught, to understand both the history of phenomenology as a method of inquiry, and the contemporary practice of phenomenological historical and historiographical thought.

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Book SynopsisDeathworlds are places on planet earth that can no longer sustain life. These are increasing rapidly. We experience remnants of Deathworlds within our Lifeworlds (for example traumatic echoes of war, genocide, oppression). Many practices and policies, directly or indirectly, are "Deathworld-Making." They undermine Lifeworlds contributing to community decline, illnesses, climate change, and species extinction. This book highlights the ways in which writing about and sharing meaningful experiences may lead to social and environmental justice practices, decreasing Deathworld-Making. Phenomenology is a method which reveals the connection between personal suffering and the suffering of the planet earth and all its creatures. Sharing can lead to collaborative relationships among strangers for social and environmental justice across barriers of culture, politics, and language. "Deathworlds into Lifeworlds　wakes people up to how current economic and social forces are destroying life and communities on our planet, as I　have mapped in my work.　The chapters by scholars around the world in this　powerful book testify to the pervasive　consequences of the proliferation of Deathworld-making and ways that collaboration across cultures can help move us forward." —Saskia Sassen is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and a Member of its Committee on Global Thought. "Recognizing the inseparability of experience, consciousness, environment and problematics in rebalancing life systems, this book offers solutions from around the world." —Four Arrows, aka Don Trent Jacobs, author of Sitting Bull's Words for A World in Crises, et al. "This unique book brings together 78 participants from 11 countries to reveal the ways in which phenomenology –　the study of consciousness and phenomena — can lead to profound personal and social transformation.　 Such transformation is especially powerful when "Deathworlds" – physical or cultural places that no longer sustain life – are transformed into "lifeworlds" through collaborative sharing, even when (or, perhaps, especially when) the sharing is among strangers across different cultures. The contributors share a truly wide range of human experiences, from the death of a child to ecological destruction, in offering ways to affirm life in the face of what may seem to be hopeless death-affirming challenges." —Richard P. Appelbaum, Ph.D., is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus and former MacArthur Foundation Chair in Global and International Studies and Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also a founding Professor at Fielding Graduate University, where he heads the doctoral concentration in Sustainability Leadership. "Deathworlds is a love letter for the planet—our home. By documenting places that no longer sustain life, the authors collectively pull back the curtain on these places, rendering them meaningful by connecting what ails us with what ails the world." —Katrina S. Rogers, Ph.D., conservation activist and author "Deathworlds to Lifeworlds represents collaboration among Fielding Graduate University, the University of Łodź (Poland), and the University of the Virgin Islands. Students and faculty from these universities participated in seminars on transformative phenomenology and developed rich phenomenologically based narratives of their experiences or others’. These phenomenological protocol narratives creatively modify and integrate with everyday experience the conceptual frameworks of Husserl, Schutz, Heidegger, Habermas, and others. The diverse protocol authors demonstrate how phenomenological reflection is transformative first by revealing how Deathworlds, which lead to physical, mental, social, or ecological decline, imperil invaluable lifeworlds. Deathworlds appear on lifeworld fringes, such as extra-urban trash landfills, where unnoticed impoverished workers labor to the destruction of their own health. Poignant protocol-narratives highlight the plight and noble struggle of homeless people, the mother of a dying 19-year-old son, persons inclined to suicide, overwhelmed first responders, alcoholics who through inspiration achieve sobriety, unravelled We-Relationships, those suffering from and overcoming addiction or misogynist stereotypes or excessive pressures, veterans distraught after combat, a military mother, those in liminal situations, and oppressed indigenous peoples who still make available their liberating spirituality. Transformative phenomenology exemplifies that generous responsiveness to the ethical summons to solidarity to which Levinas’s Other invites us." —Michael Barber, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, St. Louis University. He has authored seven books and more than 80 articles in the general area of phenomenology and the social world. He is editor of　Schützian Research, an annual interdisciplinary journal. "This book helps us notice the Deathworlds that surround us and advocates for their de-naturalization. Its central claim is that the ten virtues of the transformative phenomenologist allow us to do so by changing ourselves and the worlds we live in. In this light, the book is an outstanding presentation of the international movement known as "transformative phenomenology." It makes groundbreaking contributions to a tradition in which some of the authors are considered the main referents. Also, it offers an innovative understanding of Alfred Schutz’s philosophy of the Lifeworld and a fruitful application of Van Manen’s method of written protocols." —Carlos Belvedere, Ph.D., Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Buenos Aires" "Moving beyond the social phenomenology carved out by Alfred Schütz, this impressive volume of action-based experiential research displays the efficacy of applying phenomenological protocols to explore Deathworlds, the tacit side of the foundational conception of Lifeworlds. Over twenty-one chapters, plus an epilogue, readers are transported by the train of Transformative Phenomenology, created during what’s been called the Silver Age of Phenomenology (1996 – present) at the Fielding Graduate University. An international amalgam of students and faculty from universities in Poland, the United States, the Virigin Islands, Canada, and socio-cultural locations throughout the world harnessed their collective energy to advance the practical call of phenomenology as a pathway to meaning-making through rich descriptions of lived experience. Topics include dwelling with strangers, dealing with trash, walking with the homeless, death of a young person, overcoming colonialism, precognition, environmental destruction, and so much more. The research collection enhances what counts as phenomenological inquiry, while remaining respectful of Edmund Husserl’s philosophical roots." —David Rehorick, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of New Brunswick (Canada) & Professor Emeritus, Fielding Graduate University (U.S.A.), Vancouver, British Columbia.

