Utilizing recently published primary sources, the author provides a
sympathetic, original account of a mainstream movement of philosophical
thought, reconstructed from the best writing of Heidegger, Sartre,
Merleau-Ponty and others.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.
