The Continuum Companion to Existentialism

Description

The Continuum Companion to Existentialism offers the definitive guide to a key area of modern European philosophy. The book covers the fundamental questions asked by existentialism, providing valuable guidance for students and researchers to some of the many important and enduring contributions of existentialist thinkers. Specially commissioned essays from an international team of experts explore existentialism's relationship to philosophical method; ontology; politics; psychoanalysis; ethics; religion; literature; emotion; feminism and sexuality; cognitive science; authenticity and the self; its significance in Latin American culture; and its contribution to the development of Poststructuralism. In addition, five short chapters summarise the status of canonical figures Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre and de Beauvoir, delineating the historical approach to their work, while pointing to new directions such research is now taking. Companion is an essential tool to help the new reader navigate through the heart of Existentialism and modern European philosophy. Featuring a series of indispensable research tools (A to Z of terms, concepts and thinkers; timeline of existentialism; list of resources and an annotated guide to further reading), this

Jack Reynolds is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at La Trobe University, Australia and author of Merleau-Ponty and Derrida: Intertwining Embodiment and Alterity (Ohio UP, 2004) and Understanding Existentialism (Acumen, 2006) and co-editor of Understanding Derrida (Continuum, 2004). Ashley Woodward teaches philosophy at the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy, Australia. He is the author of Nihilism in Postmodernity (The Davies Group, 2010), a co-editor of Sensorium: Aesthetics, Art, Life (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), and a regular editor for Parrhesia: A Journal of Critical Philosophy.

'[The book's] features add scope and depth that set this book apart from others written for novices. Readers get a comprehensive introduction to existentialism.'-Choice Magazine The spirit of this Companion is that of advocate, teacher and muse, to those drawn to existentialism but unable to fully formulate the continuing relevance and importance of this school of thought. Pierre Hadot's What is Ancient Philosophy? strove to make ancient philosophy a wise and fruitful field around which to build a career and life; so, too, this Companion makes the case for the wisdom of existentialism. -- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews An exceptionally fruitful addition to the Continuum Companions, this volume on Existentialism gathers together an impressive range of scholars on a wide variety of research areas ranging through the philosophical, the psychoanalytic, the historical, the religious, and the literary to contemporary cognitive science and politics. Highly recommended for students and academics alike. -- Christina Howells, Professor of French, University of Oxford, UK ...this book is a clear achievement and stands out as a key reference and guide for all with an interest in existentialism as a whole or in individual existentialist thinkers. Its depth is encyclopaedic and impressive and its perspective is all at once retrospective, current and forward-looking. -- Sartre Studies International Journal, Vol.17, no.2