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Book SynopsisThe volume gathers together over twenty contributions that emerged from a conference held in in honour of Dermot Moran on the occasion of his retirement from University College Dublin. The book explores the contribution of phenomenology to empathy, intersubjectivity, affectivity, and the constitution of the cultural and social world, from both a historical and an applied philosophical perspective. Theoretical and methodological differences in approach notwithstanding, phenomenologists have converged in the recognition that self and others are fundamentally related, and have provided fine-grained accounts of the origin, forms, and implications of such relationship. The volume critically reconstructs and further develops central aspects of this body of research within a pluralistic framework. It offers a renewed investigation of the work of classical phenomenologists like Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty, as well as an original application of phenomenological concepts and theories to contemporary discussions on intentionality, culture, emotions, and morality. The book provides insights for scholars in phenomenological philosophy as well as in philosophy of mind and interpersonal and social experience.

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Book SynopsisThis book describes and analyzes the levels of experience that long-distance running produces. It looks at the kinds of experiences caused by long-distance running, the dimensions contained in these experiences, and their effects on the subjective life-world and well-being of an individual. Taking a philosophical approach, the analysis presented in this book is founded on Maurice Merleau-Ponty´s phenomenology of the body and Martin Heidegger´s fundamental ontology.Running is a versatile form of physical exercise which does not reveal all of its dimensions at once. These dimensions escape the eye and are not revealed to the runner conceptually, but rather as sensations and emotions. Instead of concentrating on conceptual analysis, this book explores the emotions and experiences and examines the meaning that running has in runners´ lives. Using the participative method, in which the author is both the research subject and the researcher, the book contributes to the philosophy of physical exercise.Table of Contents​Introduction.- 1: Running as phenomenal and bodily inquiry of the self.- 2: The philosophical basis of running.- 2.1: The groundwork of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy.- 2.2: Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of the body.- 2.3: Martin Heidegger's fundamental ontological philosophy.- 3: Long-distance running as the subject of study.- 4: Running as a way of life.- 5: Viewpoints to a long-distance runner.- 5.1: The “they”, authentic being and inauthentic being.- 5.2: The authenticity and inauthenticity of running.- 5.3: Running as “care”.- 5.4: The prerequisites of physical exercise.- 5.5: The uncovering and the covering of the world for a runner.- 5.6: The distant is far and near.- 5.7: Repetition.- 5.8: Running, false devotion, fanaticism and dependence.- 5.9: Ready-to-hand and present-at-hand as the dimensions of human relation with the world.- 5.10: The world as present.- 6: The world is running.- 6.1: Running experiences.- 6.2: The Buddhist marathon monks of Mount Hiei.- 7: Experiential cores.- 7.1: Disappearance of the contradiction between the subject and object.- 7.2: Calming down of the mind, quietness.- 7.3: Attunement.- 7.4: Presence.- 7.5: Power.- 7.6: Joy.- 7.7: Devotion, gratitude.- 7.8: True self, enlightenment, Absolute.- 8: Going beyond the reason and the wisdom of the body.- 8.1: Running as meditative thinking.- 8.2: The call of conscience.- 8.3: Active-passive process.- Conclusion.- Literature.

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Book SynopsisMartin Heideggers „Sein und Zeit“ zählt zu den wichtigsten Werken des 20. Jahrhunderts und übt bis heute großen Einfluss aus. Der vorliegende Kommentar bietet eine systematische Interpretation dieses Werks mit Blick auf das Gesamtprojekt, von dem Heidegger nur die ersten beiden der geplanten sechs Abschnitte verwirklichte. Mit Bezug auf den aktuellen Forschungsstand wird Heideggers eigentümliche Terminologie allgemeinverständlich erklärt und so die systematische Auseinandersetzung mit den Kernthesen erleichtert. Der Kommentar macht dabei einerseits die ungeminderte Relevanz des Projekts von „Sein und Zeit“ verständlich und weist andererseits auf problematische (z.B. politische) Tendenzen im Text hin.Table of ContentsDanksagung.- 1 Einführung.- 2 Die Seinsfrage (§§ 1–4).- 3 Die Methode der Untersuchung (§§ 5–8).- 4 Dasein als In-der-Welt-sein (§§ 9–13).- 5 Die Weltlichkeit der Welt (§§ 14–24).- 6 Dasein als Mitsein und Selbstsein (§§ 25–27).- 7 Befindlichkeit, Verstehen, Rede, Verfallen (§§ 28–38).- 8 Angst, Sorge, Realität, Wahrheit (§§ 39–44).- 9 Das Ganzsein des Daseins und das Sein zum Tode (§§ 45–53).- 10 Der Ruf des Gewissens und das ursprüngliche Schuldigsein (§§ 54–60).- 11 Das eigentliche Selbstsein und die Zeitlichkeit (§§ 61–66).- 12 Die Zeitlichkeit der Alltäglichkeit (§§ 67–71).- 13 Die Geschichtlichkeit des Daseins (§§ 72–77).- 14 Zeitlichkeit und Innerzeitigkeit (§§ 78–83).- 15 Schlussbetrachtung.- Glossar altgriechischer Stellen.- Zitierte und weiterführende Literatur.- Register.

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