Being Reconfigured

Reviews / Votes

"In a sweeping tour of contemporary phenomenology, Ian Leask offers an erudite and philosophically imaginative interrogation of the current phenomenological attempt to do without or go beyond Being. Leask argues that Being is not to be overcome by givenness but reconceived or reconfigured as sustaining generosity. A masterful account for anyone working in phenomenology today."-John D. Caputo, Syracuse University, USA"[Ian Leask's] project seems to me as interesting and important as any in contemporary philosophy."-Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA"While analytical philosophy is often accused of a 'flight from being,' Ian Leask lays the same accusation against much contemporary phenomenology as well. He plays a masterful game of philosophical chess, in which many exalted figures are toppled or undergo a radical change of position. Building on Edith Stein's notion of being as 'sustentive,' he shows how a classical understanding of the inherent goodness of being, thus retrieved in the key of phenomenology, can give new bearings to the thought of Michel Henry, Merleau-Ponty and even Levinas. At first sharply critical, Leask reveals in the end a capacious sympathy for all the thinkers studied, as if himself enacting 'the charity of being.'"-Joseph S. O'Leary, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan''Being Reconfigured is a well-written and accessible tour of contemporary phenomenol-ogy, and it was a pleasure to read. It is also a welcome addition to the growing resources on Edith Stein's philosophy, particularly the philosophy from her late period, which is often ignored in English secondary literature. Overall, this book proves the importance of taking Edith Stein seriously as a philosopher, as well as the value that her work can bring to some of the most important debates in contemporary phenomenology.'' - Timothy Burns,The Bibliographia: An online journal for the history of philosophy (http://www.thebibliographia.org/)