Phenomenology and Existentialism Books

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Book SynopsisExistentialism entered the public consciousness after the Second World War, especially through the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Indeed, these charismatic and engaged thinkers gave philosophy a level of glamour it had not before enjoyed, while existentialismâs forefathersâincluding Friedrich Nietzsche and Soren Kierkegaardâwere soon rediscovered and embraced anew. Moreover, in addition to the initial connection between existentialism and literature, the movement developed many interdisciplinary approaches: feminist existentialism, religious existentialism, and political existentialism, to name just a few. As a broad philosophical doctrine, as well as in its interdisciplinary combinations, existentialism is of lasting significance, and remains a thriving enterprise.To make sense of existentialismâs hugeâand growingâcorpus of scholarly literature, this new Routledge collection answers the need for an authoritative, up-to-date, and comprehensive reference work. In four volumes, it assembles the foundational and the very best cutting-edge research.Volume I (âKey Figures and Definitionsâ) maps the development of existentialism from the first existentialist to the classic and contemporary existentialists. It also gives users an impression of the most prominent definitions of existentialism. Volume II (âBasic Themes and Conceptsâ), meanwhile, collects the most important texts on the key notions of existentialism, such as subject/object, authenticity, ambiguity, humanism, and emotions. Volume III (âExistentialist Aesthetics and Psychologyâ) attends to those areas outside philosophy which have been most influenced by existentialism: aesthetics (literature, theatre, art, theory) and psychology (psychoanalysis, psychotherapy). The final volume in the collection (âHorizons of Existentialismâ) considers several other interdisciplinary areas, including: religion, feminism, communications, and politics.Existentialism is supplemented with a full index, and includes a newly written comprehensive introduction which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. The collection will be valued by scholars, students, and researchers as a vital research resource.

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Book SynopsisMiguel de Unamuno was profoundly influenced by Søren Kierkegaard''s pseudonymous works at a time when Kierkegaard was virtually unknown in Southern Europe. This book explores the scope and character of that influence, clarifies misconceptions in the relationship between the authors, and offers an original, Kierkegaardian reading of three of Unamuno''s best known novels: Niebla, San Manuel Bueno, mártir, and Abel Sánchez. Both authors hold a self as achievement view in which the authentic self is seen as the result of the choices one makes over a lifetime. For Kierkegaard, the spheres of existence-the esthetic, the ethical, and the religious-are stages on life''s way to becoming an authentic self before God. Unamuno, however, holds that the same spheres of existence offer equally valid modes of authentic existence as long as one chooses them freely and passionately. This book will be of great interest to scholars of existentialism, Unamuno, and Kierkegaard.Trade ReviewSupported by archival research on what works by Kierkegaard Unamuno actually read, Jan Evans is the first scholar to take seriously the distinction between Kierkegaard and his pseudonyms in exploring similarities and differences between these two authors on the theme of becoming a self. The result is a fresh and more discerning look at three of Unamuno's most popular novels utilizing Kierkegaard's theory of the stages of existence to show how the Spaniard portrays multiple forms of authentic existence. -- Sylvia Walsh, Stetson UniversityA fascinating read, Jan Evans' unusual expertise in both authors gives us original insight into the amazing affinities and fundamental divergence between them, as well as into the extent and limits of Unamuno's use of Kierkegaard. Readers at all levels of familiarity with these authors can benefit. -- M. J. Ferreira, University of VirginiaThis is the first study of Unamuno and Kierkegaard that focuses attention on the latter's writerly heteronyms, a focus with immense implications for the study of Unamuno's narratives with multiple internal writers, that is, for practically all of his fictional work. The book also corrects many well-traveled misconceptions about what Unamuno read in Kierkegaard and clarifies how Unamuno's major thought diverges—often significantly—from that of the Dane with whom he has been compared. -- Thomas R. Franz, Ohio UniversityTable of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 The Importance of Indirect Communication Chapter 3 The Formation of the Self in Kierkegaard and Unamuno Chapter 4 Niebla: A Study in Kierkegaard's Esthetic Stage Chapter 5 San Manuel Bueno, Mártit: A Study in the Ethical Life Chapter 6 Abel Sánchez: A Study in the Possibilities for Religious Existence Chapter 7 Conclusion

