Existentialism A Reconstruction

by Cooper, David E.

• ISBN13: 9780631213222
• ISBN10: 0631213228
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-06-18
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

First published in 1990,Existentialism is widely regarded as a classic introductory survey of the topic, and has helped to renew interest in existentialist philosophy.Utilizing recently published primary sources, David E. Cooper provides a sympathetic, original account of a mainstream movement of philosophical thought, reconstructed from the best writing of Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and others. Existentialism is viewed as the attempt to"overcome" various forms of alienation: from the world, one another and oneself.The early chapters describe the existential phenomenology, on the basis of which the dualisms of Cartesian metaphysics are "dissolved". Discussions of the self and others, and of "Angst" and absurdity, lead into chapters on existential freedom and the prospects for an existentialist ethics. Writers discussed include Husserl, Jaspers, Buber, Marcel, and Ortega.The author places existentialism within the great traditions of philosophy, and argues that it deserves as much attention from analytic philosophers as it has always received on the continent.

Author Biography

David E. Cooper is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Durham. His many books include Epistemology: The Classic Readings (Blackwell 1999); Ethics: The Classic Readings (Blackwell 1997); A Companion to Aesthetics (Blackwell 1992); World Philosophies: An Historical Introduction (Blackwell 1995); Metaphor (1986); Heidegger (1996). He is currently editing the series Philosophy: The Classic Readings (Blackwell Publishers).

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	vii
Preliminaries	1	(20)
The Sources of a Name	1	(5)
Existentialists and `the Existentialist'	6	(5)
Some Misconceptions	11	(10)
Philosophy and Alienation	21	(18)
Battling against Bewitchment	21	(5)
Hegel and Marx	26	(5)
Existentialist and Alienation	31	(8)
From Phenomenology to Existentialism	39	(18)
`Pure' Phenomenology	39	(7)
The Existentialist Critique	46	(11)
`Being-in-the-World'	57	(22)
World	57	(9)
Human Existence	66	(13)
Dualisms Dissolved	79	(16)
Subject versus Object	80	(2)
Mind versus Body	82	(4)
Reason versus Passion	86	(3)
Fact versus Value	89	(6)
Self and Others	95	(14)
Some False Starts	96	(5)
`Being-with' and `Being-for'	101	(8)
Modes of Self-estrangement	109	(18)
Public, Herd and the `They'	110	(6)
Bad Faith and `the Predominance of the Other'	116	(5)
A Problem	121	(6)
Angst, Death and Absurdity	127	(26)
Angst	127	(6)
Death	133	(6)
Absurdity	139	(6)
Religious Intimations	145	(8)
Existential Freedom	153	(20)
Freedom and Constraint	154	(3)
Choice and Refusal	157	(7)
Individuals and Tribes	164	(9)
Existentialism and Ethics	173	(24)
Existentialism versus Ethics?	173	(5)
Commitment and Availability	178	(6)
Reciprocal Freedom	184	(13)
Appendix: Heidegger and Sartre: an `erroneous conflation'?	197	(10)
Bibliography	207	(8)
Index	215