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Book SynopsisUsing narrative descriptions of the author''s own lived-experience of her ethnic heritage, Martinez offers a systematic interrogation of the social and cultural norms by which certain aspects of her Mexican-American cultural heritage are both retained and lost over generations of assimilation. Combining semiotic and existential phenomenology with Chicana feminism, the author charts new terrain where anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-homophobic work may be pursued.Trade ReviewJacqueline Martinez's book deepens our understanding of how transformation and liberation are (and, can be) achieved at the level of individual consciousness. An important contribution to the field of communication—a privileging of Chicana feminist scholarship and what it has to offer to communication scholars' theoretical and methodological endeavors. * Review of Communication *Table of ContentsChapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 The Generative Nexus: A Chicana Feminist Crossing Chapter 3 Speaking as a Chicana: Tracing Cultural Heritage through Silence and Betrayal Chapter 4 Radical Ambiguities and the Chicana Lesbian: Body Topographies on Contested Lands Chapter 5 La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Intra- and Intersubjective Transformations of Racist and Homophobic Culture Chapter 6 Chicana Feminism and Struggle in the Flesh: Racist Assimilation and Cultural Recovery Chapter 7 Chicana y Chicana: A Dialogue on Race, Class, and Chicana Identity Chapter 8 Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThis book follows up the developments inphenomenology discussed in Phenomenology andthe Theological Turn: The French Debate, attempting toestablish what potentialities in the phenomenologicalmethod exist at present.

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Book SynopsisWith an introduction by Manfred Stassen, this collection of articles by Martin Heidegger covers many topics over many years. They cover his anti-semitism, his relationship with Nazism, his work on phenomenology and essays on his groundbreaking notions of Being.Table of ContentsThe Jewish Contamination of German Spiritual Life (1929); Follow the Fuhrer! (1934); The Thinker as Poet (1947); The Task of Destructuring of the History of Ontology (1927); My Way to Phenomenology (1963); Being-in-the-World as Being-with and Being a Self- The 'They' (1927); Care as the Being of Da-sein (1927); ...Poetically, Man Dwells ... (1951); The Question Concerning Technology (1949).

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Book SynopsisRichard Eldridge is Charles and Harriett Cox McDowell Professor of Philosophy, Swarthmore College, USA. He is the author of five books and works in aesthetics and the philosophy of literature, the philosophy of language, and German philosophy.Trade ReviewHegel, Nietzsche, and Heidegger are prominent among the philosophical sources, but Eldridge also draws extensively on commentary by contemporary film scholars and reviewers and on Herzog’s own writings and interviews. Particularly effective are Eldridge’s insightful close readings of particular films, both fiction and documentary … Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE *The range of films discussed is excellent, avoiding the over-familiar concentration on the output of the 1960s and 70s. * Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media *Richard Eldridge's excellent contribution to Bloomsbury's Philosophical Filmmakers series creates a significant set of interpretations of Werner Herzog's films, by showing how these films not only interact with philosophy, but do work parallel to that done by philosophy. * Monatshefte *Werner Herzog, although patently an auteur, has not always fared well with academic critics, due to their theoretical biases. Herzog’s art is Romantic, with a capital R, committed to defamiliarizing reality in the spirit of Heidegger. But in Richard Eldridge, Herzog has finally found his ideal interpreter. A philosopher steeped in German philosophy and Romantic literature, as well as Wittgenstein and Cavell, Eldridge is able to demonstrate Herzog’s attention to fundamental existential themes in ways that makes an exemplary case for the power of humane letters to reveal the importance of great art. -- Noël Carroll, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, The City University of New York, USAIn his brilliant and stimulating study, Richard Eldridge shows that the issues addressed in Herzog’s films are continuous with those of concern to philosophers, most centrally that of finding meaning in our lives. Eldridge enriches our understanding of the philosophical capabilities of film through his detailed exploration of how Herzog’s films present the human quest for meaning in a world that is, if not hostile, indifferent to our purposes. A major achievement! -- Thomas E. Wartenberg Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Mount Holyoke College, USAThis book brings remarkable intellectual breadth and depth to bear on Herzog as a filmmaker wrestling with the fundamental issues of human existence…With always acutely perceptive and often surprising results, Eldridge places the director’s work in mutually enlightening dialog with numerous conceptual, artistic, and historical traditions, while remaining highly sensitive to the fine-grained experiential and cinematic textures of the films discussed. Elegantly integrating Ancient, modern, and contemporary philosophical perspectives with film theory and criticism, this is not only a major original study of Herzog, but a template for a richer form of philosophy of, and through, film, with its own version of ‘ecstatic truth’. -- Daniel Yacavone Lecturer of Film Studies, University of Edinburgh, UKTable of ContentsAcknowledgments 1. Introduction: Images and Contemporary Culture 2. Nature 3. Selfhood 4. History Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWhen our smartphones distract us, much more is at stake than a momentary lapse of attention. Our use of smartphones can interfere with the building-blocks of meaningfulness and the actions that shape our self-identity. By analyzing social interactions and evolving experiences, Roholt reveals the mechanisms of smartphone-distraction that impact our meaningful projects and activities. Roholt's conception of meaning in life draws from a disparate group of philosophers Susan Wolf, John Dewey, Hubert Dreyfus, Martin Heidegger, and Albert Borgmann. Central to Roholt's argument are what Borgmann calls focal practices: dinners with friends, running, a college seminar, attending sporting events. As a recurring example, Roholt develops the classification of musical instruments as focal things, contending that musical performance can be fruitfully understood as a focal practice. Through this exploration of what generates meaning in life, Roholt makes us rethink the place we allow smartphoneTrade ReviewThis is no neo-Luddite broadside against smartphones but a clear and careful philosophical exploration of what makes life meaningful and how smartphones use can either serve or undermine such meaning. Taking aim at the heart of our present age, Roholt’s book is consistently insightful and provocative. * Iain Thomson, Professor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, USA *Tiger Roholt's Distracted from Meaning is an invaluable account of how the smartphone revolution impedes our pursuit of a meaningful life. Exploring overlooked ways that smartphones replace genuine experiences with unfocused fragmentation, Roholt details how they routinely and cumulatively undercut their purpose as a device for social engagement. * Theodore Gracyk, Professor of Philosophy and Humanities, Minnesota State University Moorhead, USA *Tiger Roholt explores how one of the most pervasive devices of the contemporary world—our smartphones—can distract us from the things that matter most. Distracted From Meaning is a useful guide for reorienting ourselves with regard to our devices, and reclaiming what is most meaningful in our lives. * Robert Rosenberger, Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, and President-Elect of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, USA *[T]he author follows a phenomenological and descriptive goal, and for that reason this is a perfect book to better understand the theoretical shapes and forms of smartphones and of our relation with them ...[T]his is a brilliant book of philosophy of smartphones, as in on or about smartphones, ...It is a useful descriptive essay, not an instruction manual. * Teaching Philosophy *Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. Distraction 3. Developed experience 4. Meaning in life 5. Focal things and practices 6. Identity-work 7. A note of cautious optimism Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisProviding theoretical and applied analyses of Michel Henry's practical philosophy in light of his guiding idea of Life, this is the first sustained exploration of Henry's practical thought in anglophone literature, reaffirming his centrality to contemporary continental thought. This book ranges from the tension between his methodological insistence on life as non-intentional and worldly activities to Henry's engagement with the practical philosophy of intellectuals such as Marx, Freud, and Kandisky to topics of application such as labor, abstract art, education, political liberalism, and spiritual life. An international team of leading Henry scholars examine a vital dimension of Henry's thinking that has remained under-explored for too long.Trade ReviewCombining careful readings of Michel Henry’s phenomenology with intriguing applications of his philosophy in the areas of psychoanalysis, pedagogy, economics, politics, spirituality, aesthetics, and socio-cultural engagement, this important collection helps us see the relevance of Henry’s complex thought for various fields of practical philosophy and for concrete action today. * Christina M. Gschwandtner, Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University, USA *This book gathers leading Michel Henry scholars to ponder and parse the implications of the French philosopher’s ideas about action, creation, and dwelling in community. The volume’s contributors convincingly show how Henry’s work can come to inform and shape our ethical, aesthetic, social, psychological, and political lives, both as individuals and as a society, in terms of our understanding and praxis. Readers will be impressed by the original scholarly analysis and application of Henry’s thought to various aspects of human life and interactions. * Antonio Calcagno, Professor of Philosophy and Chair, King’s University College at Western University, Canada *Michel Henry's philosophy of action is as momentous as his philosophy of life, but less well understood. He wants to uncover the real motivation of human action, where pathos and freedom coincide, where the fate of democracy, culture, and life itself, all hang in the balance. The essays in this book help bring to light this important dimension of Henry’s thought. * Karl Hefty, Associate Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Saint Paul University, Canada *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part 1: Interpretations 1. From Affect to Action to Interpretation: On Michel Henry’s Theoria of Immanent Praxis (Frédéric Seyler, de Paul University, USA) 2. Affective Labor and the Henry-Ricoeur Debate over Marx (Scott Davidson, West Virginia University, USA) 3. Spiritual Life and Cultural Discernment: Thinking Spirituality through Michel Henry (Neal DeRoo, Kings University, Canada) 4. Working in the “World of Life”: Michel Henry’s Philosophy of Subjective Labor (Jeffrey Hanson, Havard University, USA) 5. Freud after Henry (Ruud Welten, Tilburg University, The Netherlands) 6. The World or Life’s Fragility: A New Critical Reading of Henry’s Phenomenology of Life (Paula Lorelle, Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique, France) Part 2: Applications 7. The Liberal Subject: The Politics of Life in Michel Henry (Joseph Rivera, Dublin City University, Ireland) 8. Michel Henry’s Barbarism and the practices of education (Brian Harding, Texas Women's University, USA) 9. Russian Avant-Garde and Michel Henry’s Radical Phenomenology (Ioulia Podoroga, Geneva University, Switzerland) 10. Affectivity and its Effects: Social Prospects for the Pathetic Community (Aaron Simmons, Furman University, USA and Maia Wellborn, Fordham University, USA) Conclusion Index

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